How Glock Made the Perfect Knife

the Glock 17 1926 these names are as familiar as they are deadly but few people realize that Glock has made more than just handguns these are the Glock 78 and 81 before the Austrian brand became a weapons manufacturer Gaston Glock was an expert in plastic injection molding he and his wife mass-produced polymer consumer goods out of a small shop north of Vienna these products were everyday items like curtain rods and door knobs but in the 1970s Global tensions were Rising during the height of the Cold War Austria's Geographic placement between the Allied NATO countries and the wara packed states of Central Europe gave them a cautiously neutral status something they were desperate to maintain in an attempt to arm themselves while also avoid purchasing weapons from either side of the conflict the Austrian government began to invest heavily in domestic arms production they announced a competition to design a new fail measure or field knife that met precise criteria demanded by the Special Forces whoever made the best knife would win a contract to supply the military with their blades taking a departure from the plastic household items he usually manufactured Gaston entered the running with the Glock faser 78 prototype in 1978 it was a 6 and 1/2 in fixed blade made of spring steel with a hardness over 55 on the Rockwell scale the clip Point style made it excellent for both self-defense and outdoor survival but while the blade itself was impressive the real Innovation took place in its handle rather than featuring a Full Tang where the unsharpened metal of the blade extends throughout the entire grip Glock gave his knife a hollowed out portion in the butt normally this would create a weak spot in the design but the polymer material that Glock was so famous for kept the handle intact during hard use the hollow Tang allowed Glock to give the 78 its most prominent selling feature after removing an end cap the knife could attach to Austria's military service rifle the sty Aug to serve as a bayonet the cross guard was also carefully upturned to allow a tight fit under the gun's flash hider an unexpected side benefit was the superior weight distribution caused by this bayonet cavity making the Glock an exceptional throwing knife modern survivalists have also found other uses for the bayonet mounting system the hollow handle can help the knife serve as a spear while the bent guard is a handy bottle opener the focused functionality of the 78 was enough to win over the Austrian government and scor Glock their first big contract Legend has it that the military placed an initial order of 25,000 blades to supply troops pushing Gaston and his wife to take turns stamping out knives around the clock but as successful as the 78 was Glock still found room for improvement 3 years after becoming the official service blade of the Austrian military an updated model called the Feld meser 81 was released it had a similar look to the 78 with the same blade length and matching polymer sheath but on the spine of the steel was an integrated saw blade making it equally capable in the wilderness as it was on the battlefield it's believ that the connections Glock made while launching the knife would ultimately be critical to the release of their first handgun the Glock 17 the felm series gave the brand a good reputation with the Austrian military and the resources to fund future research and development meaning without the knives there may never have been the Glock pistols we know today the 78 and 81 are still in use around the world they have become to a degree the European equivalent to America's Kar it's a sturdy capable tool with applications reaching far beyond the original military scope so the next time you're staring down the barrel of an Austrian polymer framed 9mm you can be grateful for a less painful fate than the brutal performance of a Glock 78 Feld meeser hit the Subscribe button to hear more knife stories is like this

Channel: Knife Story

Views: 1,476,250

Keywords: glock 78, glock 81, glock feldmesser, glock feldmesser 78, glock fm 78, glock feldmesser 81, glock fm 81, glock knife, glock combat knife, glock field knife, glock history, knife history

Id: ILUsEN_Slf0

Length: 4min 31sec (271 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 05 2024