When Austrian inventor Gaston Glock developed the first Glock pistol in 1982, he likely didn’t fully understand the revolution he was about to create in the firearms world. In 1983, Glock’s durable new polymer-framed, striker-fired, safe-action pistol was accepted by the Austrian Army as their new service sidearm. In 1984, the Glock 17 passed the rigorous NATO durability test with flying colors and was adopted by the Norwegian Army as their standard sidearm.
When Austrian inventor Gaston Glock developed the first Glock pistol in 1982, he likely didn’t fully understand the revolution he was about to create in the firearms world. In 1983, Glock’s durable new polymer-framed, striker-fired, safe-action pistol was accepted by the Austrian Army as their new service sidearm. In 1984, the Glock 17 passed the rigorous NATO durability test with flying colors and was adopted by the Norwegian Army as their standard sidearm.
Militaries and police agencies around the world began to take note. The Glock 17 hit the US market around 1986 and despite meeting initial skepticism and ridicule as a plastic gun, some clever marketing got Glock pistols into the hands of several of America’s prominent police organizations, and the durable, accurate, reliable, and inexpensive plastic fantastic caught on like wildfire. Within the next dozen years, the Glock pistol had become the standard sidearm for the majority of police and military organizations around the world. At one point, nearly all US law enforcement organizations had adopted the Glock pistol as their chosen platform. This led to widespread popularity among armed citizens, competition shooters, collectors, and general firearms enthusiasts as well. As a result of Glock’s unique balance of performance and value, more Glock pistols have been sold than any other handgun ever made, with recent estimates numbering total Glock sales topping the 20 million mark globally.
But how about lately? Many firearms enthusiasts, influencers, YouTubers, and journalists have stated that Glock’s stodgy refusal to innovate over the years is causing them to lose customers to other brands. Whenever Glock comes out with a Shiny New Model, it’s inevitably a very mildly different configuration of the same basic Glock pistol that the company has been selling for 4 decades. That consistency has built a legacy of widespread Glock adoption by the world’s militaries, law enforcement organizations, and civilian shooters alike. Still, the bottom line is that Glock doesn’t offer some features that today’s shooters (and law enforcement/military contracts) are asking for. With all the other choices on the market today, it’s worth asking whether Gaston’s company has still got it, or whether Glock is in danger of diminishing. Let’s start by looking at the lucrative and influential law-enforcement market.
Does Glock still dominate the law-enforcement pistol market?
Yes, but Glock’s market share has dropped somewhat over the past decade. For many years, Glock has supported its Blue Label pricing model, with significant discounts on pistols available to current and retired law enforcement (LE) officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, and qualified military personnel. This is in addition to Glock’s direct sales to law-enforcement agencies, a market in which Glock has historically been strongly dominant since the early 1990s, as mentioned above.
However, some law-enforcement-oriented pistol trainers have noted that Glock’s domination of this market seems to be diminishing a little recently. Other handgun brands are showing up in cops’ holsters, due to lots of market pressure from Glock’s competitors, including SIG, Smith & Wesson, H&K, CZ, FN, and more. Some FFLs we’ve spoken to tell us that in years past, Glock’s law-enforcement/Blue Label dealers would be regularly sold out on the popular models used by police officers, especially the Glock 17, Glock 19, and Glock 34. In some cases, that high demand has now slowed, with those same dealers often having multiple Blue Label Glocks in stock, and not due to increased shipments. They’ve told us that the Glocks just aren’t selling quite as strongly as they did in the past, when there was essentially no serious competition for the law-enforcement pistol market.
However, this is not to say that Glock is even close to dropping to second-place in popularity as a duty sidearm among America’s law enforcement agencies and special police units. Recent credible estimates suggest that between 40% and 65% of US law enforcement agencies still provide or specify Glock pistols for their officers. (Some recent industry scuttlebutt claims that Glock representatives have shown figures as high as 74%.) From what we’ve read and observed, the 65% figure seems credible. Chances are, even in the past couple of years, if you look at the pistol in your local police officer’s holster, it’s going to be a Glock.
But for the sake of argument, let’s take the most conservative estimate of 40% as a talking point. 40% of the law-enforcement market sure doesn’t sound like a majority, right? But you have to understand that if 40% of LE organizations choose Glock (and as noted, most experts estimate the figure to be significantly higher), that’s still the largest chunk of the market held by a single company, by far. SIG firearms are estimated to be in use by around 30% of US law-enforcement agencies (and that includes rifles and carbines), with the other manufacturers vying for their piece of that tasty LE handgun market having to scrabble for their piece of the remaining 30%. Remember, that’s assuming that in this thought exercise, Glock currently owns only 40% of the LE market, and most experts believe the number to be significantly higher. In short Glock is still Glock, and is still by far the first choice for law enforcement organizations. That’s not to say that it will still be the case 20 or 30 years from now, but currently, Glock remains the top choice and will likely be so for the near future.
Is Glock losing its hold on the consumer market?
Technically speaking, yes. However, there are some important caveats to discuss. As in the law enforcement market, at one point, Glock controlled nearly 100% of the striker-fired polymer pistol market for civilians as well. There simply weren’t any other options if you wanted this particular configuration of handgun, which Glock helped to make so popular among CCW licensees, competitors, recreational shooters, collectors, and those looking for a reliable, reasonably priced striker-fired polymer handgun for home defense. To this day, the majority of gun shop counter staff, when asked by a potential customer the question What pistol should I get? The answer will be a Glock 19.
Glock wasn’t the first polymer-framed pistol, but it cannot be denied that Glock developed the first commercially successful polymer-framed pistol and completely revolutionized the industry. Glock changed the game in the law-enforcement and self-defense handgun market, and for a long time, there really weren’t many other good options if you wanted an extremely reliable, extremely durable, easy-to-disassemble, easy-to-use defensive pistol, especially with a striker-fired trigger system. Over the decades, there have been multiple other options coming to light, some of which have equalled or even surpassed Glock in some features and capabilities. So of course, it stands to reason that Glock has lost some of its market share, since its share of the market was close to total at one point. Anything less than 100% market share is technically less than it was before, so Glock’s domination over this category is indeed lower than it was previously.
Whether that loss of market share is something that Glock fans (or Glock, Inc.) need to worry about… that’s another issue.
Glock aftermarket support is unparalleled…which is actually a problem
Glock is well-known for not innovating and essentially producing the same product over and over in slightly different variations. This helped establish Glock as a top firearms manufacturer because agencies and commercial customers always knew what to expect, year after year. However, by keeping things so similar for so long, Glock effectively shot itself in its proverbial foot, because their commitment to their single core design has allowed aftermarket Glock firearms companies to move into the Glock market and take some business away from Glock, Inc. There are literally hundreds of aftermarket parts, holsters, and accessories manufacturers that make products for Glock pistols. And since the expiration of the original Glock design patents, multiple firearms manufacturers now offer complete pistols in the Glock pattern, with no single part manufactured by Glock. If other companies can make their own versions of Glock pistols, potentially with some upgrades the market has asked for but Glock has been reluctant to provide—and at a lower price—Glock has some potentially big issues to address.
Glock has recently discontinued multiple models due to slowing sales
This kind of thing is relatively common in any manufacturer of goods, but in early April 2025 Glock announced that it would be discontinuing several of its pistol models to streamline their portfolio for a stronger future. Glock fans may be sad to see some of these pistols relegated to the history books, but from a practical and financial standpoint it makes sense to cull models from your product line that aren’t selling well. Glock fanboys may hold nostalgia for a certain model or caliber, but the sales numbers don’t lie. If a particular configuration is not selling enough units to make it worth the company’s while in maintaining support, parts, and inventory, then it should be moved aside for products that do sell consistently well or which better fit the company’s vision for the future.
Discontinued Glock pistol models as of April 2025
There may be exceptions for special law enforcement clients or government/military contract runs, but for the commercial market, the following pistols in the stated configuration will be discontinued from Glock’s lineup.
- G17 – Gen4 (9mm)
- G17 MOS – Gen4 | Gen5 (9mm)
- G17L – Classic | Gen3 (9mm)
- G17L MOS – Gen5 (9mm)
- G19 – Gen4 (9mm)
- G19 MOS – Gen4 (9mm)
- G20 – Gen3 | Gen4 (10mm Auto)
- G21 – Gen3 | Gen4 (.45 ACP)
- G21SF (.45 ACP)
- G22 – Gen3 | Gen4 | Gen5 (.40 S&W)
- G22 MOS – Gen5 (.40 S&W)
- G23 – Gen4 | Gen5 (.40 S&W)
- G23 MOS – Gen5 (.40 S&W)
- G24 (.40 S&W)
- G26 – Gen4 (9mm)
- G27 – Gen3 | Gen 4 | Gen5 (.40 S&W)
- G29 – Gen3 | Gen 4 | Gen5 (10mm Auto)
- G29SF (10mm Auto)
- G30 – Gen3 | Gen 4 | Gen5 (.45 ACP)
- G31 – Gen3 | Gen4 (.357 SIG)
- G32 – Gen3 | Gen4 (.357 SIG)
- G33 – Gen3 | Gen4 (.357 SIG)
- G34 – Gen3 | Gen4 (9mm)
- G34 MOS – Gen4 | Gen5 (9mm)
- G35 – Gen3 | Gen4 (.40 S&W)
- G35 MOS – Gen4 (.40 S&W)
- G36 (.45 ACP)
- G36 FGR (.45 ACP; finger grooves, with a rail)
- G37 – Gen3 | Gen4 (.45 GAP)
- G38 (.45 GAP)
- G39 (.45 GAP)
- G40 MOS – Gen4 (10mm Auto)
- G41 – Gen4 (.45 ACP)
- G41 MOS – Gen4 (.45 ACP)
- G49 (9mm)
Additionally, our understanding is that Glock is discontinuing all of their SKUs that have been previously available with aftermarket or adjustable sights fitted.
There is some speculation that Glock is discontinuing the above firearms to make more room in the production line and inventory for the new Glock COA optic-compatible versions, and/or for a forthcoming move to Gen 6 Glocks, which are rumored to (potentially) be modular/chassis designs, possibly with the capability of adaptive grip length. Whether this will come to pass remains to be seen, but it would be a move that Glock fans as well as the military have been asking for for quite a few years.
So, what can Glock do to innovate? Do they even need to?
Some have argued that Glock should just be what it is, and not try to become something it’s not. With Glock, you know exactly what you’re getting. There are now many other choices on the market, and if you want features that aren’t available from Glock, you should simply select one of those other manufacturers’ options, say these people. Glock shouldn’t try to play catch-up, particularly if this potentially harms the core product that’s been so incredibly successful.
Others argue that unless Glock starts to adopt some more modern features and capabilities, Gaston’s legacy of firearms will inevitably go the way of the dodo. For these critics, Glock implementing one or more of the following popular features would go a long way toward staying relevant in an increasingly crowded marketspace. Here are a few things people have asked Glock for:
- The option for a thumb safety
- Get rid of the hump at the rear of the trigger guard
- Add modular grip side panels
- Add universal optics cuts
- Add fully ambidextrous controls, including magazine release
- Dovetail cuts for the front sight
- Chassis system for easy reconfiguration
- Grip length modularity
- Compensated competition models
- Improved slide serrations
- More finish options
- More trigger options
- Larger trigger guard
- Full Picatinny rail options on more models
- Modular magwell system
- Lose the plastic factory sights forever
- More caliber choices
- Factory-threaded barrels in more models
- Improved drop-free magazines
- More types of firearms: Glock carbine? Glock shotgun? Glock PCC?
So, has Glock slipped in its position as top dog in the civilian, law enforcement, and military pistol market? Maybe a little, sure. But with the number-one selling handgun on the civilian market, and up to 65% of US LE organizations still favoring the Glock, along with US Army Special Forces, Delta Force, Rangers, Coast Guard, Marines MARSOC, Navy SEALs, FBI, CIA, and Department of Homeland Security, we’re sure Glock will be around for a good long time to come.
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