Top Gun - Some Noteworty History On Glock

[sjl127]

http://www.forbes.com/global/2003/0331/020.html

Inside the secret and violent world of Gaston Glock, maker of the most popular firearm in U.S. law enforcement.

[sjl127]

What got my attention is the cost to produce one handgun is $75.

[Suburban]

[sarcasm]The media so often gets things right when on the subject of firearms, particularly when it comes to Glock pistols.[/sarcasm]

These days Glock GmbH has an estimated $100 million in sales, two-thirds of it from the trigger-happy United States. A gun that retails for $500 can be manufactured for $75, and the company has a pretax margin nearing 60%, estimates John Farnam of Defense Training International, a LaPorte, Colorado, small arms instructor.

Sounds the $75 bit is only Farnam's speculation.

[ScaredOnce]

Yeah but it seems at first read, that the $75 is only refering to production cost not margin over sale. So, while the company is doing well... We really have no idea about profit over cost to market...

[SFMarine]

$75...they're doing well.

[DaveM55]

I'd pay $75 dollars for Glock easily.

[bloomautomatic]

The $75 may be the raw material costs of the steel and polymer that goes into the gun, not necessarily the manufacturing of it. A ballpark number for labor and overhead in the US is $50/hr. I would think there has to be more than 1.5 hrs of total labor to make all the parts and to fit them together. Also, if it was only a $75 gun and they sold for $500, their profit margin should be higher than 60%.

Then again, a gun like a Hi-Point is similar in basic design to the glock* - polymer frame and steel components, and those probably cost less than $75 to make. I suspect it has labor in fit and finish than the glock.

Vince
*I'm not saying a hi-point is the equivalent to the glock, I'm just saying the basic layout is similar. don't flame me bro!

[Willie D]

Interesting article. I'd say that once you are dealing on the scale that Glock does, $75 parts + labor is not out of the question.

[XD45]

cost increase on caskets, vaults, and many other things for funerals are up to and over 500% so this doesnt suprie me...

does it take 60k to build a new chevy suburban? 10k for a 70'' plasma tv? ect. ect. ect. items are way over priced so we cant just sngle out glock

[sjl127]

I wouldn't say items are generally overpriced, but they are priced according to what each of us, in general, will pay for them.

If no one bought glocks for what they are now, eventually, the price will come down.