Glock's Secret Path to Profits

[madmax]

Business Week

"Glock's Secret Path to Profits
It's the largest supplier of handguns to law enforcement in the U.S. But behind its success lies a troubling tale of business intrigue".

"Gaston Glock, an Austrian manufacturer of shovels and knives, had an improbable dream: He would make a fortune selling handguns in America.

In the early 1980s, Glock, a self-taught firearm designer, produced an innovative pistol for the Austrian military. He then devised a plan for promoting his invention in the U.S., the world's richest gun market. First, he'd persuade American police they needed a lightweight weapon with more ammunition than traditional revolvers. Then he'd use his law enforcement bona fides to win over private gun buyers.

The strategy succeeded spectacularly. By the late 1980s, major police departments across the U.S. wanted more firepower to combat crack-cocaine violence. Glock had the answer. No less impressed, street gangsters adopted the squared-off Austrian handgun as an emblem of thuggish prestige. Hip-hoppers rapped about Glocks; Hollywood put the pistol in the hands of action heroes.

Gaston Glock shouldered past the storied American brand Smith & Wesson (SWHC) to make his creation the best-known police handgun in the U.S., and probably the world. When American soldiers hauled Saddam Hussein from his underground hideout in 2003, the deposed Iraqi ruler surfaced with a Glock."


more: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_38/b4147036107809.htm

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[hobbit709]

2. And?

[Xenotime]

8. and...if you took the time to read the article you would see they funded Bush's campaign

[hobbit709]

9. and what does that have to do with it?

I'll give you 3 to 1 that ANY gun manufacturer donated to bush.

As far as high capacity magazines go you can find one that will work on just about any make of semiautomatic pistol.

[Kingofalldems]

3. Merchants of death

Bob Dylan wrote a song about this.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. What this ignores is that Glock is several key areas did "build a better mousetrap"

Some of which has been picked up in other designs.

Personally, Glocks do not fit me well as other pistols, but they are fine for those that do.

[NightWatcher]

5. I love the fit of a M1911, but I carried a Glock 22 for years. They're great tools

Some use tools for good, others for bad. I do support more rigorous background checks before allowing someone to purchase or carry, but you cannot fault Glock for making a quality tool.

[Major Hogwash]

10. That's very true.

But, I never had the need for a high-capacity extended magazine.
I don't know if the story about that guy not being able to seat the 2nd magazine in his pistol is correct, but it turned out to be a good thing that he couldn't get it to work just the same.

[Edweird]

6. I'm a Para-Ordnance man myself. My high capacity .45 is made in Canada.

To each, their own.

[slackmaster]

7. My Glock is my "beater" gun for hiking trips

It doesn't have any pretty metal parts that I'd be terribly upset to have scuffed up.

[ileus]

11. S&W M&P line is catching on quick thanks to marketing....

made in the USA, special trade in deals, service after the sale, and of course a good looking reliable poly pistol.

I love my M&P 9c it's a great little weapon...but I have glock fever and want a 23 or 27 next.