Honestly, the Gen 1s were good to go. Realizing people wanted an accessory rail and upgradable sights isn’t a bad thing. Gen 3 fingers grooves were mostly a concession to people who cried because it wasn’t a 1911 grip.
Mr. Glock revolutionized the duty handgun- it’s not pretty , it’s aesthetically akward but just plain works. All my SD pistols are Glocks because I know when I pull the trigger they will go bang.
Hey that’s the year I was born, cool:cool:
But most people wouldn’t learn they exist until summer of 1990 with Die Hard 2, the greatest Glock promotion ever devised for a fictitious model, the Glock 7. Man they could have sold millions of those if they just went ahead and made one.
I thought the finger grooves were for import points on the 26/27?
I’m not sure how finger grooves are supposed to be a concession to 1911 grip folks. I love my 1911s, and despise finger grooves ever since first touching a Glock.
Along with the scallop cuts on the sides equals 5 points for a “target grip “
I thought it was just some way to make “I hate this grip” people happy.
I should have known.
An important figure in firearms over the past 50 years. More important to the success of the Glock: The Gold Club in ATL.
To his credit, he did create a “every man gun” to a large extent. Glocks debuted with a retail price of about $450 and have pretty much stayed there the entire time. Magazines might have gone to $150 each during the Clinton ban, but the Glocks themselves remained affordable.
And while I would call it a “perfect” firearm, I think all would agree it’s terribly practical. Glock is sort of a George Luger, he didn’t invent the toggle system but he looked at the Borchardt C93 and realized he could do a lot better. When they first came out I viewed them as borderline dangerous due to the SA “safety on the trigger” setup but with a few noted exceptions of “Glock leg” it hasn’t been the daily “Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face” disaster I thought it would be.
A lot of those “I wonder how long a plastic frame firearm will last” concerns seem to be unfounded as well. And while it’s true there have been 5 generations now, we should remember that other firearm companies simply move to a completely new platform. And in most cases it’s the same Glock but now with an accessory rail, and now with standardized sights, and now with adjustable grips and now with RMR mounts.
Magic City > Gold Room
I remember an article in the MSM claiming they were so evil they were capable of eluding the security screening devices. Total BS as we’re now accustomed to knowing, but portrayed as reality back in the mid 80’s, before I really knew anything about guns. Some might argue I still know nothing, but hey. I’d like to think I’ve learned a thing or two over the years.
I thought it was cool at the time, but was too busy preparing for deployments to dig deeper. That was also before the internet, so it wasn’t as easy to get information.
Honestly for me, I read the Austrian army adopted it so I needed one for my AUG. It was never a revelations firearm, the Clinton ban kept many people uninterested, and the 1911 was still typically paired with the AR carbine. But in 2004 things quickly moved in different ways.
I had a 1987 date G 17 and I could appreciate it for what it was, I saw the utility. But I hated the small slide stop, mags suddenly got crazy expensive when I decided I needed more than 2 and the trigger just was strange to me. These days I understand them better and I’ll always have a G19 in the mix.
The G19 serrated trigger face vs. G17 smooth was an important points thing too.
Some of the Glock collectors seem to want a Gen 1 repro with accurate Austrian military markings. Not sure if Glock would do that or not.
I thought that was roughly the P80? Are there added(or removed) proof/acceptance marks not on the pistols intended for export/commercial sales?
My understanding is that the P80 lacks certain Austrian military proof and/or acceptance markings. Possibly Glock couldn’t legally add these to the P80?
The first Glocks I purchased were two Gen3 Glock 19’s in '98-99…still have have them, and still function perfectly! The only modification: milled slides for red dots a few years back.
I was getting into guns in the late 80s but I was obsessed with HK pistols. My buddies, who worked at a local gun shop, were absolute drones for Glock (this was middle GA also). So, of course, I was contrary. I thought it was a plastic piece of crap. I remember when the G19 came on the market you would have thought my buddies had been given the keys to Heaven).I was annoyed with HK when they came out with the USP because I thought, "oh lawd, more plastic crap (ignoring the fact that HK had pioneered the used of cheap crap in pistols). I would shoot my buddies Glocks and I just hated them. It wasn’t until the late 90s that I finally picked one up (A 3rd Gen 17). I have owned many, and still don’t really consider them the best at anything. But there is no question that my buddies were right about the Glock and my beloved P7 is on the dust-heap of history.
HK P70, dear lord that trigger.