80% Glocks. Interesting trends right now

atblis · Nov 12, 2018

This whole 80% Glock thing and what it's done to the Glock market is intriguing.
-There is a multitude of options for aftermarket slides, barrels, frames, whatever...
-There is a ton of factory Glock parts on the market. It looks like Glock is selling complete top-ends. Many manufacturers don't offer OEM stuff like that. Some do. It appears to me that Glock realizes they can't stop it, so might as well cash in.
-There appears to be a bunch of Factory new and or trade-in Glocks getting parted out. Tons of stripped Glock frames for sale.

I've picked up extra Glock parts here and there over the years; complete slides, frames, etc. etc. Versus in the past, whole guns are cheaper than slides/barrels. Frames are cheap. The Glock 22 was always cheap and still is.

Where do you think this goes? Yeah, it's mostly driven by the 80% market which I think is fantastic. I could see the 80% thing getting crushed by some BS laws/rulings/decrees/etc.

Does Glock eventually get put out of business? At some point the free market may very well offer a better and or cheaper gun.

Interesting times we live. Cheap cheap cheap AR15s. Build your own Glocks. Build your own AR15s.

My evil plan is to buy OEM frames while they're cheap, and then eventually pick up the topends when the market collapses (for whatever reason).

atblis · Nov 12, 2018

Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences.

Fox123 · Nov 12, 2018

I think glock makes out better.

They produce everything but the frame, still make the sale and then don’t have any warranty work to worry about.

DutchV · Nov 12, 2018

I doubt that Glock goes under. If anything, they benefit from the exposure. Tons of people (and military, and police) want a ready-to-go gun with a warranty. Same with AR-15's. Nothing against rolling-your-own but it's not for everyone.

SWO Daddy · Nov 12, 2018

Glock is making out like a bandit. It's no coincidence that the parts are selling for more than a new Glock - I suspect the vast majority of of these parts are from parted out guns. The 43's in particular.

atblis · Nov 12, 2018

Brownells is selling complete top-ends. I'd be surprised if they're selling parted out guns as they tend to be a supplier straight from the OEMs and probably wouldn't want to do something to hurt that relationship (pure conjecture on my part).

atblis · Nov 12, 2018

I know Glock is unlikely to go out of business. That was bait to get a discussion rolling. I could see their civilian sales getting cut into though.

Fox123 said:
I think glock makes out better.

They produce everything but the frame, still make the sale and then don’t have any warranty work to worry about.

What about all the aftermarket stuff? You can build a complete Glock with little to no Glock parts in it. Not sure about all the small parts, but frames, barrels, and slides are all available. There are certainly some high quality slides and barrels.

RuralRifleGuy · Nov 12, 2018

DutchV said:
I doubt that Glock goes under. If anything, they benefit from the exposure. Tons of people (and military, and police) want a ready-to-go gun with a warranty. Same with AR-15's. Nothing against rolling-your-own but it's not for everyone.

Agreed. While I’m planning on building a 80% into a G19, I’m also planning on buying a gen 5 G19 because it gives me the warranty and a gun that should work right out of the box. No law enforcement agency is going to start building their own Glocks when it’s cheaper and faster to procure actual Glocks.

I’ve built three ARs and it’s fun but if I find a good deal on a caliber I want it might make more sense to buy than build.

atblis · Nov 12, 2018

I was thinking more like Colt. I wouldn't say Colt is the go to company to get an AR15 these days.

An interesting question that's been around for a long time is "how low can Glock go on price and still make money". Conjecture is that it's pretty darn low.

Devonian · Nov 12, 2018

Hopefully parts prices come down similar to the way AR part prices did once supply went up.

mopar92 · Nov 12, 2018

atblis said:
I was thinking more like Colt. I wouldn't say Colt is the go to company to get an AR15 these days.

An interesting question that's been around for a long time is "how low can Glock go on price and still make money". Conjecture is that it's pretty darn low.

IIRC the Glock Blue Label guns are $350. Wholesale from distributors is $450. They're making a profit at both of those price points.

atblis · Nov 12, 2018

What's the per unit cost on a large department order? I suppose that includes parts, training, armorer services, so perhaps not purely a per unit cost.

CrazySanMan · Nov 12, 2018

Glock 17/19's are going to be the Chevy 350 of the gun industry. They'll just run and run forever, tons of mods and aftermarket parts available, from performance enhancing to bling.

Muleskinner · Nov 12, 2018

atblis said:
I know Glock is unlikely to go out of business. That was bait to get a discussion rolling. I could see their civilian sales getting cut into though.

What about all the aftermarket stuff? You can build a complete Glock with little to no Glock parts in it. Not sure about all the small parts, but frames, barrels, and slides are all available. There are certainly some high quality slides and barrels.

you can build a Glock with no factory parts what so ever...you can even build at least 3 calibers Glock doesn't offer .22LR, 22TCM9R AND 50 GI. There may be others.

Rambler · Nov 12, 2018

I recently found a cheap used copy of the book "Glock, The Rise of America's Gun". It was written from a clear anti-gun, anti 2A standpoint. However, some of the details of how Glock marketed and sold their guns was still interesting. The combination of very low production costs and buy back programs from police departments meant they were making money not only on their own guns, but also from the used guns of their competitors.

This was written before the 80% boom. But it does not surprise me that Glock would sell parts to support home builds since they have been very aggressive about making profits.

teratos · Nov 12, 2018

Rambler said:
I recently found a cheap used copy of the book "Glock, The Rise of America's Gun". It was written from a clear anti-gun, anti 2A standpoint. However, some of the details of how Glock marketed and sold their guns was still interesting. The combination of very low production costs and buy back programs from police departments meant they were making money not only on their own guns, but also from the used guns of their competitors.

This was written before the 80% boom. But it does not surprise me that Glock would sell parts to support home builds since they have been very aggressive about making profits.

If you can't beat'em, join'em. It's a sound business decision. I have seen Glock registered frames sell for as little as $30. If they are selling everything but the frame to people who probably wouldn't buy a Glock if they weren't doing an 80% they just opened up a whole new market. They also turn a bigger profit, since it is more expensive to buy a gun piecemeal, and they don't have to do any warranty work. Glock has to be loving it.

echo6mike · Nov 12, 2018

atblis said:
Brownells is selling complete top-ends.

Link?

(I've looked there but not seen these)

atblis · Nov 12, 2018

https://www.brownells.com/handgun-p...kits-prod122970.aspx?avs|Manufacturer_1=glock

Anotherpyr · Nov 12, 2018

atblis said:
https://www.brownells.com/handgun-p...kits-prod122970.aspx?avs|Manufacturer_1=glock

That’s gen 4. I thought the Polymer80 frames were supposed to be gen 3. https://www.polymer80.com/pistol-frames/pf940c-80-compact-pistol-frame-kit/p80-pf940cv1

Mike OTDP · Nov 13, 2018

The Glock design has become like the 1911 and AR-15 - a generic industry standard.

80% Glocks. Interesting trends right now

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