Glock 34 gen 4 - expectations, issues and fix

Hi folks, Just wanna share my experience with a new to me gen 4 glock. wife got it for me as a christmas-year end gift (worked 2 jobs - training for a new job while still on the old one) 6 weeks of 6 days work week with only sundays off all the while enduring the christmas frenzy. I told her i am thinking of getting into IDPA matches this new year and looking for a glock 34.

She bought it used but installed with tru glo night sights that work wonderfully. I checked with my bore-sighter and the sights aligned perfectly. Now the best thing is that the gun Looked PRISTINE ! There is still traces of white lube (dunno if it's factory), envelope that contains the manual and bag that contain the backstraps were never opened. the gun shop listed it as 99.9999% new, and remarked "looked newer than when it left the factory". No kidding. Seems like this thing was never shot at all.

This is my first glock that i have owned and man that tennifer finish looks awesome albeit very utilitarian. The trigger has that striker fire feel but surprisingly light and crisp at the end. The closest thing i got to a glock was the SW sigma enhanced a few years back.

After reading about it quite a bit, i found out that glocks are still having the brass to face issue. I hoped that mine was not one of them but i was wrong.

I took the gun to the range yesterday and it confirmed my worries. BTF happened A LOT ! It's not an issue since I am wearing eye pro but man. I had blazer brass and american eagle as well as some JHP. All the HD ammo worked great and ejected far. But those are 124 gr. ALL 115 gr range fmj ammo displayed erratic ejection.

So i cleaned it up today, looked at my springs and ejector- they were all up to date:
ejector - 30274
spring - 024 (has a metal lip between the spring and the end cap)
the spent casing with test date says 05/12

From various threads and posts, i kinda deduced what was going on. A lot of people are saying that glock needs to re-tool some of their MIM equipment. The extractor seems to be out of spec. I tear my slide down and sure enough. The extractor has a lot of friction even without the spring holding it in place. Some users also sanded down the top and bottom of the extractor (areas that contacted the slide channel) and came out with great results so i decided to try it.
Well, that seemed to do the trick. Using snap caps i get consistent ejection to the 3 o'clock position. I repeated this with 4 of them in all of my mags and they all ejected to the side. Guess i need another range trip.

On a side note, that G34 was excellent to shoot, very easy to be accurate with even with the grip angle (i have a PT92 and several guns that have gone through my hands) - though i have to say, the gun points a little high when you try to present it but with proper sight alignment and trigger press it hit where i aimed at. I really really love this thing.
pics will follow in a bit.




edit:
the light is a cheap light from academy. probably not intended for heavy use in a range or course but handy when u need it at nighttime. That thing is surprisingly bright and has a strobe function too.

Alright just got back from the range after the extractor polish job. Took 70 rds american eagle and 100 rds WWB. Why 70 rds of AE? Well, i fired 30 rds on the prev range trip and out of the 30, got a lot of btf and erratic ejection.
i tried the 70 rds of AE first. 2 rounds ejected to the left. 2 rds had btf (landed on my visor/ tennis cap - would've hit me in the forehead if i wasn't wearing it).
All of the others went 3-5 o'clock position. Very happy with the result.
100 rds of WWB: poor ejection pattern and about 10-15% had brass to face. But i bought the ammo during the shortage so quality control might not be good as companies were cranking up ammo. i did not bring my PT92 to try and compare it with. WWB has been known to be the cheap of the cheap and inconsistent. Oh also 1 stovepipe with this ammo.

So far I'm very happy withe the 34. yes the issue is still present but some people commented on leaving the slide open and have the RSA compressed for a few days. i also only have about 300-350 rds so far.
I found double tapping and getting back on target is relatively easier with the 34.

uploaded it on first post too.

the G34 sold me on longer sight radius and added velocity due to longer barrel. I was torn between this and the G17 but i guess my wife made that decision for me and i am really really happy with it.

nice !
Well, from my guesstimate, PDs are issued JHP between 124 or 147 +p. these plus pressure ammo works great with the gen 4 glocks. like i mentioned i have no issues with my HD ammo. Only cheap 115 gr SAAIM pressure rounds that caused it.

It is not merely internet myth. I had this issue and can confirm it. A lot of youtube videos can be viewed with gen 4 glocks causing the BTF issue.

Anyway I'm going to update my first post also. Just got back from the range. Ran 70 rds of american eagle and 100 rds of WWB. Only 2 rds of the american eagle showed weak ejection (to the bill of my cap). All of the others went 3 to 5'o clock. Now WWB is interesting. i had 1 stovepipe out of 100 and i would say more often than not the rds showed poor ejection about maybe 10-15% of the shell landed on top of my cap (it would've hit me in the forehead/ glasses if i didn;t have my cap). So ammo also played a factor. i did not bring my PT92 to compare the ejection pattern with, so who knows, maybe the ammo is underpowered (bought during the shortage - bad quality control maybe).

So i would conclude that Glock took significant steps to improve their platform - stronger recoil spring assembly - to help shooters with recoil and to prolong the life of the firearm. They might test their guns with different ammunition and it may not show these ejection pattern. Or they may have tested 2-3 rds per weapon before it was shipped out. Regardless they are faced with real problems from us the consumers who fired these guns on a regular basis and are having these issues.

So far they have updated the RSA and the ejector. I need to check if my extractor is the updated one or not.

Anyway I have the 34 loaded with HD ammo for home use with that light so i wouldn't worry about the ejection if i need to use it.

the count: yes i was using the 3 glock mags that came with it. It is weird but when ejecting the dummy rounds, they came out flying very far when the mag is inserted.

onmilo: nice but i'm still in the "new toy" phase to do that frame mod. I did the 25c polsih job though. Man, that took all the grit and mushiness out of the trigger. I measured the trigger pull and it now sits at 3.25 lbs out of the supposed 3.5 lbs stock. I think this would be good for me because it sits on my night stand as of now.