Glock 42

[Red Eye Fred]

On a whim I bought a Glock 42 the new 380. It is the same size as a Ruger LC9. I cleaned it and then took it to the range. The first mag full fired with no problems. Then after that I have not been able to get a more than two or three rounds at a time without jams. Smokestack and failure to feed. The first 7 rounds were the last that I had. The others were not the big name brands.

I am thinking that this pistol would work best with high power rounds. It appears from my observation that the slide is not recoiling enough to eject the rounds sufficiently and not enough distance to properly catch the next round for feeding.

I am having problems finding other than strange name 380 ammo on the shelves.

Does anyone else have a Glock 42?

 

[MedWheeler]

I don't, but have encountered that before with new guns, that they need some oomph run through them to loosen up some, I guess.

No, around here, all I can get for .380 is typically the WSinchester XST (or whatever it is) that is branded only for Bass Pro; it's basically just a coated WWB flat-tip FMJ.

Sometimes, some Remington-UMC stuff will pop up, too.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

Still waiting on my G42 - the LGS ordered 40 and 10 showed up. My name is #11 and I'm just shy of getting tired of waiting except that we have been allowed to shoot the owners G42 and 2 of the first 10 ended up in out local support group.

Between the three pistols I have shot/seen shot there has not been one single problem in many rounds of ammunition. Maybe as many as 2000 at this point. I have heard of problems - not seen any. The gun seems to be sensitive to some types of ammunition but obviously not with Winchester .380 which is mostly what we have been shooting/seen shot.

I have heard of many problems with ammunition and the G42 but we have not seen any of them here yet. Specifically, what kind/brand of ammo were you having issues with?

VooDoo

 

[Byron]

I was able to get a 42 when they came out. All brands of factory have functioned well.The Privi Partisan was excellent. It is sensitive to reloads. I stay on factory equivent data and then no problems.Very Pleased with mne. What brands were giving you problems?

 

[gym]

My gun store told me they had problems with the first 10.

 

[Byron]

gym, were these sent back or did they break in? also, did your store say what the problems were?

 

[jigglyjames29]

I've only shot 4 types of ammo through mine.
BB DPX +P
Aguila FMJ
Aguila HP 90gr
S&B FMJ
Aguila HP was the only that had issues. Like every few rounds I'd get a FTE or FTF.
The others ran perfectly.

 

[Red Eye Fred]

I could not find any major brand. The seller & ballot ball ammo jamed as did a brand called c.o.p. and HPR. I guess I need to visit a number of shops to find some major brands. Those three were the only ones I found at a gun show where I bought the Glock 42

 

[gym]

Byron, they were sold and returned, "some were fixed by the gunsmith. I really didn't get into it, because I was shooting at the time the guy came in to sweep up brass. He said they were failure to feed and failure to fire. I was surprised having owned a half dozen over the years ,and still own a 26 and a 30. But like I said I was shooting at the time, I can ask next time I go in.
Not all of them are as free with information as this older guy is.

 

[What Would You Say]

I brought a Glock 42 home last Friday but have had no time to pull the trigger. I've got various brands of ammo to run through it and see what happens. Will give a range report when it happens. In the mean time, I've been viewing youtube videos of well known and experienced reviewers/evaluators to see what's what. Big Bore ammo had issue of slide staying back after the first round or two of a magazine. Another shooter had issue with some Winchester defense ammo feed issue. I think I'm concluding from what I'm seeing that the really stout ammo is not its favorite. But hey.. Every gun and the ammo it likes has to be determined on the range. I think I might stick with regular ball ammo for the best penetration if many rounds yield no issues. My initial opinion is that glock got it right on this one. It's physically big enough to be a pleasure to shoot yet small enough that it carries concealed comfortably in my pocket...instead of a gun that shoots a smaller round and still uncomfortable to shoot and inaccurate.

 

[WRGADog]

I have shot ~100 rounds through my G42. Initially, I had some stove piped rounds, FTF, and FTE using Precision One JHP ammo. I switched to Corbon and Hornady Critical Defense firing ~50 rounds, and had no problems whatsoever. So, I went back to Precision One, firing ~ 25 rounds, and the gun functioned with no problems. I believe my problems were more related to the gun needing a break in period rather than the ammunition. So, I suggest shooting more rounds particularly high quality self defense ammo. If after doing that you still experience problems contact Glock. I will go back to the range in the coming week and post the results.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

I read somewhere that a Glock Rep suggested you clean your new Glock 42 and then lock the slide back and leave it that way overnight. The Glock Armorer at the LGS told the first folks to do that and they did.

Maybe why we have seen fewer failures but I do think there is some degree of "ammo finicky" as well as break in going on. It always amazes me when some folks have problems and others do not but I suppose it's partially the nature of .380 pistols. I have owned a few and they can have favorites in terms of ammunition depending on the shooter.

VooDoo

 

[benzy2]

At the range yesterday the guys in the lane next to me had a 42. They were shooting aluminum cased Blazer and were having issues now and then with ejection. The Winchester hollow points (didn't see the exacts) worked flawlessly. Time will tell but it seems that there is either a break in period or the pistol is very ammo specific. They seemed to hold the pistol well so I don't think it was a grip issue. They said it was the first time out with it. I'm not sure I'd judge the usefulness of a pistol over the first two boxes of ammo sent down range, but it certainly didn't make me want to put my name on the waiting list either. I'm going to give it a little time and see how things pan out longer term before I jump in. A small .380 isn't at the top of my wants list anyways so giving it a little time isn't a problem for me.

 

[OregonJohnny]

Send it back to Glock.

I bought a brand new G42 back in February. Took it to the range, and put 40 rounds of Remington UMC 95-grain FMJ through it with no problems. The slide locked back on an empty mag, I inserted a fresh loaded mag and went to release the slide manually - it wouldn't budge. Tried using the slide catch lever - wouldn't budge. Dropped the loaded magazine and tried again - wouldn't budge. Finally got the slide into battery with the magazine out, pulling back on the slide and pressing the slide catch hard.

Field stripped the gun, wiped down the internals a little, put it back together, locked the slide back, seated a loaded magazine - same problem. So I stopped shooting it, called Glock, and they emailed me a shipping label.

Sent it into them and waited about 2 weeks. Got a phone call from a very nice guy at Glock, explaining that they had "slightly modified" my chamber, feed ramp and extractor, and replaced the slide catch lever and a part of the trigger mechanism with brand new parts. I asked if these were newly designed parts, and he said that yes, Glock had redesigned the slide catch lever and trigger part about a week before mine went in (late March). He said when they originally designed and tested the gun, .380 ammo was very scarce, and they weren't able to fully test it with all bullet shapes and depths. . I did appreciate his honesty, though. He could have just said, "We fixed your gun," without divulging that info.

So I haven't shot mine since I got it back, since I have the same problem that Glock did back when they were testing the new gun - lack of .380 ammo. But it's clear to me that they have had enough problems from users that they have since redesigned a few parts. It is definitely worth calling them for a shipping label.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

Thanks for that update...maybe it's a good thing mine has been delayed getting here so long. Maybe I'll get one of the "updated" pistols now instead of a Beta build.

Not that we have had any problems with the guns we have been shooting...but there seems to be some degree of hit or miss with any new guns coming out now. I think the consumer is now the Beta Tester whether we like that or not depending on the price of the guns and the manufacturer.

VooDoo

 

[Byron]

When I got my 42 ,the slide relaese was stiff. Cleaned well and no issues since. I ran a box of relaods through it today with no problems. I load slightly below factory specs with 95 grain FMJ.

 

[What Would You Say]

Finally got some trigger time on the new baby glock today. Ran perfect with 4 different brands of FMJ 95 gr. Blazer, Winchester, Remington, and PMC. Left in a hurry and didn't have any hollow point/defense ammo in the bag. Jury still out on that. I was very pleased. 3 different shooters on it , with one being totally novice to handguns, and no hiccups. Accuracy of the gun was better than the shooters behind the gun today I think. I experienced what most shooters have so far that it takes some readjustment and trigger control to not group slightly left. Also had an LCP and kel-tec 380 that we brought to compare between. The LCP accuracy wasn't bad, but after going back and forth between the 3 guns, they performed exactly to what they are. The kel-tec and LCP were no fun to shoot for anybody, but functioned, and are small in comparison and easy to always be in the pocket. If I were close to arms length away or less from an attacker, they will work. It's apples to oranges comparison between the Glock to those guns we found. The two smaller guns are uncomfortably snappy and triggers are hardly tolerable when shooting them after the Glock. Between the trigger, sights, and features of the Glock and accuracy, the owners of the two other guns almost didn't want them anymore. I still think Glock has hit a home run with this gun. It's definitely more accurate and easier to aim at a longer distance target and comfortable to shoot for me, which means I will want to shoot it more. That brings familiarity(safety),efficiency, accuracy. Still small enough to drop in a pants pocket to serve the same purpose as the Kel-Tec and LCP for most.

 

[Mitlov]

I am thinking that this pistol would work best with high power rounds.

I don't have one, but I have been following owner reports of it, and the consensus seems to be that it takes the goldilocks approach to ammo. Both exceptionally high-powered stuff and exceptionally low-powered stuff can cause malfunctions; middle-of-the-road stuff works the best.

 

[WRGADog]

Follow up to my post a while back, I took my G42 to the range this afternoon and put another 85 rounds down range. I shot 50 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense, 7 rounds of Corbon JHP, and 28 rounds of Precision One JHP. The gun performed flawlessly when shooting the Hornady and Corbon rounds. I had four rounds that failed to feed properly with the Precision One ammunition. Overall, I am very pleased with my G42 and will continue to use it as my daily carry, but only with Corbon or Hornady ammunition.

 

[sappyg]

Got one last week.

1st 100 rounds through it was range ammo reloads. Had an FTE on the very 1st round. There were several instances of the slide not locking back on the last round also. Accuracy was impressive.
Today I put another 50 down range. These were factory Monarch 94 gr. ball. Had zero malfunctions of any kind. Accuracy was good.
I am in total agreement with what would you say. Glock hit one out of the park with bases loaded. This is a well thought out, easy to carry and easy to hit with little man than can. The LCR and P3AT are still relevant but if you want to hit something past five feet the g42 does with style.

 

[ohbythebay]

Not a Glock 42 but...

My Glock 19 is flawless but has history. For 380, I went with the Bersa and couldn't be happier. Anything I put through it fires very well EXCEPT those silly aluminum / metal / non-brass stuff. It sounds like Glocks new baby is having issues being scaled down

For 380 (and now back on topic) the best 380 rounds I have found for target shooting are "
PMC Bronze
CCI Blazer Brass
Hydra Clean
Winchester
Fiocchi
Federal

And a footnote...380 ammo is UP in price the past two weeks...prior to that I was catching deals around .29 a round...now anything worth having is about .36 a round...quite a difference when you are buying 500-1000 rounds

 

[Red Eye Fred]

I found some buffalo bore 380+ ammo. My Glock 42 works perfectly with that ammo. I retried the other brands and it still jammed. So I guess it needs powerful ammo

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

We finally got our Glock 42 for my Wife...I broke it in with about 200 rounds of Winchester "W" Train and Defend - the training version with flat points. My Wife shot the first 16 rounds and had 2 failures to feed. We then loaded 16 rounds of "re manufactured" .380 that also failed to feed and had noticeably different reports from round to round. My Wife was not happy...

I shot 4 mags of the same with not a single hitch. Odd she thinks....I loaded up 2 mags for her and watched her rack the slide and point the gun and then asked her why she was holding the gun like it was gonna break. Subconsciously she was "babying" the gun probably 'cause it was new. I told her to get a solid grip and stop that...the next 32 rounds she fired fed and ejected flawlessly as did the rest of almost 300 rounds. She's thrilled.

Accuracy was scary...the gun shoots soft and after the initial getting acquainted period she was thrilled. We did finally experience a squib with the re manufactured junk .380 and I traded the last part of the box for 2 more hours of range time and made the Glock Armorer at the range push the bullet out.

Next weekend I have 2 more boxes of the same Winchester and 100 rounds of hand loads featuring plated 100 gr. flat noses in last weeks brass.

So, the G42's are ammo sensitive and not tolerant of a bad grip - my Wife is the only one ever to get jams and feed problems with both my Glock 26 and my Beretta Px4 which both have had 2000+ rounds thru them in my hands without a failure. I would suggest that folks with really bad feeding problems with their new G42 look at ammo and grips as the pistol is sensitive to both.

VooDoo

 

[What Would You Say]

Nice feedback VooDoo. I have put a box of the Winchester Train and Defend through mine and no issues at that time. This new Glock may be more sensitive to "limp wristing" . My inexperienced shooter on our range test day was a big fella and had a strong technique... We've stuck with the revolver for my wife.
When she went with her work crowd gals to all get their concealed permits a few years back, they all had the myriad of pocket 9mm's to qualify at the range portion. All had the list of issues from ammo to technique. My wife took my single six and scored a 99 out of 100... Been to the range once prior to that. Ye olde reliable revolver.
You have to wonder how many men and women will have problems with making the small guns go bang that they bought, loaded, and stuck in a pocket or purse.
I lucked into a couple of boxes of 380 at walmart this weekend for little more trigger time.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

Re reading this today I wanna expand this...I'm under the impression that most .380 pistols (every one that I have ever experienced which is virtually everything offered) can be ammo sensitive to some degree with some variations. I never saw a Walther or a Colt 1903 .380 that wouldn't feed whatever we threw at it *but* we did not test those guns with every bullet type and load available to find the failure point.

I think the Glock 42 is more ammo sensitive than a G19 or a G26 but I don't think it is so sensitive that it is a show stopper. IMO/YMMV.

I also believe that the G42 is more sensitive to "limp wristing" than the bigger Glocks and that does not surprise me. I was informed in another thread that it is not the "limp wrist" that causes the malfunctions but rather that small handed folks tend to use a compromised grip and trigger technique which causes the issue. I believe this to be true...once I scrutinized my Wife's grip on my Px4 and G26 I noticed the same problems she has with the G42. When pushed to support the left side of the grip (she's right handed) with the palm of the left hand a work up a solid thumbs forward grip all malfunctions ceased.

I'm wondering how many folks who are calling the G42 overly sensitive to ammunition may have some small detail of their grip that is exacerbating the issue?

VooDoo