Gaston Glock was not a firearms expert but he did know his way around plastics. In an era when the use of aluminum in firearm frames was tantamount to blasphemy, Glock took a bold step into the unknown. Many think Glock produced the first polymer-framed pistols, but this is erroneous. Glock made the first really compelling designs, but the company was not the first.
The first production polymer-framed pistol is widely accepted to be the HK VP70. HK and Glock are close enough that you can understand how the idea might have spread. Before HK, though, the Russians were putting their experience with Bakelite to use in handguns. True firearms geeks will be familiar with the ТКБ-023. While the concept never caught on, it is easy to see traces of Russian experimentation in this 1963 design.
But Gaston did what others could not, and made a plastic-framed handgun that could hold its own against many of the larger guns of the era (a feat that has aged remarkably well, too).
The Glock 17
Rumors abound as to why the Glock 17 is named as it is. The magazine, conveniently enough, holds 17 rounds of 9mm. If you believe official company lore, though, this is bogus. The G17 is the G17 because this was the 17th patent submitted by the company — and the one that stuck.
Like Sig, Beretta, HK, and others, Glock quickly began working toward a full family of guns — each more or less just a cut-down version of the gun before it. Glock 17, 19, 26. Full-size, compact, sub-compact. Everyone was doing it.
Snipping a bit off the barrel, a bit off the grip, and making a shorter mag, though, hardly passes as innovation. It was a few of the other design enhancements that Glock brought to the table that drew attention.
What makes a Glock a Glock?
First, there’s a look. This is based on clean lines, squared slides, simple sights, and a lack of external controls. All of the safety innovations, save the blade that disrupts the path of the trigger unless intentionally pulled, are on the inside. There’s no grip safety. No slide-mounted thumb safety. And this is a big deal for a striker-fired pistol with a striker that rides in the ready-to-roll position.
Outside, the guns are coated with a ferritic nitrocarburizing process that has proven much more durable than bluing. While there’s nothing fancy about the surface finish, it works.
Inside the barrel, there are no traditional lands and grooves. Instead, Glock uses polygonal rifling — more like lands that are so flat they connect, but not in a truly round pattern — more of a polygon. This is still a hotly debated feature. Does it make the Glock more accurate? Somehow, I doubt it. It doesn’t hurt accuracy, though. Still, many of the aftermarket barrel makers offer barrels that have a very traditional land-and-groove patterned cut, and people snap them up.
The Controversy
There’s a famous scene in the 1967 film “The Graduate” where one of Ben’s father’s friends, Mr. McGuire, has corned Ben and is pressing Ben about his plans.
While I wasn’t around in 1967, I can imagine this concept of plastics being The FUTURE was already cliché, yet most handguns were still made of steel. Grips, maybe, had some rubber or plastic.
When Glocks first hit American shelves, though, the reaction was very split. Detractors said it would never catch on — that plastic frames wouldn’t stand up to the repetitive stresses of recoil. While the company and its guns became the butt of jokes, the money rolled in. Round counts rolled up. Glock gained a reputation for both simplicity and reliability. An entire generation that had learned to shoot with revolvers began looking at guns in a new way.
I’m not a fanboy.
More than a decade ago when I began writing gun reviews, I was looking for a full-sized 9mm for OWB carry. I had a Beretta 92FS that I loved, but I had noticed a trend in the accessories being built for handguns. They were all built for Glock, first. There’s very little hyperbole in that statement.
I wasn’t a fan of the G17, though. I had grown up with the Art Deco lines of the 1911 and 92FS, and I really didn’t appreciate the aesthetic simplicity of Glock. And I didn’t shoot the G17 especially well.
Still, needs must. I picked up a Glock 19 as an alternative. I’m nearing 30K rounds through this gun, and it still runs like a Glock should run. I’ve grown to respect it deeply. Recently, I bought a G45 — a gun that I find to be much better balanced than either the G17 or G19. I’d even be willing to say this one may convert me.
The beauty of the Glock design, though, is more than its plastic frame and unfailing reliability. Glock made a commitment to build guns that are all functionally the same. From the .380 Glock 42 on up to the biggest 10mms, this platform is instantly familiar to anyone who knows the manual of arms.
From the sights to the safety, to the trigger… it takes an expert to really articulate the differences between generations or calibers. Say what you will about the material construction, Glock is insanely consistent.
Glock Does Handguns
For 40 years, Glock has been winning contracts. Many military and too many LE agencies to name rely on the sidearm. While the 9mms remain the most popular, there are many calibers to choose from.
They’ve yet to stray into other areas. Despite the obvious sales potential available, the company has yet to make a rifle, carbine, or shotgun available for sale to the public. The interest is there, of course, and — a few years ago — a patent application showing a Glock rifle leaked and set the internet ablaze. Later, images surfaced of an actual GLOCK AR.
Still, though, we wait. A Glock carbine would sell. The brand commands that kind of respect. Even in a market that is quite flooded with AR pattern rifles, anything with the Glock name on it will sell.
As this is a company that specializes in making almost identical handguns, any slight deviation from the norm receives a lot of attention. The biggest changes to date are the occasional generational update. Sometimes these include minor changes to the guts. Sometimes they signify the availability of optic cuts or changes to rail configurations.
Most often, the most recognizable change is to color choices or ergonomics. The grip texture will vary slightly, or there may be an addition or deletion of small finger grooves.
The Glock Effect
I was still riding a Huffy BMX bike with a kick-ass banana seat when Gaston made his first guns. Even so, I can remember the fallout of Beretta beating Glock (and Colt, too) for the US Army contract in 1985. The windfall for Beretta was massive, and many LEOs ditched revolvers for the 92FS. Then S&W made a brief play with some now all-but-forgotten designs. But the Glock 17, the gun people kept trying to dismiss, continued to win converts. By the 1990s, it was clear. Glock wasn’t going anywhere.
Glock changed everything. That’s not an understatement. Even the companies that openly derided the use of plastics have come around. Look at the current M17 and M18. All of the major manufacturers came around to using plastics.
And, the desire to own a functional gun that might also be a canvas for personal expression led scores of Americans to mod their Glocks. The first big fad was stippled grips. Then custom slides and barrels. Now you can build a clone from any number of boutique specialty shops that essentially runs like a Glock without a single factory Glock part. And if that isn’t enough, there are companies readily supplying the finished product for you, based on their own conceptualizations of what marks refinement.
While I’m tempted to call this “the end result,” I think that’s premature. There are now many configurations of Glocks, lots of one-off customizations, hundreds (if not thousands) of aftermarket add-ons and parts, and several full-blown clones. But I don’t think we’ve seen the end of the innovation from Glock itself, or of the influence Glock has on the gun industry.
And I know we haven’t seen the end of what I’m calling the Glock effect. Look at 2011s. A new generation of shooters looks at plastic-framed handguns as the establishment. Their rebellion — a move to large, heavy, double-stack 9mms.
