capp325 said:
Just because it has the name and location of the importer (Glock Inc, Smyrna, Georgia) stamped on the frame does not necessarily mean that the frame is made in the USA. My German-made USP is stamped Heckler & Koch Inc, Sterling VA.
I agree. However,
http://www.custom-glock.com/shotshow05/shotshow05-Pages/Image38.html
At the end of October, 2004, my father Gaston Glock and I had the priviledge of watching the first made-in-the-USA GLOCK frame roll off a new production line in SMyrna, Georgia. That particular frame was for our longest-established pistol, the one that first captured America's hearth, the 9x19 GLOCK 17. It was the culmination of a long and aruous program that had begun approximatly a year before.
I don't wish to bore you with the figures; suffice to say that the investment was hugely expensive. The quality that has become the hallmark of GLOCK pistols does not come cheap. Coslty machinery and tools, all brand new, had to be made to extremely precise specifications for the American-based manufacturing effort. New personnel had to be trained, and many were flown to Austria for that purpose. In additionto the specially trained personnel manning the new machines, quality control inspectors and other personnel had to be in place to support the ne wproduction line.
The result, of course, is receivers of the same supurb quality as were made in Austria, but produced in Georgia for the American market. This will also streamline production flow, and allow us to make pistols more quickly and bring them to American gun shop shelves and law enforcement armories sooner and more effeicently. A happy by-product of the new program has been promotions and advanced career opportunities for the loyal employees of GLOCK, USA already in place, not to mention new jobs created stateside.
The first of these receivers are in standard service pistol size: GLOCK 17, GLOCK 22, GLOCK 31, GLOCK 34, 35, and 37. If the new production line wokrs out as well as we expect it will, the compact (GLOCK 19-size) pistols will be the next group whose frames will be made in the USA. I envision the day when the frames for all GLOCKs sold in America will be made in the US. The next step, of course, will be manufacturing the pistols stateside entirely. Already, GLOCK's unique pistol boxes, and some small parts, are produced in the US.
The new program will, in time, result in cost savings that will help us keep the cost of the pistols to the consumer to an absolute minimum. In the meantime, this major investment in enhanced production capability is a symbol of GLOCK's commitment to the firearms industry, the law abiding American gun owner, and the public safety and national security of the United States.
THIS IS ALL FROM ROBERT GLOCK IN THE 2005 GLOCK ANNUAL ON PAGE 6-7.