I've got to be honest this is kind of a boring weapon design-wise it's ugly couple of rectangles overlapped like a gun drawn by a child and yet for some reason it's quite popular the Glock a polymer-framed pistol hailing from Austria and perhaps the most successful of the one the nines so how did an obscure Austrian plastic manufacturer have such an impact on the arms industry what was so special about Glocks design and are they really invisible to x-rays during World War two Austrian service pistol was the Walther p38 made perfectly serviceable semi-auto pistol and it retained its role for some time after the war however by the late 1970s there were better alternatives and the Austrian Armed Forces began seeking a replacement pistol in 1980 the most likely contender at this time was the Steyr G be designed in 1968 and boasting some novel features but it faced stiff competition from other European manufacturers such as beretta and Sig Sauer but surely the Austrians would select a homegrown weapon and steyr were pretty much the only Austrian arms manufacturer going it was a shoe-in however there was an outsider a man named Gaston Glock he was the founder of a small manufacturing company based in Deutsche varam that made polymer products originally curtain rods and doorknobs by the late 1970s Glock had found a niche in products for the military entrenching tools knives and disintegrating links they'd never made any firearms before but when Glock caught wind of the upcoming tender for a replacement pistol he decided to design his own he was guided by the standard set by the Austrian Ministry of Defence the new weapon had to be a nine-millimeter semi-automatic ambidextrous drop safe easy to maintain and of simple interchangeable construction unhindered by any preconception or existing tooling this was an entirely new pistol designed to an exacting specification he called it the Glock 17 as it was his 17th invention that its magazine capacity was 17 rounds was serendipity in 1982 Glock submitted his handgun designed to the Austrian military for testing where it would be up against heavyweights such as six hours p2 22:26 18 KS p7 and the Beretta 92 the price was an order of 25,000 units and somehow the rank up cider clinched it Glocks design proved its capability outperforming all of its rivals now the Americans had just settled on the Beretta so news of a javert Oh unknown name in firearms beating established manufacturers was surprising to say the least there was concern that the high-capacity magazine would prove useful for criminals and that the plastic frame would be invisible on airport x-ray machines it was described as tailor-made for terrorists however most of these fears were unfounded the metal components of the Glock are still quite recognizable as a firearm and by now high-capacity weapons were the norm eventually the resistance to the Glock dissipated after all you can't keep a good design down and more and more police and military forces realized the Glocks potential with the weapon seeing rapid adoption throughout the 1990s the plastic pistol from Austria was ready for the silver screen diehard too wasn't the first film the Glock made an appearance in but it's probably the first memorable one the fictional Glock 7 is described as a porcelain gun made in Germany that doesn't show up on your airport x-ray machines and costs more than what you make in a month the quote is wrong on almost every count but the gun was new and it was cool as its popularity surged the Glock became an increasingly common sight often seen in the hands of fictional law enforcement such as in Robocop 3 the fugitive and Beverly Hills Cop three fellow Austrian Arnold Schwarzenegger was reportedly a fan and the Glock makes an appearance in True Lies eraser an end of days even the word Glock itself became a byword for firepower a frequent referencing gangster-rap such as Ice T's OG Original Gangster dr. Dre's lemme ride and ice cubes you know how we do it right from the stop the pistol has refused stereotyped civilian police military terrorist gangbanger the Glock is for everyone this universal appeal was helped by a large number of variants model numbers starting with the 17 and ascending the glock 18 they fully automatic machine pistol the 19 with compact frame 20 made for the heart hitting 10 mil auto round 21 in 45 acp the 22 23 and 24 in 40 Smith & Wesson 25 in 380 acp and the 26 a subcompact Glock in nine-millimeter ideal for concealed carry the list goes on the whole range of calibers a whole range of sizes despite some issues with the earlier 40 Cal models mostly a consequence of hotter than usual rounds Glocks original design is proven quite adaptable and today the pistol for everyone is everywhere naturally this means they're a popular choice for video games and the Glock is one of the more attainable weapons within a typical arsenal however being a pistol it's often sidelined to a secondary role a backup to your SMG