Potential problem with Glocks.

A

Archie

New member
All Armed Officers:

For the last several months, (this agency) has been receiving information regarding misfires with duty and training ammunition. The misfires experienced appear to be light hits from the striker assembly.

Our investigation found that the light hits are due to an accumulation of small shavings from cartridge brass in the striker channel located in the slide of the pistol.

It is important that all Glock pistol slides be examined and cleaned yearly by an FMO or a firearms instructor who has attended the Glock Armorers Class.

I have deleted the agency to protect the innocent and the guilty.
Please don't be offended if you carry or prefer Glock. Just check out the striker channel from time to time.
 
M

Master Blaster

New member
I thought every body who owned a Glock knew about this potential problem, which can be made worse by oil entering the striker channel inadvertently during cleaning and lubing.

Its simple to correct if you detail strip your glock.
 
W

WalterGAII

Moderator
Yep, keeping the striker channel clean and DRY is a pretty fundamental tenet of Glock ownership. Unless you're a real dumbass, you won't need to rely on a Glock armorer to do the job for you. Easy-to-follow, illustrated instructions are available at glockmeister.com, under "Free Services".

Detail stripping a Glock slide takes about 30 seconds, if you're really slow.
 
B

Bob Locke

New member
Detail stripping a Glock slide takes about 30 seconds, if you're really slow.

Had a young lady stop in the gun shop where I worked about this time last year with her boyfriend. He was buying a G19, and as part of the selling process we're required to go down the little checklist that Glock provides. Stripping the weapon down is part of that list. Anyway, she said that she thought it looked pretty complicated. I told her that when I said "Go" she was to start counting. About the time she said "five", I put the barrel in her hand.

After several thousand rounds, I have experience no difficulties whatsoever with either my G19 or my G21. Then again, I clean them each and every time I go to the range. Maybe there's a lesson there.
 
E

Erich

New member
Archie, what caliber are you using?

My 33 in .357 Sig seemed to crud up its striker channel pretty regularly. It would only take maybe 300 rounds before I'd start getting light strikes. (And, no, I didn't lube the channel.) I wonder whether the problem might be caliber related.

Heck, maybe it was ammo related - but I used so many different types that it would be hard to ID the culprit. Master Blaster and WalterGAII are right, though, this is a fairly common problem. I can't say I've ever heard of anyone having it with the 9x19s, though.

I did have this problem, though. I didn't feel I should have to clean the striker channel every time I went shooting, so I didn't. Then every couple of times at the range I'd get a light primer strike. Frankly, it affected my feelings about the gun, and contributed to my getting rid of it. But the main reason I got rid of the Glock (going off-topic here!) was that my wife expressed an interest in learning to shoot the guns I have around the house for self-def, and she said there was no way she'd ever shoot the babyGlock in .357. This combined with the fact that I thought the thing was too thick to conceal when necessary. I wound up using a couple of different guns to replace what the 33 had been doing.
 
E

eger precision

New member
Regarding the brass chips in the striker channel hole:

This is caused by the sharp edges on the cut out of the hole. If you chamfer those edges,polish the breechface a little,and maybe knock the sharp edges off the extractor the problem goes away.

I know Glocks are simple and all,but they are still guns,and maybe this procedure is best left to a pistolsmith.
 
W

Walt Sherrill

New member
Field stripping a Glock can take 30 seconds, but I don't know of anyone who can detail strip one in that length of time. It takes a minute or two, at least. (

Actually, it probably takes several minutes, but its still quite simple compared to most guns.)

(Detail strip means DETAIL strip, disassembling everything, including removing the striker, springs, etc.)
 
W

Wild Romanian

Moderator
Pontential problem with Glocks

I own a glock 17 and 19. I fire many rounds through the 17 and I oil and grease the hell out of it to prevent premature wear. I have fired as much as 500 rounds out of it at one time and used an extremely dirty burning powder. I have never had a problem with my l7 but I do clean my guns every time I shoot them even if I only fire one box out of them. As good a reputation as the glock has had I would think the dept. may have gotten a bad batch with some sharp internal edges that may need to be chamfered. There have been many private and public endurance tests run on these guns so I am quite sure that the problem is probably not one of design deficiency but of a bad manufacturing run.
I have read that the early glocks had a passive firing pin saftey that sometimes quit working. Glock went so far as to redesign it and issue a voluntary recall. The company would not admit that anything was wrong with there weapons or that they may be dangerous to use if not sent back in and modified. But after dealing with these people and also talking to people who are firearms dealers, everyone has found out rather quickly that Glock is a very arrogant company who believes the customer and the world in general is always wrong and that their weapon is perfect and they are always right. I hope that you never have the unpleasant experience with having to deal with these people. I bought one of the early model .45 glocks. I usually make it a hard and fast rule never , ever, to buy a new hand gun untill it has been on the market for at least 2 years. Most newly designed handguns are not rigorously tested before being sold to the public. The public has to test them and then there are endless recalls untill all the design deficiencies are remedied. Glock was no diferent. The early model .45's had defective magazines but trying to get them to admit this was like pulling teeth and when they did they had no answer for me. There was no remedy until the magazines were redesigned. In the mean time you are stuck with a weapon that does not work.
Also most of the pictures that you see in the gun magazines of new weapons not yet on the market are only wooden mock ups. The guns actually do not even exist yet but they are written up in the magazines and given glowing reports on how they are the new eighth wonder of the world. Great excitement is then generated about the new weapon soon to be marketed thereby creating an instant market for it. It has been admited by a few honest gun writes in many years past (Read some of Jack O'Conners books) that gun writers have been given free weapons, trips, money and even prostitutes to write glowing reports on the lastest new weapons soon to be marketed.
In conclusion, do not ever buy a handgun of any make or model until it has been on the market for a least two years. I could give you endless examples of other manufactures makes and models but it is aready well known on the internet in regards to the the problems people are having with many of the more newly designed wonder ****s. W.R.
 
S

seadog

New member
The same thing has occured with my PDs HK USP 45 fullsize guns after extended firing. They are a heck of a lot harder to detail strip than a Glock though... Strangely, the compact USPs some officers and detectives are issued have not had that problem and hum along extremely well.
 
J

JohnKSa

Administrator
Not just Glocks...

The firing pin/striker channel will accumulate a lot of crud in any autopistol.

Every few hundred rounds, I strip the slide/drop the pin or blow out the channel with gunscrubber (depending on the gun).

I always get an amazingly large amount of garbage out. Believe it or not, my Beretta 92 is worst about this. All manner of crud and metal shavings runs out around the extractor and out the back of the slide when I blow gunscrubber in the firing pin hole.

Keeping the channel dry of lubricant won't prevent the accumulation--once stuff gets in there from the normal firing cycle, it's not going to get out by itself. The channel should be dry to prevent the lubricant from leaking out and deactivating a chambered round by seeping in around the primer.
 
L

Ludwig

New member
As a manufacturer, I can agree with Wild Romanian about new products having bugs - no matter how hard you try to find all of them before you start shipping - and we do try HARD. But I won't buy much of anything that has not been on sale for at least three years, and actually prefer ten years. Also have to find a lot of testimony from happy users. L
 
L

leedesert

New member
Maybe this topic should be changed to read...

"Agencies need better training on how to care for their sidearms".
 
W

WalterGAII

Moderator
Walt: I didn't say anything about detail stripping the pistol in 30 seconds. I specifically said the slide. I guarantee you that I can detail strip a slide in 15 seconds or less.
 
B

buzz_knox

New member
Sorry about the OT here but Wild Romanian, are you actually from Romania and, if so, what part? My girlfriend is from there as well.
 
W

Wild Romanian

Moderator
Pontential problem with Glocks

Dear Buzz,
I was born in the U S of hey but my grandparents came from Pajorita, Romania at the turn of the last century. I was recently invited by a young Romanian lady to come and visit her in Romania after meeting her via the internet. She promised me a vacation I would never forget. That turned you to be an understatement. I hope to return there again someday. W.R.
 
C

cocojo

New member
Some armorers don't allow their officers to take their glocks apart other than to field stip for cleaning ( I for One). I have my guys spray gun scrubber inside the cleanout hole near the firing pin. This cleans the firing pin chamber out pretty good and leaves it nice and dry with no oils for dirt to build up . This is the biggest cause of why particles of dirt stick in the chamber. Don't use oil in the firing pin hole. I check their guns once a year and comletely strip down this area and I have noticed very little dirt or carbon with this technique.
 
C

clem

Moderator
Well, that is one of the reasons why I carry a Springfield M1911A1 on the job, not because I don't clean my weapons. But because something minor like that should not cause a excellent weapon like a Glock to malfuncution.

Clem
 
Q

quantico

New member
You know I must be leading a good life because I never have had issues with crud in the striker channel and I spray triflow in there every time I clean . I did clean out the striker channel every 3000 rounds , but since I never found anything much in there I just do it yearly now. Now triflow is a very light lube that does not get sticky like most gun oils, so maybe that is making the difference to my guns. I did see a few photos showing rust forming in the striker channel on glocks and that convinced me to lube them like the rest of the gun. I have never been a big believer in the 5 drops of oil thing for any guns including glocks. My glocks and 1911's run so perfectly that I have no reason to change my maintainance routine. I do use my air compressor to blow out excessive oil out of all parts of the gun. I don't want to bathe the primers in oil . I am amazed at how folks will talk about how glocks can be kept in salt water or stored in a bucket of sand without any problems - but for god sakes don't put more than 5 drops of oil on them cause that will destroy them!!!. When I use mobil 1 20w50 motor oil on guns I keep the lube down to bare minimum. Let me know if you find rust in your striker channels ... I know I won't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top