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. He not only met the military’s specifications, he exceeded them by creating new approaches to pistol design and manufacturing processes. As an example, one essential innovation resulted from his experience in the use of polymers in manufacturing. Instead of a metal receiver that required complex milling, he relied on his core competencies and implemented a receiver produced through injection molded polymer. At the time, this was a completely new and bold approach. The enormous physical loads inherent in a firearm required a special design, which Gaston Glock meticulously developed and implemented.

In order to meet the Ministry of Defense’s short deadline, perfect coordination of the idea, design and immediate implementation in the toolmaking shop was crucial for success. Supported by his team, Gaston Glock worked on the pistol’s development day and night and, in record time, designed a technically revolutionary pistol system that was also incredible for its brilliant simplicity. The GLOCK P80 was born!