glock's AMERICAN conqueror?

​Here at the AFD we are perpetually on the lookout for new American-designed and manufactured firearms. It feels like what we need in this country is an equivalent of the Glock - not an adopted European design but a 100% American concept actualized and embraced by Americans, and ultimately by the rest of the world. We need a new John Browning. We were hard pushed this morning to come up with a recent American handgun that was NOT a spin-off of the Austrian monolith’s key characteristics of polymer, striker-fired, zero manual safety and double-action only. Has the handgun reached it’s zenith in the Glock and it’s myriad of copies? Is Glock the end of pistol innovation? Will there be nothing new other than an endless stream of polymer offspring hoping to become alpha male in a saturated market? Glock has become the default pistol when any perspective buyer is considering a new pistol purchase: they may look at the competition but I reckon 75% of the time they ultimately open their wallets for the Glock because of it’s popularity. But I’m old enough to remember when gunshop owners scoffed at it in the late 80’s, got curious in the 90’s, accepting of it in the 2000’s and are now snobbish of anything else in the teens. The current aftermarket offerings and customization possibilities are mind-boggling so it makes the market for any new engineer+investor duo looking to set up a new manufacturing outfit, extremely challenging! Knocking the pig off his midden is an unenviable task. 

Personally I don’t think that much of the Glock. It’s blocky, awkward in the hand and feels (in comparison to the 1911 or High Power) like pointing a brick or length of 2x4. I also don’t care for it’s inventor's resistance to utilizing a manual safety. Sure, it’s reliable as getout, but so are a dozen other pistols offered by CZ, Sig, H&K, Springfield, Bersa, Walther, Steyr, Ruger, Smith & Wesson etc etc etc. However, I do think the Glock epitomizes the lazy culture of the 21st century and sadly has found it’s place in movies and thereby via popular culture at the top of everyone’s wish list. So are we done?

We at the AFD don’t think so. We believe there is unrest underfoot and that an American innovator is on the verge of releasing the latest and greatest pistol to ever see the light of day. In fact it’s that time of year: as we approach the 2017 Shot Show there is always an air of anticipation. The question around Christmas is always what will be unveiled this year? Usually it’s another iteration of the 1911, AR or polymer pistol, or a gen 2 or 3 or 4 of something already on the shelves, or something left-field enough to cause a momentary buzz of excitement, but in the last few years I can’t think of anything that’s been a solid enough game changer to create a tsunami of press lasting out it’s launch-year and bump the Glock off it’s complacent pedestal. There is one glimmer of hope for the 2017 Vegas event though, a new company called Hudson is teasing us with a partially-revealed metal pistol (thank God someone finally has had the cahones to forego plastic) that sort of resembles a 1911 in svelteness and for what appears to be a grip safety, but also has the hammerless look of Brownings earlier iteration, yet with a slight beavertail and in 9mm….with a promising counter on their website they evoke all the childhood butterflies of Santa’s arrival, so could this be the birth of our next leader? We’re hoping. ED

---