The Glock isn’t a forgotten weapon by any stretch, but Paul Barrett has written a very interesting book on how the company got into gun manufacturing and how it grew so quickly.
Among other things, it talks about:
- Glock’s initial goals for the company, which didn’t include any US sales at all
- Glock’s recipe for grabbing police business away from S&W (notably lap dances and machine pistols)
- How Glock was able to price itself into the market
- The mysterious beautiful female CIA agent in Glock’s in-house firearms classes in 1990
- Why terrible publicity equals great advertising
and, lest we forget…
- How the H&K USP is even more invisible to metal detectors than the Glock 17
It’s a great read, and a real page-turner for anyone interested in guns and politics – and the hardcover edition is cheap on Amazon:
Glock??
Its not American its Austrian Pistol developed by Gaston Glock himself,unknown for which reasons USA police and other forces choose this pistol??
Even everyone complains about HK VP70 its my most favorite pistol,the trigger pull is not heavy on its own its becouse of striker in slide have a tough spring so this is quiet heavy to press..
The VP70 little identical to Glock and was born in 1970 much earlier than Glock and it was a first polymer frame pistol ever build…
What really impressing me most is simplicity in German firearms and cuality in material production…
As Glock pistols I dont like them much,I dont even like Glock 18 version,this model is too unreliable or uncontrolable during full auto…
Beretta 93R for example much better made and very controlable,even in Movie Robocop Beretta 93R is a main sidearm of Murphy,but little modified such as Grips,magazine,longer barrel and supressor attachmant instead original front foregrip..
As WW2 design I like Mauser M712 Schnellfeuer or C96 also there is another model of Mauser exist,its differant a bit in construction of grip unlikely M712 and C96 but those are real historical artifacts..
It also would be interesting Ian if you find any detailed information about Franchi LF57 submachine gun,every modell well explained except this model…
In historical records its says long barrel versions was exported for USA police but none ever been seen at all..
The book talks at some length about why the Glock was chosen by American police forces – and why Glock became a household name in the US.
“The VP70 little identical to Glock and was born in 1970 much earlier than Glock and it was a first polymer frame pistol ever build”
This statement is not true. Iver Johnson, and Smith and Wesson both had polymer pistols back in the 1960’s. They just didn’t put them into production.
Dean from Idaho