First English review of the GLOCK Pistol, October 1984 SOF Article. - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - First English review of the GLOCK Pistol, October 1984 SOF Article.

Posted: 2/26/2021 11:06:33 AM EDT

Here is the only Austrian issued GLOCK P80 in the US. It is at the Smithsonian Museum.

As a bonus, here is the 1986 Gun Digest review of the GLOCK 17. This is the first review of the US release of the GLOCK.

Here's the first article on the .40 S&W chambered GLOCKs too published in Shooting Times' November 1990 issue.

Here's my GLOCK P80 reproduction just for fun.

The GLOCK is now ho-hum handgun. But I remember when GLOCK pistols were out of this world revolutionarily different. Honestly, I am still in that mindset where to me, the GLOCK is the benchmark that all other handguns should strive towards. Yes, I still enjoy my S&W 3rd Gens and Beretta 92 DA/SA line of guns. I love revolvers, 1911s, and Hi-Powers too. But GLOCK has been and always will be my go to gun for anything and everything serious.

Gaston's plastic fantastic really did changed what was considered the industry standard and flipped the apple cart.

I'm a GLOCK Diehard and I'll never go to something else. Sure, the HK came out prior to GLOCK and the HS2000 came out after. One was a flop but tried new markets and the other is a well made competitor. But GLOCK is the Goldilocks of pistols. It really got everything right and since then, everyone has tried to dethrone it by copying it.

Posted: 2/26/2021 8:30:12 PM EDT

[#1]

Great stuff that takes me back.

Kokalis passing around that inaccurate "It's a Glock 17 becuz it holds 17 bullets!" jive. Though he had an absolutely amazing collection of firearms, particularly machineguns. Wonder what happened to them all when he passed away a couple years ago.

Love them or hate them, Glocks and all the polymer guns that came afterward put a quality handgun within reach of everyone.

Posted: 2/26/2021 8:53:21 PM EDT

[#2]

Awesome post, takes me back to my middle teen years (and before) when I was reading gun magazines and dreaming of the guns I would someday be able to own when I was an adult and moved out of my parents house (they were not exactly anti-gun but were also not gun owners).

He was certainly not wrong about the impact Glock had on the US market and the world handgun market in general.

Posted: 2/26/2021 9:00:37 PM EDT

[#3]

Thanks for post.

I'm gonna read it this weekend.

Posted: 2/26/2021 11:08:00 PM EDT

[#4]

So that article was written in 1984, almost 40 years ago, and STILL no one has unseated GLOCK as the gold standard of police/combat guns, not to mention carry guns.

Posted: 2/26/2021 11:20:14 PM EDT

[#5]

At the time I read the articles there was a gunshop in London, advertising the new amazing Glock 9mm pistol.
It came with 2 magazines, a plastic holster and IIRC a take-down tool or some other gizmo./
Asking price was £217

The number of times I saw the ad., but never bought one as nobody else I knew had even seen one let alone tried/fired one.
Ended up with a post-war P38 from my mate Fred's widow after he died, shortly after...he was a character. Served in the Durham Light Infantry as an officer in WW2, then spent time in the Army Commando's later in the war - inc. Monte Cassino.
Was just settling into post-war civilian life before he was dragged back to do some more time in khaki for the Korean War.
I'd still have the pistol if they'd not been banned here - as when I was in the gun trade I had the last all steel P38 frame at the importers put on the gun, plus the sights changed to older WW2 style ones.

It would still have been interesting to own one of the first Glocks in the UK though....

Posted: 2/26/2021 11:20:53 PM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
So that article was written in 1984, almost 40 years ago, and STILL no one has unseated GLOCK as the gold standard of police/combat guns, not to mention carry guns.

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Many have tried to dethrone the Combat Tupperware but all have failed. The only thing that has happened is the Plastic Fantastic set the standard for what a modern pistol should be.

Posted: 2/26/2021 11:26:08 PM EDT

[#7]

Quote History

Quoted:
Many have tried to dethrone the Combat Tupperware but all have failed. The only thing that has happened is the Plastic Fantastic set the standard for what a modern pistol should be.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
So that article was written in 1984, almost 40 years ago, and STILL no one has unseated GLOCK as the gold standard of police/combat guns, not to mention carry guns.

Many have tried to dethrone the Combat Tupperware but all have failed. The only thing that has happened is the Plastic Fantastic set the standard for what a modern pistol should be.

The market is much more diverse, for sure, but there's GLOCK, and then there's everything else.

Posted: 2/27/2021 9:59:26 AM EDT

[#8]

LOVE the history lessons, Miami! Keep 'em coming.

Posted: 2/27/2021 11:43:57 AM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
LOVE the history lessons, Miami! Keep 'em coming.

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+1

Posted: 2/27/2021 3:37:16 PM EDT

[#10]

Awesome post ??

Posted: 2/27/2021 6:48:22 PM EDT

[#11]

Thanks Miami. It reminded me what I already knew, and what I forgot.

I was first introduced to Glock mid 80's at a NATO training range.
My unit still fielded Browning .45 acp, a few in different flavors.

Our first Sargent asked us if we wanted to shoot a plastic gun.
We thought he was BS'ing us.

Glock was in my head afterward. I returned from Asia to US some years later
and found Glock in Rod n Gun club on the base. Been buying G19's
ever since (except past few years-AR's have been my disease lately).

But, I did manage to collect a very wide variety of G19's. Early production to 2016.
I think the very early G17 and G19 bting biggest buck. Especially what I paid
many years ago when 9mm was NOT in vogue.

i could cash in if I wanted.

Posted: 3/1/2021 12:09:58 AM EDT

[#12]

I remember, I transfered from our off-shore division to our refining division March of 1989 and one of the machinery techs there told me about a new pistol, polymer pistol, that he just got. I laughed at him and said it would never make it, as I was a die hard 1911 and Ruger fan at that time.

Little did I know....still the king of combat handguns 40 years later. I dont think anyone will make a better pistol in my lifetime

Posted: 3/1/2021 11:36:06 AM EDT

[#13]

I drove about 20 miles to a Friend’s house to shoot a very early Glock 17. The pistol belonged to my Friend’s uncle who was a military and gun collector. I shot the Glock 17 next to my Browning Hi Power with small sights and thumb safety. I was very impressed with the Glock 17 and thought it would be a better service pistol compared to the P-35 Hi Power. A couple weeks later a FFL friend went to a gun show in Louisville Ky and came home with a new Glock 17. My Friend hated sub calibers and second guessed his purchase of the Glock 17 for months. He is probably one of biggest Glockaholics I know. His original 17 had a very low serial number AD*** or something similar. We figure that 17 has digested 50,000 9 mm’s at a minimum. We always shot reloads and cast a lot of our own bullets. Most of the ammo shot in his 17 was hard cast reloads.

I remember one day we were shooting at 100 yards and I was shooting at a bowling pin with my Mini 14 and couldn’t hit it. My Friend hit the bowling pin on his first or second shot with his Glock 17. He still has his original Glock 17 but I traded my Mimi 14 a short time later.