Glock, Inc. was founded by Gaston Glock in 1963 in Deutsch-Wagram, near
Vienna. The company was to specialize in
manufacturing durable
plastic and
steel parts. Soon after, Glock realized that the combination of plastic and steel were able to produce lightweight, yet very durable products suitable for military applications. Glock began a contract with the
Austrian army and supplied it with such things as
machine gun ammunition belts, field knives, shovels, and more.
Early in the 1980s the Austrian military put out a bid for a new duty pistol, and Glock was invited to participate. This would be the first time Glock would design and produce a firearm. The new pistol had a polymer frame, which made it very light-weight, and had the highest magazine capacity of any pistol in the same class. Glock did away with any external safety devices and designed 3 internal safeties which didn't have to be operated by the user, as they were all automatically deactivated when the trigger was pulled. Glock designated their new 9mm pistol the Glock 17. The Austrian military, after testing all of the firearms submitted, chose Glock's. It soon became the standard duty pistol for Austria's military, and Austria's law enforcement authorities.
With the Glock 17, Glock, Inc. began its successful venture into the service pistol industry. Through aggressive marketing and low pricing, Glock, Inc. has been able to make its pistol line one of the most used in law enforcement around the world. As of today, they have produced many models, which are (chambering, pistol size):
Glock 17 (9mm Luger, full size)
Glock 17L (9mm Luger, competition)
Glock 17T (9mm Luger, trainer)
Glock 18 (9mm Luger, full size, select fire machine pistol)
Glock 19 (9mm Luger, compact)
Glock 20 (10mm, full size)
Glock 21 (.45 ACP, full size)
Glock 22 (.40 S&W, full size)
Glock 23 (.40 S&W, compact)
Glock 25 (.380 ACP, full size)
Glock 26 (9mm Luger, sub-compact)
Glock 27 (.40 S&W, sub-compact)
Glock 28 (.380 ACP, sub-compact)
Glock 29 (10mm, sub-compact)
Glock 30 (.45 ACP, sub-compact)
Glock 31 (.357 SIG, full size)
Glock 32 (.357 SIG, compact)
Glock 33 (.357 SIG, sub-compact)
Glock 34 (9mm Luger, IPSC-sized)
Glock 35 (.40 S&W, IPSC-sized)
Glock 36 (.45 ACP, sub-compact)
Glock 37 (.45 GAP, full size)
Glock 38 (.45 GAP, compact)
Glock 39 (.45 GAP, sub-compact)
Sources: www.glock.com, www.glockfaq.com