In 1980, the Austrian Armed Forces announced that it would seek tenders for a new, modern duty pistol to replace their World War II–era Walther P38 handguns. Glock introduced ferritic nitrocarburizing into the firearms industry as an anticorrosion surface treatment for metal gun parts. Glock had extensive experience in advanced synthetic polymers, which was instrumental in the company's design of the first commercially successful line of pistols with a polymer frame. The company's founder, head engineer Gaston Glock, had no experience with firearms design or manufacture at the time their first pistol, the Glock 17, was being prototyped.

In 2020, the Glock 19 was the best selling pistol on. Glocks are also popular firearms among civilians for recreational and competition shooting, home- and self-defense, both in concealed or open carry. Glock pistols have become the company's most profitable line of products, and have been supplied to national armed forces, security agencies, and police forces in at least 48 countries. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after becoming the top performer in reliability and safety tests.

Glock (stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. Short recoil, locked breech, tilting barrel ( straight blowback for Glock 25, 28 and 44)

Glock 42 recall serial numbers