Gaston Glock – Polymer Pioneer
Gaston Glock is known for creating one of the most well-known firearms in the world. But what many people don’t know is that he didn’t start as a gun designer. He began his company in 1963 with his wife Helga, producing curtain rods, knives, hand grenades, machine gun belts, and entrenching tools for the Austrian Army. His career in firearms design started in 1981 when Glock overheard Austrian Army commanders complaining they lacked a pistol that met their specifications. Glock told them he would build them one, and they laughed in his face. People who knew Herr Glock will tell you not to laugh at him; he takes it personally. Glock took a year to design the polymer-framed, recoil-operated, semi-automatic Model 17 pistol, stating that his lack of firearms knowledge was an advantage. In 1982, he applied for the Austrian patent for his Model 17 pistol, and in 1983, he was awarded a contract for 25,000 pistols for the Austrian Army. In 1985, Glock opened a U.S. subsidiary in Smyrna, GA, and now has the most significant chunk of the Law Enforcement Market.
During the 1990s, Glock put some record labels on notice to stop using the Glock Name in its Gangsta rap songs, and many complied. In 1997, Glock sued Smith & Wesson for patent infringement for its “Sigma” pistol, aka the “Glock & Wesson.” The suit was settled out of court when S&W agreed to alter the Sigma and pay Glock undisclosed damages. In 1999, Glock’s longtime business associate Charles Ewert hired former French mercenary Jacques Pecheur to murder Glock to cover up his embezzlement of millions from the Glock Corporation! Ewert took him to a Luxembourg parking garage to look at a sports car when a man came out of the shadows and attacked Glock. Glock, who was always physically fit, swimming miles daily, managed to fend off the hitman even after being struck in the head with a hammer seven times! The hitman received 17 years and Ewert 20. Glock would later say that the attack was the best thing that ever happened to me. “Otherwise, I would have gone on trusting Ewert.”
In 2008, Glock suffered a stroke and ended up romantically involved with his nurse, who was 50 years his junior. By 2010, Glock allegedly locked his wife out of the house and fired all his three children from the company. He divorced his wife in 2011, married his nurse Kathrin, and has been in litigation ever since.
Mrs. Glock filed a lawsuit in 2014 claiming that Gaston had placed corporate assets into Shell companies and stolen the business she and her children helped create. Herr Glock owns 99% of the company, which was put into a trust estimated to be worth about $2 billion. The suit was dismissed by an Atlanta judge in 2017.
In 2014, Herr Glock purchased a $15 million horse for his new wife, Kathrin, hoping the Horse would strike gold in the 2016 Olympics. It is rumored to be the highest price ever paid for a show horse. Kathrin is the CEO of the Glock Horse Performance Center in Austria. Oh yes, Glock also makes horses!
Glock currently has over 50 pistol models in its product line, with sales of $500 million per year worldwide and a 65% market share of handgun sales in the U.S. Herr Glock passed away on December 27, 2023, at 94, leaving behind an estimated $1.1 billion net worth, according to a 2021 Forbes ranking.