these folks are talking bisiness and its pretty straight at the higher levels
they discuss this in terms of holding costs, $ maintenance, and ROI ( return on investment)
i steel gun long term stills needs to be upkept , in a police situation that means equipment and staff as they dont train cops to service guns .. ( basic cleaning is all i seen )
the glock idea is to supply a gun that has a warrenty and maintenance agreement
, its like a extended warrenty , if any gun has issues you issue another ( they supply spares as well ) it gets sent back to the warranty provider, repaired or replaced and one put back in the spares to replace it
thats what glock offers ( civillian sales are a great bonus , but the design was for mass sales in this way)
long term , it may be cheaper , but rememebr they have to do it this way
it was as the only cheaper option to spending 30% more to buy a steel gun that will last 60 years in service as the 1911 does , to offset the cost , the gun is built around alternative funding model ( and to be as proprietary as possible )
when you look at the 1911 and some others and see what they are up against , you can see its a smart business option , again it dont suit military , but cops ? , yeah a good fit , cops ( sorry but i think most cops ) dont have the same experience or time in hand of military so a far as low cost to train and no local maintenance cost weapon is a good idea
its like leasing a truck or renting medium term to solve a bubble in your business
after the cyclones here a mate hired some gear and trucks rather than buy , the cyclone damage would be fixed in a few months and the boom in repair work would not last so he rented some and is in front
building companies hire long term scaffold and things as well , as its costly to maintain and replace
small government has a holding cost of maybe $140,000 a year for one armourer ( wages space tools insurance etc)
if they can get 1000 pistols to serve their cops with no maintinance costs for a 10 year cost of the same ...
thats the glock selling point
and if its a hassle they'll give you a new one ! 3 times in for repair , no questions asked replacement
or thats the gov deal i seen , and i think its ok and understand why so many PD's use em
dunno yet about personal warranties
even colt aint as good as you hope as a consumer at times cause its up to the local distributor to deal with that here
pOint being , they are hi tech but cheap to make , they can be replace cheaply if theres a hassle and require no skilled staff for this process to happen
the basic parts , are ok , barrels are lighter but they state these are not for P or +p loads to everyone
these are made for folks or gov who will shoot factory ammo every time , get the thing stripped and cleaned every 6 months or so , be fired 1000-2000 rounds a year plus ( i like this ) Emergency use ( read the literature, they are soo PC )
and this way these things will last 20 years no problems ( some will suffer more in Australia due to UV , but thats life here )
can i ask the cops here how many round they fire through their service pistols a year ??
2000 ?? i'll wager most dont shoot 500 a year , cops i know shoot personal guns more than service ones ..
some hard core range nuts like me might do more , so you buy a new barrel every 5-8 years
its cheap compared to most
looking at the info here
say i had a 10 year old one and the frame was ok but the barrel and internals are worn , a real high use , but well looked after gun
$490 would totally refurbish this ( parts and labour )
a total rebuild on a smith 40 all internals is almost the price of a new one ( parts and labour )
its a different business model than long lasting reliability , cars went the same way a bit
cheaper easier to replace parts rather expencive long lasting ones
maybe its a sign of the throw away society , but heck if it saves some tax dollars for the folks in the log run ,
go for it