6 ms·

Good firearms, yes. Up there with Browning and Stoner...? I don't think so. What incredible design did he invent?

oldpersonintx 3y ago
He made the polymer pistol work and created an entire industry. Polymer pistols won, everyone makes them now. Polymer not only saves weight and cost, but also provides deformity under the stress of firing which absorbs some energy rather than sending it through your wrist. Glock is now a platform - with patent expiration, Glock is now like 1911 with many manufacturers supporting interchange with Glock parts. Even with many "pretty" pistols in my collection like Staccatos...I still trust the Glock 43 as my EDC and it has been flawless even with junk discount ball ammo. its not a contest...Browning and Stoner are legends too
- sparrish 3y ago
  I agree he put together some great lightweight, reliable pistols. He wasn't the first to use polymer (H&K 12 years earlier) and no great leaps forward in engineering like Browning or Stoner. His accomplishments are to be celebrated but he's just not on par with either of those legends.
tnmom 3y ago
I have a bunch of guns. They’re all fun to shoot. But damn, if I need to choose one to use when it matters, it’s always going to be a Glock. They just always work, every time.
- sparrish 3y ago
  Agreed. Solid performers and reliable. Crap triggers though.
  - SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
    The new performance trigger is actually quite nice.
samstave 3y ago
>What incredible design did he invent Cop love. Thug love. The glock made the gun, an arguably rudimentary mechanical contraction, relatively speaking, sexy, high-tech/futuristic and TACTICAL COUTURE was made a thing - then you have 5.11 - and the ramp up with all sorts of other tacctical couture lifestyle brands (triple aught, etc) Now you have tactical couture coffee in Black Rifle (which ads a veneer of "giving back" to the tactically couture marketing siphon that occurs in all industries...(the marketing siphon is in all industries) Recall when Robo Cop came out and Ford did the placement of the Ford Taurus as the cop car in RoboCop - it made it look 'futuristic, yet based in reality. All of a sudden the ford Taurus entered the police wardrobe. (Have you noticed that police talk about lack of funds, low pay, and have robocallers asking for donations, yet you've never seen a dirty, old police cruiser of any sort. They rock brand new ford whatevers all the time. For every explorer/expedition style made, like 30% of the yield of those lines go to LEO. @zikduruqe Yeah that was a part of my point.
- zikduruqe 3y ago
  > then you have 5.11 5.11 used to be rock climbing gear by Royal Robbins. Then the FBI cadets started wearing them. Now they are tacticool clothes worn by all the LARPers and chairborne commandos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.11_Tactical https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.11_Tactical
  - korse 3y ago
    Interesting. I've been wearing Royal Robbins pants for years and actually ended up with a pair of 5.11 pants that I think are excellent. I'm not surprised that there is a connection. Screw the branding, but I spend a whole lot of time being active outside and really like clothing that is durable and moves very well.
jibe 3y ago
I'm upvoting you, because I think it is a legit question. He didn't invent striker fired pistols, or the use of polymer construction, but it was the Glock that took it from an oddball design, to 80%+ marketshare. Before the Glock, and it was a totally different world; heavy steel double and single action hammer fired pistols. Glock turned that upside down. He was amazingly influential. Maybe not as an inventor, but as a designer/engineer.
- twic 3y ago
  The Steve Jobs of handguns?
- sparrish 3y ago
  Agreed that he took what so many other engineers did and made a great reliable pistol (with a crap trigger) from them. His accomplishments are worth celebrating but he's no Browning or Stoner.
serf 3y ago
a particular form of automatic pistol, for one. his list of patents is pretty impressive.[0] [0]: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/gaston-glock?page=2 https://patents.justia.com/inventor/gaston-glock?page=2
- sparrish 3y ago
  They are many but not impressive. Small changes on other inventors' designs. Nothing akin to Browning or Stoner.
  - jibe 3y ago
    Maybe analgous to Steve Jobs and the Mac? H&K is Xerox. Glock is not the inventor, but the person who saw the future, put it together in a commercially appealing package, and totally changed the market.
graphe 3y ago
He popularized plastics in weapons, after him plastic became a standard. I don't think either is in leagues with browning.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  You don't credit Stoner with that? Granted, glocks are more plastic than the AR-15.
  - graphe 3y ago
    No, plastic or fiberglass stocks aren't innovative the way a plastic receiver is. The Glock 44 in 22lr also has a plastic slide.
- jibe 3y ago
  Browning is without a doubt the #1 most important/influential. His impact went beyond handguns as well. My case for putting Glock with Browning is that Browning influenced handguns were the dominant design for a 100 years, but they have been largely replaced over the last 30 years by Glock influenced designs. If you look at handguns today, Glock is the most impactful person.

He made the polymer pistol work and created an entire industry. Polymer pistols won, everyone makes them now. Polymer not only saves weight and cost, but also provides deformity under the stress of firing which absorbs some energy rather than sending it through your wrist. Glock is now a platform - with patent expiration, Glock is now like 1911 with many manufacturers supporting interchange with Glock parts. Even with many "pretty" pistols in my collection like Staccatos...I still trust the Glock 43 as my EDC and it has been flawless even with junk discount ball ammo. its not a contest...Browning and Stoner are legends too

sparrish 3y ago
I agree he put together some great lightweight, reliable pistols. He wasn't the first to use polymer (H&K 12 years earlier) and no great leaps forward in engineering like Browning or Stoner. His accomplishments are to be celebrated but he's just not on par with either of those legends.

tnmom 3y ago

I have a bunch of guns. They’re all fun to shoot. But damn, if I need to choose one to use when it matters, it’s always going to be a Glock. They just always work, every time.

sparrish 3y ago
Agreed. Solid performers and reliable. Crap triggers though.
- SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
  The new performance trigger is actually quite nice.

samstave 3y ago

>What incredible design did he invent Cop love. Thug love. The glock made the gun, an arguably rudimentary mechanical contraction, relatively speaking, sexy, high-tech/futuristic and TACTICAL COUTURE was made a thing - then you have 5.11 - and the ramp up with all sorts of other tacctical couture lifestyle brands (triple aught, etc) Now you have tactical couture coffee in Black Rifle (which ads a veneer of "giving back" to the tactically couture marketing siphon that occurs in all industries...(the marketing siphon is in all industries) Recall when Robo Cop came out and Ford did the placement of the Ford Taurus as the cop car in RoboCop - it made it look 'futuristic, yet based in reality. All of a sudden the ford Taurus entered the police wardrobe. (Have you noticed that police talk about lack of funds, low pay, and have robocallers asking for donations, yet you've never seen a dirty, old police cruiser of any sort. They rock brand new ford whatevers all the time. For every explorer/expedition style made, like 30% of the yield of those lines go to LEO. @zikduruqe Yeah that was a part of my point.

zikduruqe 3y ago
> then you have 5.11 5.11 used to be rock climbing gear by Royal Robbins. Then the FBI cadets started wearing them. Now they are tacticool clothes worn by all the LARPers and chairborne commandos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.11_Tactical https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.11_Tactical
- korse 3y ago
  Interesting. I've been wearing Royal Robbins pants for years and actually ended up with a pair of 5.11 pants that I think are excellent. I'm not surprised that there is a connection. Screw the branding, but I spend a whole lot of time being active outside and really like clothing that is durable and moves very well.

jibe 3y ago

I'm upvoting you, because I think it is a legit question. He didn't invent striker fired pistols, or the use of polymer construction, but it was the Glock that took it from an oddball design, to 80%+ marketshare. Before the Glock, and it was a totally different world; heavy steel double and single action hammer fired pistols. Glock turned that upside down. He was amazingly influential. Maybe not as an inventor, but as a designer/engineer.

twic 3y ago
The Steve Jobs of handguns?
sparrish 3y ago
Agreed that he took what so many other engineers did and made a great reliable pistol (with a crap trigger) from them. His accomplishments are worth celebrating but he's no Browning or Stoner.

serf 3y ago

a particular form of automatic pistol, for one. his list of patents is pretty impressive.[0] [0]: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/gaston-glock?page=2 https://patents.justia.com/inventor/gaston-glock?page=2

sparrish 3y ago
They are many but not impressive. Small changes on other inventors' designs. Nothing akin to Browning or Stoner.
- jibe 3y ago
  Maybe analgous to Steve Jobs and the Mac? H&K is Xerox. Glock is not the inventor, but the person who saw the future, put it together in a commercially appealing package, and totally changed the market.

graphe 3y ago

He popularized plastics in weapons, after him plastic became a standard. I don't think either is in leagues with browning.

lupusreal 3y ago
You don't credit Stoner with that? Granted, glocks are more plastic than the AR-15.
- graphe 3y ago
  No, plastic or fiberglass stocks aren't innovative the way a plastic receiver is. The Glock 44 in 22lr also has a plastic slide.
jibe 3y ago
Browning is without a doubt the #1 most important/influential. His impact went beyond handguns as well. My case for putting Glock with Browning is that Browning influenced handguns were the dominant design for a 100 years, but they have been largely replaced over the last 30 years by Glock influenced designs. If you look at handguns today, Glock is the most impactful person.