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Originally Posted by Walt Sherrill
{Glock}Didn't rely on a bunch of BIG GOVERNMENT MILITARY CONTRACTS
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Originally Posted by SNYPER
They've actually had many Govt contracts, and were first designed for the Austrian military
Glock pistols have become the company's most profitable line of products, commanding 65% of the market share of handguns for United States law enforcement agencies as well as supplying numerous national armed forces and security agencies worldwide. |
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Lots of GOVERNMENT contracts, but not a lot of BIG GOVERNMENT MILITARY CONTRACTS...
As best I can tell, only Austria, Sweden, Britain, Romania, Venezuela, Uruguay, Yemen, and Finland have arrmed forces using Glocks, although small units in other military (including the US) also use some Glocks. (I may have missed one or two, but the numbers of handguns issued would be small.)
Of those listed, only Britain has what might be considered a LARGE military -- with an Army that totals maybe 300,000 counting reserves; Britain only recently started moving to Glocks, having begun phasing out their aging BHPs. The armed forces of those other countries are quite modest in size.
Keep in mind, too, that only a relatively small percentage of any of these troops would routinely be issued handguns.
The bulk of Glock's institutional business has been to Police organizations at the national, state, local levels around the world. Glock has sold A LOT to those organizations. Handguns, generally, are the standard issue weapon.
My point was that none of the military purchases came CLOSE to what the U.S. purchased when they ordered M9s from Beretta (almost 500,000 after Vietnam, and more in subsequent purchases), or (1.7 milllion) 1911s from a number of different suppliers in WWII.