I have friends who talk about Glocks as being the be all and end all of the gun world. While I respect the Glock for revolutionizing the market place and peoples minds for buying "Tupperware," it is by no means an original design.
Polymers have been used in pistols and rifles for years. Heck, in 1959 the Remington Nylon 66 22 rifle was produced It's stock was made of "Zytel" which is currently used in a bunch of Ruger and other pistol frames. This is long before the Glock introduction in 1983/1984. Striker fired weapons have been around for many, many years, at least since the early 1900's and possibly much earlier. One of the earliest striker fired pistols was the Dresye 1907 model pistol.
The first polymer framed pistol is generally accepted to be Heckler and Kochs VP70. Hk's VP70 was introduced in 1970, 13+ years before Glocks hit the market. The VP70 was a semi-auto pistol until a shoulder stock was attached, in which case a mechanism was actuated that allowed it to fire in 3 round bursts. A civilian version was made without the three round burst capability.
Glocks other claim to fame is its "Safe Action." Almost all modern guns have a firing pin safety to prevent accidental discharge when dropped. And let's face it.. a safety built onto a trigger is just useless. How is a safety on a trigger supposed to prevent the gun from firing when most people will have their fingers on the trigger when pointing the gun at something.
So, the moral to my story is Glocks are great pistols, but are not the revolution in technology Glock owners think they were.
