GLOCK FAILURE- leave your story

My brother purchased a Gen 1 G17 back in the mid-80's when they were the new hotness.

Sorry to burst the bubble, but the gun was a jam-o-matic piece of junk with a variety of FMJ loadings.

It was sold and not missed.

I had a 26 that choked on blazer ammo twice in one range visit. No big deal, but worth noting the two rounds were from two different boxes purchased months apart and my Beretta 92fs didn't have a single issue.

Not a big deal. Never had another issue.

My 19 threw brace at my face a bit. Annoying but not a deal breaker. I plan on getting back into 9mm on the back half of the coming year once all the panic over (insert your personal hang up here) settles down.

I think a G19 or G17 is on my short list.

FTFs have been all I've ever experienced with any of the 7 Glocks I've owned. It's either been crappy ammo (I bought a whole box of .357 Sig that still had the flare on the case mouth), or occasion limp-wristing. Though the majority have been with .40 to 9mm conversion barrels and cheap range ammo, in a G22 and G23, where I was also running .40 magazines. When I use 9mm mags, so far I've had no issues.

Honestly, I've had far more problems with revolvers.

I think the chance of a limp wristing failure is worthy of consideration in a self defense encounter, just because these guns depend on that resistance to function. The chance of having a weird or non solid hold under pressure and adrenaline dumping is real.

I linked a video on a minimum concealed carry thread where a female officer is firing on a suspect armed with a knife who wont stop advancing. The glock has to be cleared several times and she is very adept at this, thankfully.

I also read a recent article over the summer about a home invasion at 1 am or so, 3 armed criminals. The home owner had a glock 19 handy but when the bullets started flying his glock jammed after the first round and he had to retrieve a second weapon.

For the civilian home defender I'm not sold on the polymer revolution in the heat of the moment. I think something like a flagship model cz, sig p series (226, etc), Beretta 92 or Taurus copy, or even revolver is still a really valid choice.

I do carry a Ruger ec9 or Springfield heckcat sometimes. But do yourself a favor on the range, try some weird holds.

Two fingers, loose grip, or web of your hand not tucked close up.. Just see if YOUR specific model behaves.

For what it's worth I've owned a lot of glocks and a well worn police trade-in but never had any issues or parts breakage over a great many rounds. They're good guns and a great platform. They have their quirks like anything .

My 21 did not work well with certain shaped bullets, notably LSWC. It also did not like Magtech primers which I had, and still have quite a few of, so I went back to the 1911. It also would malfunction with a light on the rail, a well known issue with 21's, and 21's only. Otherwise I'd still have it, but the combination of these issues sent it packing. (mostly the malfunctions with the light on it.)

The only Glock failure I've had was I failed to buy a G19 when they were cheap and plentiful.

Weird thing is with my gen 4 19 8 have tried to limp wristing it couldn't get it to jam.

I broke a slide rail from the frame of a Gen 3 17. It went AWOL. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100k high pressure NATO rounds. The thing is, I have no idea when it happened because I rarely clean that gun (range/training use only), and it was still firing missing a slide rail. Not sure if this qualifies as a "failure" or not. Glock replaced the frame and rebuilt the pistol free of charge.

I had issues with an early Gen4 Glock 22 that confirmed my dislike of 40 S&W pistols in general, and this one in particular. The gun had FTF and FTRB issues and the gun would launch brass directly at my face, the brass nicked the lens of my shooting glasses, I never saw anything like this.

The 30274 ejector upgrade seemed to help somewhat. Glock CS actually ticked me off since they would only send the replacement part to a Glock armorer not to me directly. By then I’d had it with the gun & traded it off.

I’ve never had a gun related problem with the 3 9mm’s and my 45 ACP, these are all solid keepers.

I've never been able to MAKE my Glock 19 malfunction.

So I bought a 1911 just so I could have something to practice malfunction drills with.

But you know what? I can hardly get IT to mess up, either. I CAN, however, get an FTE if I drop a round in the chamber by hand and then close the slide on it.

I have a 17 that broke a trigger spring at around 90K, then another at around 120K, and then finally broke a rear rail at just under 150K. Glock replaced the frame and rebuilt the gun. Im still shooting it every week. That was all over a 10+ year period of weekly shooting.

I also have a 26 that I quit counting at around 26K a number of years back, and its still going strong.

Meeks36 said:

Weird thing is with my gen 4 19 8 have tried to limp wristing it couldn't get it to jam.

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A while back, there were a couple of videos floating around by the same guy showing constant stoppages with a couple of different Glocks and said it was "limp wristing"

I tried duplicating his results with my one 17, and could only ever do it, if I held the gun sideways like he did, holding it between my thumb and trigger finger. Even then, it still fired more than it didnt. Maybe a stoppage every 4 or 5 rounds.

As long as I held the gun more or less normally, with mass behind the gun, it fired every time, even with no grip at all.

I personally believe limp wristing has nothing to do with the grip, and is a function of the shooter allowing the arm and gun to move rearward with recoil, which causes a short stroke. If you dont allow the arm to move back with the gun, it wont happen.

I fired 4 full 17 round mags with my 17, with the gun held naturally, but just resting on the web of my hand and my middle finger, with absolutely no grip at all, and the only thing that kept it from leaving my hand, was my trigger finger on the trigger. Fired all 68 rounds without a stoppage.

The Combat Tupperware has not proven itself yet.

The base gun has been around for less than 40 years and only time will tell how the plastic will hold up with age. In 100 years, I find it unlikely the polymer frame will survive nearly as well as a metal framed gun.

The M1911 remains the benchmark for all other handguns. It has stood the test of time and fought more wars than the Glock could ever dream of, and has been pushed to the extremes time and time again and has come out on top always. Even today certain elite members of the United States armed forces choose and carry the M1911. For 110 years nothing has surpassed it. John Moses Browning was a genius and a gift from God. His pistol is still the finest hand weapon in human history.

I told this experience before, so I will keep it brief.

In the late 90’s to early millennium, I had a G 30 in my nightstand safe, a G 23 in my office quick access safe, and a G27 in my shop for quick access.

After a few years of stash and forget about it, I was handling the G 30 and found that the mag spring had broke in half. I immediately checked the other two to find the exact same thing!

I had bought the guns new probably over a 2 year period in the 90’s. Had not shot more than 200-300 rounds in each.

I own and have owned a lot of guns in over 50 years of collecting and have never ever or since experienced a broken mag spring, even when shooting IPSC.

This is why I will never depend upon a Glock as a life saving tool.

I’m not anti Glock, I own 4 or 5. They are for recreational use only.

My Gen 5 Glocks don't like wide meplat (flat tip, JHP) loaded longer than about 1.11" and like to give light strikes with that loading.

Apart from a few bad primers that's all I've had wrong with any of my Glocks.

Reinz said:

I told this experience before, so I will keep it brief.

In the late 90’s to early millennium, I had a G 30 in my nightstand safe, a G 23 in my office quick access safe, and a G27 in my shop for quick access.

After a few years of stash and forget about it, I was handling the G 30 and found that the mag spring had broke in half. I immediately checked the other two to find the exact same thing!

I had bought the guns new probably over a 2 year period in the 90’s. Had not shot more than 200-300 rounds in each.

I own and have owned a lot of guns in over 50 years of collecting and have never ever or since experienced a broken mag spring, even when shooting IPSC.

This is why I will never depend upon a Glock as a life saving tool.

I’m not anti Glock, I own 4 or 5. They are for recreational use only.

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Everyone has anicdotal stories like that. I had a gen 3 19c that hadn't been fired since the mid 90's (officer bought it for duty weapon, shot it a bit, switched to something else and dumped it in the safe, bought it from his widow) that functioned 100% for quite a few thousand rounds, with the supplied LEO marked etched mags just fine once I blew the dust off everything. Sold it myself once I decided the Gen 3 frame just doesn't work for me.

I'd trust a Glock, especially out of the box, over quite a few other options myself.

JCooperfan1911 said:

The Combat Tupperware has not proven itself yet.

The base gun has been around for less than 40 years and only time will tell how the plastic will hold up with age. In 100 years, I find it unlikely the polymer frame will survive nearly as well as a metal framed gun.

The M1911 remains the benchmark for all other handguns. It has stood the test of time and fought more wars than the Glock could ever dream of, and has been pushed to the extremes time and time again and has come out on top always. Even today certain elite members of the United States armed forces choose and carry the M1911. For 110 years nothing has surpassed it. John Moses Browning was a genius and a gift from God. His pistol is still the finest hand weapon in human history.

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The 1911 is a fine design but the rest of this bloviating is pure BS.

JCooperfan1911 said:

The Combat Tupperware has not proven itself yet.

The base gun has been around for less than 40 years and only time will tell how the plastic will hold up with age. In 100 years, I find it unlikely the polymer frame will survive nearly as well as a metal framed gun.

The M1911 remains the benchmark for all other handguns. It has stood the test of time and fought more wars than the Glock could ever dream of, and has been pushed to the extremes time and time again and has come out on top always. Even today certain elite members of the United States armed forces choose and carry the M1911. For 110 years nothing has surpassed it. John Moses Browning was a genius and a gift from God. His pistol is still the finest hand weapon in human history.

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Id be willing to bet, most guns dont get shot enough for the owners to ever really know just how long they will actually last, and more than likely, not enough to ever bother changing out the RSA.

Ive owned more 1911's as a whole (40+) over the years, than any other type, and I would still not trust my life to one out of the box, and one that hasnt been shot enough to prove it. Glock, SIG, HK, etc , on the other hand, Id be comfortable loading the mag and putting the gun in a holster right out of the box. Not something Id actually do, but from experience with those guns, Id be a LOT more comfortable doing it.

A working 1911 is a great gun. The problem these days with them is, they are like a bad xerox copy, of a copy, of a copy, of a copy........ that isnt what it started out as, when it was original.

Reinz said:

I told this experience before, so I will keep it brief.

In the late 90’s to early millennium, I had a G 30 in my nightstand safe, a G 23 in my office quick access safe, and a G27 in my shop for quick access.

After a few years of stash and forget about it, I was handling the G 30 and found that the mag spring had broke in half. I immediately checked the other two to find the exact same thing!

I had bought the guns new probably over a 2 year period in the 90’s. Had not shot more than 200-300 rounds in each.

I own and have owned a lot of guns in over 50 years of collecting and have never ever or since experienced a broken mag spring, even when shooting IPSC.

This is why I will never depend upon a Glock as a life saving tool.

I’m not anti Glock, I own 4 or 5. They are for recreational use only.

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So youre basing things on what was likely a bad batch of mag springs 20-30 years ago?

Personally, havent ever run into that, yet anyways, and I have both factory and Korean mags that have been loaded for over a decade now, and they all seem to be fine.

There isn't a gun on earth that won't malfunction at some point. Just hope it's not in a defensive situation. I was in a church security class qualifying and had my 19 and my xde fail within a short time of each other. Never happened again. They both worked fine in the morning session.Could be it was 95 deg. and hands were sweaty so maybe poor grip or something. The xde had a stuck case though. Went back after class and both ran fine. with that same ammo(magtec).

JCooperfan1911 said:

The Combat Tupperware has not proven itself yet.

The base gun has been around for less than 40 years and only time will tell how the plastic will hold up with age. In 100 years, I find it unlikely the polymer frame will survive nearly as well as a metal framed gun.

The M1911 remains the benchmark for all other handguns. It has stood the test of time and fought more wars than the Glock could ever dream of, and has been pushed to the extremes time and time again and has come out on top always. Even today certain elite members of the United States armed forces choose and carry the M1911. For 110 years nothing has surpassed it. John Moses Browning was a genius and a gift from God. His pistol is still the finest hand weapon in human history.

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Lord knows I love 1911's, and I have been critical of Glocks for several reasons (post #7 for starters; I also hate the way they look & the way they feel in my hands) , but even I haven't swallowed the 1911 Kool-Aid that bad!

AK103K said:

So youre basing things on what was likely a bad batch of mag springs 20-30 years ago?

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‘Yes indeed.

I haven’t looked at current Glock mag springs. But those bad ones even looked cheap. They looked like old galvanized bed springs. I’ve never seen any firearm springs look so craptacular.

I have no reason to experiment with Glock reliability when I have dozens of other fine pistols that perform flawless for me.

Like I said, I’m not a hater, they are just not for me as a SD tool. There is and will always be that question in the back of head about reliability. That is not a good thing to have with my life on the line.

I’m not trying to persuade anyone to switch, I’m just replying to the thread with MY experience, not my daughter’s best friend’s father in law. And if you notice, I didn’t try to derail thread about other guns being superior to Glock.

I know you (AK) are a big Glock proponent and I respect your choice, but I have no incentive to go back to Glock for SD based upon my experience, not emotion or fandom.

I dont base things on emotion, just what works. I went to SIG's because the 1911's couldnt give me what I needed. Went to Glocks when SIG's were no longer cost effective (just get more for the same money with the Glocks). Nothing wrong with the SIG's otherwise really, but now that Ive been devoting most of my time to shooting Glocks, the SIG's arent quite as quick and easy to shoot.

Pick whatever works for you and prove it to yourself. I didnt get to Glocks by just happening on them.