British Army to buy 25,000 Glock 17 Pistols

[edro]

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htweap/articles/20130211.aspx

February 11, 2013: After more than three years of complaints from troops in Afghanistan, the British government has agreed to replace the elderly Browning L9A7 9mm pistol with the Glock 17. The army has placed an order for 25,000 Glock 17s, at a cost of $538 each. The procurement process took two years.

 

[BillGates]

Ouch, that's not a very good price!

 

[Sonikku]

You would think a military could leverage to get a deal on buying in mass bulk like that. What the fuck do they care though. It's "someone elses" money.

 

[Kelvrick]

Article provides more history on the guns than the details of the deal. Depending on what kind of service that comes with the glocks, that isn't too bad of a price. Spare parts, extra magazines, etc. At least in my experience, government doesn't hand out a contract without support for the product built in.

 

[kyrax12]

How come these glocks cost so much to make?

In general why are guns so expensive when they are purely mechanical?

 

[Vic Vega]

Dang they got taken... someone in government is doing their friend a favor.

 

[madoka]

For comparison's sake, I paid $570 for mine two weeks ago.

 

[BladeVenom]

How come these glocks cost so much to make?

In general why are guns so expensive when they are purely mechanical?

They aren't expensive to manufacture. Glock was able to get production costs down to under $100 a piece.

 

[kyrax12]

They aren't expensive to manufacture. Glock was able to get production costs down to under $100 a piece.

Then why is it so expensive?

That is a huge profit margin for the producers...

 

[disappoint]

Then why is it so expensive?

That is a huge profit margin for the producers...

Demand.

 

[Gerle]

As previously mentioned, in this case support and spare parts are probably included.

 

[roguerower]

No way is that the price per weapon, there must be a support contract that goes hand-in-hand with the purchase of the firearms.

 

[CA19100]

How come these glocks cost so much to make?

In general why are guns so expensive when they are purely mechanical?

To cover the inevitable lawsuit for something that's not at all their fault.

 

[gevorg]

killin aint fair but somebody gotta do it

 

[phucheneh]

Glocks can often be had new for 400-500 bucks. Maybe less; I aw a lot of gen3's on clearance when the gen4's came out. MSRP for 9mm's is generally, what, 600 or so?

British army is getting reamed. But then again, it's not like we get a lot of great deals in the US, either. At least we're not paying close to MSRP for AR's. And Google says M9's cost $263 a piece, up from <200 when they were adopted.

But the biggest surprise...they were still issuing Hi-Powers? Freaking really? It's a decent gun, but holy god. Doesn't that make it even older than the 1911 was when it was replaced with the Beretta?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Article provides more history on the guns than the details of the deal. Depending on what kind of service that comes with the glocks, that isn't too bad of a price. Spare parts, extra magazines, etc. At least in my experience, government doesn't hand out a contract without support for the product built in.

I bought a Glock 17 new in 1994 and it has required exactly zero spare parts and it came with the standard 2 17 round magazines. I've put thousands of rounds through it in the years I've owned it. Great gun. Very reliable and accurate, plus it is easy to disassemble and clean.

 

[JulesMaximus]

How come these glocks cost so much to make?

In general why are guns so expensive when they are purely mechanical?

You think companies should sell the stuff they make for cost?

 

[kage69]

Now I know shooting in the UK is expensive, but shit, that's their breakdown for a bulk order of such size?

There has to be more involved there, perhaps some unique requested accessories? Does each unit come with 500 rounds of GECO or something?

 

[Wardawg1001]

Regarding the price, I suspect someone totaled up the cost of the entire contract (or at least parts of it) and just divided by 25,000.

I doubt that a government entity buying in such large bulk would pay that much just for the guns, especially after 2 years of procurement dealings. Hard to imagine someone involved wouldn't have at least done a quick Google search for the average cost of the gun and realized that would be a ridiculous price.

 

[jpeyton]

I had a different procurement process for mine.

 

[phucheneh]

Why did this thread get flushed down the shitter to P&N?

We have both news and gun threads in OT. I don't see any whining about the lying liberal British media, who's protecting their secret Muslim president and making up bullshit to prove climate change because 9/11 was a hoax and gay people want the right to convert you into a homosexual while your taxes go up to pay for socialist programs and go to the middle east to steal all their oil that we're producing domestically while zombie Reagan eats your brains.

 

[glenn1]

Big upgrade from the Hi-Powers. Since it's a general service sidearm I'm surprised they didn't spec for an option that included a manual safety or decocker. They could have chosen the FNX-9 at around the same price point, and IMHO it's a better weapon but the G17 certainly is no slouch in its own right.

 

[Whiskey16]

Why did this thread get flushed down the shitter to P&N?

The theme is that of procurement for a branch of government. Political.

This forum is what posts make it to be. Your thread crapping sullies it further.

 

[phucheneh]

The theme is that of procurement for a branch of government. Political.

This forum is what posts make it to be. Your thread crapping sullies it further.

I'm forum crapping. Get it right.

There are zero threads in this forum worth reading because of the same people that post in all of them, and the somehow-further-than-OT leeway they are given.

Opposite of thread crapping. I like discussing guns. Not 'politics' (if that's what you guys call it). No one mentioned any political ramifications of the British Army buying Glocks to replace their Brownings.

 

[edro]

I'm forum crapping. Get it right.

There are zero threads in this forum worth reading because of the same people that post in all of them, and the somehow-further-than-OT leeway they are given.

Opposite of thread crapping. I like discussing guns. Not 'politics' (if that's what you guys call it). No one mentioned any political ramifications of the British Army buying Glocks to replace their Brownings.

I agree. I posted in OT because I didn't want it to turn into a political debate.