RIP Gaston Glock

When my department mandated the Glock 22 in 2000 I was skeptical - not about the caliber; that had already proven itself, at least anecdotally in my county (3 shootings, 3 ex-bad guys). The gun itself was my problem - I had only shot a G17 and that was many years before. I remember not really caring for the way it rode in my hand. Once I got ahold of the G22 I was sold! I loved everything about the way it worked and carried! I ended up hating the .40 though - I never shot it well and felt it was just too snappy. When I left LE I bought myself a G19 and later on a G26 and I haven't looked back! Thank you Gaston!
 
A darn fine engineer. He came out of the manufacturing industry, not the gun industry. But add his name to the list of great gun designers, for sure.
 
A darn fine engineer. He came out of the manufacturing industry, not the gun industry. But add his name to the list of great gun designers, for sure.
Gaston's Company made knives for the Austrian Military. He bought a plastic injection molding machine so he could make the handles in house. He was looking for other ways to use his new molding machine and caught wind that Austria was looking at new side arm designs. He designed and submitted the G17, and won the contract..and the rest is history. But he started out a knife maker..
 
Gaston's Company made knives for the Austrian Military. He bought a plastic injection molding machine so he could make the handles in house. He was looking for other ways to use his new molding machine and caught wind that Austria was looking at new side arm designs. He designed and submitted the G17, and won the contract..and the rest is history. But he started out a knife maker..
He was trained as an engineer at a technical institute in Vienna. He started as an engineer in a plant that made drills and worked up. He subsequently became manager of a company that made radiators for cars. He set up a metal press in his garage and started a side business making curtain rods and hardware. It was only subsequent to that history that he branched out into making knives and other equipment for the military. Then he invented his pistol.

He was an engineer.
 
End of an era. Glocks certainly are useful. It will be interesting to see if Glock’s products diversify in the next few years. Remember what happened to Apple when Jobs passed? Things changed.
 
RIP

Awesome pistols.

My father got this G27 for me when I graduated from academy in 2005. (Said he’d get me any pistol I wanted btw - I chose this because my Department uses .40 and because Glock).

Carried on and off duty essentially every day since then…

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Probably between 1-2 thousand rounds and only a single malfunction - when my first-time-shooter buddy limp-wristed a shot.
 
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