I have heard from a very reliable source that "made in Austria" Glock pistols will no longer be imported into the USA. The only Glock pistols and magazines available in America henceforth will be those made in the Glock USA plant. I have seen one, and personally do not consider it the equal of an Austrian made Glock. Also, since the process that is used to create the Tennifer finish cannot be applied in the USA due to EPA prohibitions, another finish is applied to the USA made pistols.

If you come across a "made in Austria" Glock and you have been hesitant about buying one, don't pass it up. Obviously, the prices of Austrian made Glock pistols and magazines will only climb in the future.

The USA pistols are clearly marked as to where they were made and bear different serial number prefixes than do the Austrian made pistols, which, as you know, are clearly marked as to their Austrian origin.

whatever glock uses for its finish is amazing after a year of pocket carry my 26 looks like new. the lcp I carried before has all the finish on the edges worn off.

Glock has been making components and complete pistols in the US for some time now and Austrian production is not being phased out.

Tenifer is simply a trade name for a chemical process that is done in the US under the trade name Melonite. Only a materials engineer can intelligently explain the difference so that shouldn't be an issue from a consumer's standpoint. Either process is just a surface treatment to the metal - an applied finish (like Cerakote) is what gives the slide its finished appearance.

The quality of the US made pistols is indiscernible in appearance or performance.

How long have you been working for Glock USA?

Now why would you think I work for Glock?

Everything that 41magfan said is correct. The OP must have an Austrian Glock for sale and is trying to drum up a sale...

Somehow I found it hard to believe that Glock pistols will achieve some type of collector status.

Now I have been wrong a time or two before , I alwyas thought the coating was not environmentally friendly so it was not done in the US.

?????

Tenifer and Melonite are simply trade names for a process - referred to as Ferritic Nitrocarburizing - that accomplishes the same thing (surface hardening) using different chemicals. The Tenifer solutions aren't allowed in the U.S. while the Melonite process is approved. I suspect this fact had absolutely nothing to do with the decision to produce, or not produce, certain pistols or components in the States.

I never said that Austrian made Glock pistols were no longer going to be produced. Production in Austria will continue, but those pistols will no longer be imported into the USA. Only USA made pistols will be sold in the USA henceforth.

Tennifer and Melonite are NOT the same process, though they are similar in some respects. Tennifer cannot be applied in the USA, so USA made Glocks will NOT have the Tennifer metal treatment, which is the best finish I've ever seen on any weapon.

I carefully looked over an Austrian and a USA made Glock and there is a difference, IMO.

It is cheaper for Glock to make pistols destined for the U.S. market here in the U.S as opposed to making them in Austria and then importing them into the U.S. Plus, there is no import duty imposed on USA made pistols. Glock will therefore make more profit on each USA made Glock. The U.S made pistols sell for the same price as the Austrian ones.

You are correct that Glock has been making pistols in the USA for several years. However, those pistols were never sold in the USA. They were for export only. Now they will be sold in the USA and Austrian made pistols will no longer be imported.

The only positive aspect of this is that Glock can now deliver compact and subcompact pistols made in the USA with smooth face triggers as they no longer have to comply with the ridiculous ATF points system imposed on imported pistols.

Glock has apparently made no formal announcement as to this change in production and is simply slipping the USA made pistols into their USA distribution network in the hope that no one will notice. Most consumers will continue to assume the pistol they just bought is "made in Austria".

Glock Perfection, it would appear, is going to be sacrificed somewhat for Glock Profit.

No, I'm not selling an Austrian made Glock and given the current state of affairs regarding Glock production, would not do so. The purpose of my post was to give Campfire members a "heads up" if they were considering buying a Glock.

You, on the other hand, sound like the type of individual who collects bottle caps so he can get into the movies for free.

What is the difference?

Finish and fit.

OK, so made in the USA is a bad thing. Got it.

Ernie

I see you live in Illinois. Just out of curiosity, can you even own a hi-cap Glock in Illinois? I know they have some draconian gun laws there.

No state laws regarding mag cap. Cook county has some kind of BS law but I am not in Cook county so I do not know for sure what it is. In Illinois AR and AK type rifles are fine. Same for high cap pistols.
Most of Illinois is pretty sane, it is The Chicago metro area that is far left gun haters.

Ernie

Ernie;

Thanks for the info.

I recently read where a CCF law had finally passed in Illinois. Congrats!

Making Glocks in the United States is a good thing - and worthy of optimism.

Some years ago there were also concerns expressed about the quality of Beretta pistols being manufactured in the U.S. as opposed to those originally produced in Italy. One rarely hears that sentiment anymore.

I have both Italian and U.S. Beretta pistols and both are excellent - in every regard.

I feel that the U.S. / Austria Glock situation will be much the same.

Glocks don't have "fit".:)
I've seen dozens of the US-made ones and there is no difference. Glock is not trying to slip them in hoping no one would notice. You can't even see the Tenifer/Melonite finish. It's under the final coating and in the metal itself.

Glock "Perfection" is simply an advertising slogan. Glocks have shortcomings, just like every other design.

I heard from a reliable source that Homeland Security is buying up all the "perfect" Austrian made pistols to keep them out of the hands of civilians. Have ya'll heard that?

No, you heard wrong. They are only buying up the 40's to shoot up the gazillion rounds of ammo that they bought up and are storing at the FEMA Reeducation Camps...

But, but, but ..... I read it on an internet forum so it's got to be true?

All you need for happiness
Is a good Glock
A good horse
And a good wife.

~ Daniel Boone

will that make mine worth a fortune?

I like money

Snake

Cerakote is a sprayed on coating process that�s just a good, strong coating. Tenifer/Melonite is a salt bath ferric nitrocarburizing process which is sort of a case hardening. The process involves heat typically under 1,000 degrees where the nitrocarburizing imbeds into the base metal. Then the part is immersed in an oxidizing bath which gives it its black appearance; much like a matte bluing or black Parkerizing. When it�s done, the part has a surface hardness that is VERY hard, and because it�s so hard, it resists wear exceptionally well.

Tenifer is not different from melonite, and the whole thing about the cyanide and the EPA is just internet gossip. Both Tenifer and Melonite are the same process, and both use cyanide.
http://www.met-sol.com/assets/Industry/MSI_FNC_Brochure.pdf

lmao ya think?

for one they're pretty danged ugly!

(no need to go over old ground about unsupported chamber and how they fall apart when used as a billy club)

but they can dance


nada wrong dancing with the ugly sister provided she can dance!

who cares about an unsupported chamber this is only a factor if you reload. with normal ammo prices 9mm in particular is a waste of time to mess with reloading it. bad mouth glocks all you want but they work, are still the lightest pistol in their class I know of. from my hands they also have a very unique way of shooting where I want with the very first rounds out of the gun even when its been a long time since I shot the gun.

certainly not me, don't reload for .40 cal, and it's never been too big a hurdle for me to buy an aftermarket barrel if I did.

it sure seems to stump some folks though

and while you didn't address it, the billy club syndrome doesn't leave me quaking in fear either. Always figured an extra mag was lighter and more compact to carry around than a billy club anyway. I guess some folks mileage varies on that.

I can reload 124 gr. FMJ for $14.00 per 100. The last box of 115 gr. white box winchester was $22.95 per 100--that's regular price. I'm saving roughly $9.00 a box by reloading 9mm. This means that for every 200 rounds I reload, I gain a third 100 in savings

What finish has been applied to the previous USA pistols?

Can they not import the slide and assemble the pistols here?

Same finish, read my previous post.

Tenifer and Melonite are metal surface treatments. They vary slightly in chemical composition but accomplish the same thing. You cannot see the surface treatment - by any name - under the finished slide.

Tenifer isn�t performed in the U.S. ... Melonite (and other trade name processes) is peformed in the U.S.

Pistol slides made in Austria have Tenifer ... Pistol slides made in the U.S. have something else - like Melonite.

Glocks slides used to be parkerized ... Now they have an applied finish of some kind.

Perhaps that helps clear things up.

I can't believe that someone would say Glocks have short comings. No they do not they are the best..... nuf said lol

Wow, that's some Kool-Aid you've been drinking.

Glocks are fine pistols, but they have strengths and weaknesses just like any other pistol. I've yet to see the "perfect" service pistol. Thus far, it doesn't exist.

lemme help you KG, they're kept on the aisle next to the "perfect" raingear

light as a feather, tough as nails, completely waterproof and it breathes so hard you'll never ever feel a drop of sweat upon your body, no matter how hard and fast you climb a mountain while wearing it.


now if I could just find that aisle

Glock is Just behind the P35........nuf said...Best pistol ever made....(ymmv)

Ernie

All I know is that the gen 4 guns will rust. I am disappointed with that for sure.

I knew that, I was trying to get the OP to see the error in his posting.

Please correct me if I am in error, but didn't U.S. made Beretta M9 pistols (AKA the Beretta 92) have a metallurgical defect wherein the slides would crystallize and crack after about 5,000 rounds, sending the rear portion of the slide backward into the shooters skull causing considerable injury?

More internet / gunshop nonsense, I�m afraid.

The problem with Beretta 92 slide cracks was a design problem � not a manufacturing issue � and they initially occurred with the European manufactured guns with high round counts.

The fix was a change in design � not where it was made. When Beretta introduced their pistol into the military Service Pistol fiasco, there were no production facilities for the pistol in the U.S.

The reported problems were sheared off barrel lugs, frame cracks and slide separations.

The slide failure fault was determined to be metallurgical. Picatinny Arsenal, in a document coded MMB-01-89 pointed out the material employed in the slides had difficulties in it's microstructure, the sulphide morphology, and the element added for sulphide shape control in the AISI 8640 re-sulphurized steel. It was not a hardness problem. Rather, it was the chemical element added to control sulphide shape. The sulphides found in the low toughness slides were globular and contained tellurium (Te) as an additive to control the shape. Work done by the Army Science Board in the Materials Evaluation Section, AET-M demonstrated that Beretta slides represent two distinct populations: one with a low fracture toughness of about 40 ksi V in. and one with a high kv of about 71 ksi V in. The low fracture toughness slides separated much sooner and magnaflux did not reveal the faults. For instance, one slide magnafluxed at 6,000 rounds showed no faults, but suffered a catastrophic failure at 6,007 rounds.

It is interesting to note that a modification was made to the military M9's so as to prevent the rear portion of the slide from departing the frame. No such modification was made to civilian pistols.

Of course I don't know any of that to be true. It was told to me by an old guy with early onset dementia sitting on a stool in a gun shop drinking coffee and chewing tobacco....

.....dang, I swear I don't remember telling you all that.......
:-)

just went up the safe. I compared my nib USA made Glock 19 to the Austrian twin. No difference. Serial numbers are different and the USA model has the state of Georgia on the slide instead of the glock logo. WOW

Not going to sell either one

Really? This is the only interesting post in this rather lame thread - if it is true.

The only external metal that rusts on a 1st gen Glock is the slide release. I have a very high round count Gen 1 G19 that is never properly taken care of and it does not rust. The thing is the perfect truck gun.

So if there is rust on the slide on Gen 4's then that would indeed be a huge disappointment.

For curiosity sake, can you please take a look at your Gen4 and see if it is stamped "made in Austria" or "USA"?

Your pistol is "made in Austria" and has a tennifer metal treatment from the factory.

Sorry it took so long to get back to this.

I just took a look at both my G35 and My G27. The frames on each say made in Austria. The slide simply says "Austria".

I have reports from the firearms training staff of Kentucky's Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement and from KSP personnel who have encountered rust developing on the slides of their Generation 4 pistols. KY F&W are issued G22's.

In each case I have been made aware of, the rust has developed in the slide serrations of the pistols.

I will buy my duty guns when I retire at the end of this month, but I am looking for a Generation 1 G17 and at some point I will add a Generation 2 or 3 G19, but I doubt I'll buy any more Generation 4 guns.

I work in a fairly large gunshop (4500+ yearly) and all of the US made guns that I've seen were Gen 3's. I'll check when I go in Monday.

From my understanding, the Gen ones are getting collector prices now.

I guess that's mistaken, since your post above was made a few years ago, and just this past summer I bought new a Gen 4 Glock 17 that says right on it "Made In Austria."

Well since I haven't run into a bad Glock (okay, since Gen 3) whether made in the US or Austria I'm left wondering why it makes any difference?

As long as Glock remains large enough that S&W can't buy them out, I don't much care if they're made here or by the EU.

and since i cast those bullets, it's about 3.50 a box for me.