Glock P80 Pistol 9mm

In the early 1980s, the Austrian Ministry of Defense proceeded with the modernization of the Austrian Armed Forces through an invitation to tender for a new service pistol, which it designated as “Pistole 80” or “P80”. The required self-defense pistol had to have a reduced weight, the highest level of reliability, and safe and simple operation.

Gaston Glock recognized his great opportunity and saw a clear target before him: to design an innovative pistol that could be efficiently manufactured, and simple and safe to handle. To this end, he founded GLOCK GmbH in 1980. In addition to his trusted colleague of many years, Reinhold Hirschheiter, he recruited a small group of capable designers and embarked on the realization of his idea.

He analyzed the pistols on the market, studied their patents and promptly left traditional ways of design and manufacturing methods behind. His credo was: “On the way to perfection every challenge has to be accepted”. Gaston Glock didn’t want to improve on the old standards, instead he wanted to create something truly innovative.