Austrian vs US Glocks

[penguinofsleep]

Are there any noticeable or significant differences between Glocks made in the US vs the Glocks made in Austria - specifically a G20 Gen4? Thanks in advance.

[urbanfood]

i have a made in USA G26 Gen 4 (still at dealer) and the most noticeable difference is the finish on the slide of the USA one seems to be darker/blacker and match the poly a little better.

i was digging on the internet a little more and apparently, the austria made glocks are for the US market and the USA made glocks are generally for the international market. here's a thread i found that's about a year and a half old glock forum.

also, one of the guys in that thread seems to work at the glock factory in georgia so here was his response;

"Its my understanding the only difference in glock made in my plant vrs austria is the stamp sorry if you got the wrong idea from somewhere. Austria holds us to the same standerds. Austria makes weapons for US sale. We make the guns for international sale. Nato reasons mostly. Other then that pretty much it."

so that explains why steve at ocfirearms was excited when he showed me my G26 Gen 4 that had the made in USA stamp. that's when we noticed the slide being different. that seems to be the only difference.

[neomedic]

I heard that USA made finish is different from Austria due to the US having stricter environmental conditions and thus they can't use certain processes.

Are all the OC Firearms Glock Gen 4 all USA made ones?????

[manuelcardenas77]

The difference is where they're made, they both go bang. Or unless you're like them freaks that's have to have one from here or there.

[INFAMOUS762X39]

i have a made in USA G26 Gen 4 (still at dealer) and the most noticeable difference is the finish on the slide of the USA one seems to be darker/blacker and match the poly a little better. not sure about the other differences so i'm sure someone else will chime in as i'm curious as well.

What you see is not the old tennifer or new metal hardening process. The "Finish" is the result of black phosphate coating.

Which is applied on top of:
Nitrate (or Nitride) process done in the USA. (Matte Black, scratches easy)
Tenifer process done in Austria. (Glossy, Tough as nails)

Someone correct me if I am wrong.

[RotaryRevn]

I did a ton of research on this and anyone credible said that the finishes are the same. The new Austrian made glocks don't even have the same finish as the older Austrian made glocks. The new Austrian made and new USA made have the same finishes. I got that info from a handful of glock armorers who heard it straight from glock. Take it for what its worth.

[dachan]

Austrian and US Gen4 Glocks are equally evil, but the US made Gen3 Glocks are significantly more evil than their Austrian brothers and sisters. They are so evil that the CA DOJ will not allow dealers to sell them to regular (non-LEO) citizens of this state.

Actually, the state just officially states the US made ones are not as safe as the Austrian made ones, but we know they are just protecting us from their evilness.

[penguinofsleep]

So the little bit I heard seems to match what I'm reading here - US plant was built mostly for political/legal reasons in the international market (seeing as how the US is allowed to export arms pretty much anywhere one way or another). Some of the stock is used in the US domestic market if the Austrian plant cannot keep up with demand/production.

As for the fit/finish and quality of the gun, I didn't notice anything different but I'm also not that experienced with Glocks. The internals did look slightly cleaner/better fit than some of Glocks I've shot and looked inside of before (9, 40, 10 various sizes), but it was within what I would consider manufacturing tolerances and/or natural variation via statistics. The color of the slide did match the frame well enough, but I can't think of very many people buying Glocks b/c looks were/are a factor, unlike say a 1911.

As for actually being made in Austria or the US (Georgia), given that both plants manufacture products of equal quality, I'd prefer the Austrian stamp simply because it's an Austrian gun, but its really a very minor thing to me. Similar to how I'd want a 1911 made here in the US, an HK to be made in Germany, CZ in the Czech Republic, etc. But on the flip side I can't argue with supporting American workers either.

On a different note, after looking at a Glock in much more detail for the first time... I see exactly how and why they can be made for under $40 by Glock (which they have openly said before and are not shy about) including various overhead costs, engineering and support staff, etc.

[urbanfood]

I did a ton of research on this and anyone credible said that the finishes are the same.

not sure on the finish but definitely not the same color. my G19 Gen 4 (austrian made) that i picked up about two weeks ago has a different color slide (i mentioned this in my first post on this topic) than my USA G26 Gen 4 that I bought a few days after picking up my G19, from steve at ocfirearms.com.

i may not be credible, but i own an austrian G19 and a USA G26 (both bought within the last month) and the color is different on the slide

[RotaryRevn]

I have a black gen 4 g19 that I bought about 10 months ago which has a black slide with some texture to it. I also picked up a OD gen 4 g23 this month which has a grayish slide that is smooth, not any texture or very little. Both gen 4s are made in Austria yet the slides look totally different. I think the finishes have more to do with when they are made.

[glockman19]

i have a made in USA G26 Gen 4 (still at dealer) and the most noticeable difference is the finish on the slide of the USA one seems to be darker/blacker and match the poly a little better.

i was digging on the internet a little more and apparently, the austria made glocks are for the US market and the USA made glocks are generally for the international market. here's a thread i found that's about a year and a half old glock forum.

also, one of the guys in that thread seems to work at the glock factory in georgia so here was his response;

"Its my understanding the only difference in glock made in my plant vrs austria is the stamp sorry if you got the wrong idea from somewhere. Austria holds us to the same standerds. Austria makes weapons for US sale. We make the guns for international sale. Nato reasons mostly. Other then that pretty much it."

so that explains why steve at ocfirearms was excited when he showed me my G26 Gen 4 that had the made in USA stamp. that's when we noticed the slide being different. that seems to be the only difference.

^^^This^^^

The only difference is the stamp.

[penguinofsleep]

don't know much about glock's coating process, but i wonder if the color of the finish is actually related to the tenifer or other protective/hardening processes or if variation in color is simply due to simpler things such as humidity, temperature, where in the kiln the particular item sat (don't know if they use a kiln, just an illustrative example), etc?

vs say the durability or actual quality of "what matters" in that process has had the variation, kinks, etc. pretty worked out after 20+ years of manufacture.

any chem engineers or material scientists in here want to explain this to us?

[Don the savage]

I did a ton of research on this and anyone credible said that the finishes are the same. The new Austrian made glocks don't even have the same finish as the older Austrian made glocks. The new Austrian made and new USA made have the same finishes. I got that info from a handful of glock armorers who heard it straight from glock. Take it for what its worth.

This is spot on. I got the answer from the west coast glock rep at an armorers clinic.

[mikenewgun87]

The ones made in US are made by Americans...legal or illegals

[G21Shooter]

From what I have heard the US made Glocks do not have a Tenifer finish, other than that the roll marks on the slide are the only difference. Not sure if the finish used on US Glocks is better or worse than Tenfier...