The man who invented the famous Glock pistol

Gaston Glock was born on this

day, July 19, 1929 in Vienna. He was drafted into the German Army as a teenager close to the end of World War II. After the war he studied engineering and on qualifying got a job at a hand drill company.

He went on to found the company Glock and developed the Glock pistol, which became one of the world’s most well-known light firearms.

He began manufacturing curtain rails in the 1960s and knives for the Austrian Army in the 1970s.  

It was only when he was 52 that he began to design and manufacture firearms. He applied for an Austrian patent for the Glock pistol in 1981.

He died last year on December 27.