Saturday, November 27, 2010

Glock Revolution

And the secret of their sales success.

In the 80s the cops switched from .38 Special revolvers to semi-auto Glocks. It was quite dramatic. We all know the reasons. They perceived they were undergunned by criminals who had semi-autos that held a bit more than 6. There was also the thought that the 9mm was a more effective round than the .38. I don’t know why, it’s the same sized bullet and the +P .38 has more powder, don’t it?

Anyway. Semi-auto had been around a while, but the institutionally conservative cops waited this long to switch. I think the biggest unstated reason was… semi-auto RELIABILITY in the form of the Glock (and similar) had reached a comfort zone that police department decision makers (including the FBI) could be comfortable with. The Glock is about as simple to operate as a revolver, too, but if it had a reputation for jamming that other pistols had (fairly or unfairly) the police would still have revolvers. Cops aren’t shooters, they are cops. They hope to never in their career to have to fire a weapon for real, outside of qualification. So most of the time they forget about their sidearm. So a reliable weapon is critical, as the neglect for ignoring a more finicky pistol that needed more maintenance and attention to run flawlessly, could lead to a bad scene. So this new gun with no real baggage about bad performance establishes itself and get’s adopted and the culture of Law Enforcement changes.

Now the Glock is indeed a well made pistol. And that certainly helps. But I think the true secret few talk about that really makes the pistol is… the magazine. The magazine is the weak link in most semis, and have you looked at how well made those Glock mags are? The mag is the secret 11 herbs and spices on that gun. It is the true big upgrade that led to its success, is my theory and opinion.

7 comments:

JB Miller said...

I think you are right about the mags. Quality. Putting the precision manufacturing where it needs to be.

Keep the gun simple. Keep the mags high quality.

Old NFO said...

They were originally developed for military use, so they HAD to be reliable... A good friend of mine was setting up a SWAT team in a Southern city and got some Glock 17s for test. He fired over 5000 rounds through each with minimal FTF/FTEs so then bought them for all the SWAT team. That started at least that department on the change over. FWIW, I still have all my original mags I bought in 1987 and have only had to change springs, they all still work fine!

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Did you HAVE to change springs, or was it just prudent to do so, FO?

Tam said...

Actually, in the early days of the revolver-to-auto switchover, S&W ruled the roost, with Beretta and SIG duking it out for 2nd Place.

Glock didn't really hit its stride until the early '90s.

1st gen Glock mags (aka "non-drop-free" or "non-full-metal-lined") were wretched pieces of crap that would sometimes pop their floorplates off and vomit rounds all over the place when dropped on concrete...

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Well, there's a bit of history I didn't know.

What was S&W hocking back in them days? Those all metal semi autos with confusing 4-digit model numbers? I know that was the semi auto the FBI brought to the Miami shootout that changed everything. At least the one that brought semis.

Eric said...

The S&W Model 39 was the 9mm that got the Illinois State Police to switch to semi-autos.

JB Miller said...

I have a Smith & Wesson model 539 in 9mm. Great gun!