Is Glock the Perfect Gun Company?
Kevin Felts 04.13.17
The more I look at how Glock has dominated the worldwide handgun market, the more I ask if they are the perfect gun company. Go to just about any gun store, and chances are there will be more Glocks in stock than any other brand.
Is Glock popularity due to its reliability? In part, yes. Maybe because various law enforcement and military agencies all over the world have adopted the Glock? Possibly.
For the sake of discussion let’s overlook Glock reliability and consider other marketing features.
A Glock is a Glock
No matter what model Glock you pick up, it operates exactly like all other models. The standardization appeals to consumers.
Several years ago I was at Shot Show in Las Vegas. While eating lunch, I overheard a young man talking to a couple of company representatives about adding new firearms to the lineup three or four times a year. The idea was a marketing ploy to get consumers to buy the latest and greatest.
What the young man does not understand is we shooters can be a funny group. We say we like new stuff, then relish in how the Remington model 700, Remington 870, 1911, Mossberg 500, Winchester and Marlin lever action rifles, Winchester model 12, etc have remained unchanged for decades.
Shooting is an American and family tradition. I do no know how many times my dad has told me stories of the guns my grandfather owned. One day my dad was in a gun store and saw a used rifle just like the one my grandfather owned, so he bought it. He then told me how my grandfather owned one just like it, but it had been lost by a family member.
A young man or woman in their 20s can buy themselves a Glock. Twenty years later when their children are grown, they can buy their children a Glock and tell them how it is just like the model they bought decades earlier.
Magazines
Glock has gone to great effort to make sure magazines of the same caliber are interchangeable.
A few weeks ago I bought a Springfield XDm 9mm. I figured magazines would be easy to find because the XD and XDm had been around for so long. Then I found that none of the 9mm magazines are interchangeable between the XD, XDm, and XDm mod 2.
What is the incentive in buying either an XD or XDm mod 2 if none of the magazines will interchange? Springfield, like so many other handgun companies, are handicapping themselves by not ensuring magazine interchangeability.
As long as I buy 9mm Glocks, the magazines should interchange. A single magazine will fit the Glock 17, 19, 26, and 34.
My Beretta 92f magazines will not fit the Beretta APX. Why should I buy a Beretta APX if I will have to buy a whole new line of magazines that will not fit anything else?
Aftermarket Parts
Besides the 1911 and AR-15, there is probably no other firearm on the market with so many aftermarket parts as the Glock.
- Night sights
- Lasers
- Lights
- Grips
- Extended magazine release
- Triggers
- Optics
The truth is we could go on all day about the parts.
Why Buy Anything Else
In all honesty, why buy anything besides a Glock?
Take Beretta for example. As much as I love Beretta, I can not ignore the fact that they took 30 years to release a polymer frame striker fired handgun. When the APX was finally released, Beretta ignored decades of 92f magazines that were already on the market. Overall, there is no incentive to buy an APX except to to have one.
I like buying new guns as much as the next guy. However, when it comes to standardization and training, Glock has given us several reasons not to buy anything else.
Therefore I ask, is Glock the perfect handgun company?
