Actual experienced G19 issues?

[Impureclient]

PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY BEFORE POSTING: I am not intersted in hearing from people who are ecstatic with their Glocks or their brothers roommates and think they can run tens of thousands in it with no failures and so on. I have noticed that some Glock owners are very fervent about defending any and all Glock pistols if they get some unkind words whether true or not spoken about them. I can get that in practically any other thread in here when any mention of an autoloader or any gun discussion any where/time/day for that matter.

I have shot my cousins G19 and I liked it although now that I have held and own several other guns I see why the grip and way it points are an issue with some people. With that being said I still am a little interested in possibly getting the G19 from the glorious reports on it's virtues as a reliable gun. I want a loose fitting "throw around" gun that I can get dirty if used on camping trips. It appears to be in the $400-500 range being used so it won't break the bank if it is roughly handled/dropped whatever. So what I am wanting to hear is what issues have people had with their G19. Not what hasn't happened. I imagine that going to Glocktalk or any Glock forum is not a way to get a real answer as there is an obvious bias from the get go. With the thousands of people in here I would assume that somebody must have had some issues with their G19 and are willing to talk candidly about it without fear that they will be ridiculed for trashing perfection. All guns malfunction at some point.

I understand that it needs a barrel changed for shooting reloads but I don't intend on shooting them at all in it nor will I ever. Besides that and the 3.5 lb. trigger connector for a nicer pull is there anything that could be an issue later also? Is the trigger connector even necessary? My cousin's G19 felt fine to me. Is that modification akin to CZ owners having their hammers and mainsprings changed out. So as to just make shooting it a little more accurate?

Remember if there are no issues with your personally owned G19 then I don't need to hear about it. In fact if this post gets zero replies I would take that as a sign that the gun is living up to it's reputation. In reading reviews from magazines/internet blogs and such there is always praise for this gun along with most model Glock so again I don't need to hear it all over, just the experienced malfunctions with your personally owned G19.

Edit: I should have also asked for what generation you are running.

 

[legion3]

I have owned lots of G19's over the years.

I had a G19 (a 2nd generation) that would not eject the spent case after extraction. It would simply not be flung out of the gun. The extractor would hang on to the case and attempt to refeed it into the breach, which naturally would slam and jam into the next live round that would attempt to go where it was supposed to go.

This double feed would jam the gun very tight and required more than simply tap rack drills.

It did it almost every time.

So I took it completely apart (Armorer's dissasembly) and checked it out. In the area under the extractor was a black mass (like hard oil, gun grease or something) a deep cleaning, requiring some metal on metal scraping and the gun has never had any issues since.

Of the more than 30 + glocks I have owned this was the only gun that did not work out of the box and the only one where an issue arose.
So far the rest of the 19's (a mix of 2nd and 3rd gens) has had no issues.

 

[gfpd707]

I bought a glock 19 a few weeks ago. This is my first handgun so my expierence is limited. I have run 270 round through it. 20 rounds of speer gold dot 147 grain. Those ran pefectly. 150 rounds of federal 115 grain. Those also did not have a single problem. 100 rounds of 115 grain copper jacketed reloads. This is where the problem came up. 99 of them ran perfectly. I had one that the brass was slightly out of shape an did not chamber. I had to disassemble the gun and push it out of the chamber with a cleaning rod. I have been very pleased with this gun. I have shot many other handguns borrowed from my uncle but I am suprisingly accurate with this gun.

 

[PO2Hammer]

They only need a different barrel for shooting lead bullets, not reloads in general.
Other than that, you don't want to hear about my 3rd gen G-19.

 

[Impureclient]

OK you sneaked that one in PO2Hammer. I knew some couldn't hold it in. We'll let that slide.
No lead will be shot ever so you answered the barrel change issue though.

 

[steven58]

I am a lefty and had one of the first generation G-19s. It would eject erratically with cases flying anywhere from 3 o clock, 12 o clock straight up (to land on and spin on the slide) and frequently right back in my face. I sent it to Glock for the free upgrade and while the above reduced in frequency, it still had the same issues and it still would hit me in the face from time to time.

For me, it felt like a 2X4 in an IWB holster. Eventually I sold it to fund a compact 1911.

 

[TonyAngel]

I had an odd issue with my Glock 19. There was a time when I used a Glock to shoot IDPA type matches and on nights when my local range had open sights steel night. I shot the snot out of my G19. I kept a round count on it and back then I averaged 500 to 1000 rounds per week. Oh, the days of being single with only myself to support. I did do regular maintenance on it, in terms of replacing springs and such.

At about the 40K round mark I had a weird issue where the pistol would fire when I squeezed the trigger and would then fire another round when I let go of it. I never could figure it out and can only say that it stopped doing it when I installed a new striker. At around the 65K round mark, the barrel lug sheered clean off of the barrel. I had to pull the rear cover off of the slide and yank the insides to be able to dismantle the firearm. When I sheered the lug off of the barrel, I cut the receiver in half and threw it away. I'd imagine that I could have just put in a new barrel, but figured that it had seen enough.

 

[RON in PA]

My first G19 was 100% with ball ammo, but feed it hollow point and there were many feeding problems. I got rid of it and was Glock-less for a while. My current G19 seems to feed anything I feed it.

 

[Control]

Gen 3 Glock.

I use a very high thumb over thumb grip and the "beavertail" on the G19 could not protect my thumb from getting cut by the sharp bottom edges of the rear slide serrations. After several range sessions involving drawn blood I decided to give up on the G19.

I imagine the "fish scale" rear slide serrations on some of the RTF models would not have this issue. The new Gen 4 might also solve the problem but I have not shot one. Smoothing out the bottom of the rear slide serrations on the Gen 3 would fix the problem. Obviously, if you grip the gun differently you will not suffer the cuts I was experiencing.

Mine never failed to fire (I put about 500 rounds through it) and was accurate enough for a service grade pistol. Quality of materials and workmanship was about what you might expect for a $500 pistol. Overall, it was a fine example of a reliable mass produced service weapon which is pretty much what is promised.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I had initial feeding issues with hollowpoint ammunition, although FMJs ran perfectly. This was with the last round in the magazine, which would nose dive and catch the cavity edge on the bottom of the feed ramp. It was traced to the magazine follower design. Glock replaced the followers and I've had no trouble since. After several thousand rounds a slide lock tab spring broke. This caused the part to fall out of the frame and the slide - with recoil spring and barrel still attached - to fly off the front of the frame and into the dirt. I replaced both parts (the tab could not be found) and since then have replaced the spring with an updated design. Then there have been a very few failures to eject, all with WWB ammo, which is known to be loaded somewhat "feeble." I attribute this to the ammo since the failures were so random (perhaps three or four over several years time). Overall, although perhaps not perfect, this gun has served me well.

 

[mes228]

Glock

I purchased a high capacity Korean mag for a .40 cal. Glock 23 (28 round??). Worked great at time of purchase but after leaving loaded for about 6 months in a drawer, I had some failures to feed (seemed to have lost quite a bit of spring pressure). Threw the mag in the trash and that fixed the problem. I've never had a mag problem with the 20-30 Glock mags, of all variations, I've purchased. I have a Glock 19 High Cap mag that I have kept loaded for years. Every few months I shoot a mag and it has worked flawless. Probably unwise but if the name on the product says "GLOCK" I trust it (I've only owned the Models 17,19,23,22 but several of each). Everything has been 100% and very high quality. I much prefer 1911's for the range but carry Glocks.

 

[HippieMagic]

I had the issue of the spent casings coming straight back at my right cheek on more than one occasion. Sometimes it would go directly toward my forehead. I wouldn't call that a major problem or malfunction though... more like an inconvenience. The gun has been 100% reliable.

It is a gen 3.

 

[schmeky]

I had one years ago when the Clinton magazine ban was enacted, not sure if it was a Gen 1 or 2. The only problem I had was an ergonomic issue. There was an opening at the lower forward base of the grip. The edges of the opening were sharp as h_ll. I never could get a good finger position in that area and didn't want to take sandpaper to it. Even if I did sand the edges, there was just a large gap in that area that I couldn't warm up to.

Put <500 trouble-free rounds through it, but sold it, and bought a very early model G17 that I still have.