Glock broken. Need help

[TheProf]

Fellow members...

My trusty Glock had this issue yesterday and today. (5x in the last 24 hours)

Went out to the range. Gun fired, but the casing did not eject. It was not a stovepipe. It was still stuck in the chamber and the next round was trying to chamber behind it.

I had to use my fingernails to extract the spent shell out of the chamber.

1. I had fired over 4000 rounds without any failures of any kind on this gun. So, i don't think it was limpwristing. I'm used to glocks.

2. I thought it was a faulty recoil spring or bad magazine. I changed them both out today and still had the problem.

3. I'm thinking it's the extractor. Any thoughts?

 

[tarosean]

Late gen 3 or Gen 4???

Inspect the extractor for chips, splits, breaks, etc.

 

[TheProf]

This is a gen4. (And fairly new... with only 4000 rounds through it.)

 

[RecoilRob]

Was this pehaps with steel-cased ammo? I've got some Brown Bear here that won't extract out of ANY gun reliably...it's just not good ammo. Could be there's nothing wrong with the gun at all and trying to solve an ammo issue by tinkering with the gun most likely to result in failure.

 

[TheProf]

I only use Winchester white box (brass) factory ammo and HST 147 grain +P for carry.

I had no problems before...using the same ammo in the same gun. 4000 problem-free rounds (within the span of 2 years with this gun). Then the problem cropped up yesterday and today.

 

[TheProf]

Here's the update... (and I think good news...)

I took the extractor out. The claw part was full of crud. Cleaned it out. And shamefully, I must admit it was my first time taking this thing apart to that level. I'm not mechanically inclined. But after a couple of youtube videos...it's back together again.

I had always done a field cleaning after every range trip. But not to the point of taking apart the slide. This was my first time...and i'm glad that i am able to do it...and will do it regularly.

I did not see any cracks or chips with the extractor.

Now... i just need to verify it is working again...with my next range trip.

Question: Do you regularly clean your glock to the level of taking out the extractor? How often do you do this?

 

[Shaq]

Using a toothbrush with solvent is sufficient to clean the extractor claw without disassembly until around 5,000 rounds. At that point, the slide should be stripped & the firing pin channel cleaned. I only own older Gen 3 Glocks - over 18,000 rounds through all five of them; never had a malfunction or parts replacement except recoil springs. I know the Gen 4's had some problems at the beginning. I heard they were due to Glock going to a cheaper-to-manufacture MIM extractor.

 

[LeonCarr]

What Shaq said. Really good advice. The only chipped extractor I have had in a Glock was in a Gen 4 Glock 17.

I PM mine every 5000 rounds by detail stripping, cleaning, and lubricating the frame and slide, and I also replace all the springs every 5000 rounds. I do the spring replacement every 3000 rounds if it is a .357 Sig or 10MM.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[FL-NC]

Yep, scrub the extractor with solvent & toothbrush. Cleaning the chamber helps too. If the problem persists, send it back. Glock customer service is superb.

 

[BSA1]

Since you have over 4,000 rounds through it I would go ahead and replace the recoil spring as well just as routine maintenance.

Springs are cheap and easy maintenance.

 

[Capt. Ct.]

My first Glock was many years ago. A second gen. model 19 police trade in. It shot high. New three dot sights with a lower rear fixed that. Would not stay cocked. A smith put in a new trigger bar. That was fixed. This was before youtube. I sent away for a Complete Glock video and replaced everything whether it needed it or not. It ran great for about ten years then one day I had two light primer strikes on the first mag. Cleaned the striker channel and put in a new spring. Been running great since then.

No, I have never taken the extractor out since a new one was put in years ago. All my guns get a field strip and cleaning after every range trip. Army clean.

 

[FL-NC]

When I am home between deployments (1-2 months of R&R) my Glock 17 "training pistol" (which has over 60k rounds through it) eats about 1,000- 1500 rounds of wolf or tula steel cased. It doesn't get cleaned until I go back overseas. It never jams. First I wore out the mag release (it still worked, but I had to SLAM the mag in. Then, the trigger spring broke (after around 50k high pressure NATO rounds). When I took off the slide to replace the trigger spring, I realized at some point the left rear slide rail had broken off and gone AWOL- some time. No idea when. The pistol still worked. So I sent it to Glock (did I mention I had stippled the frame myself with a soldering iron)? A week later, they sent it back in a new frame, with new internals all the way around. They even replaced my trijicon sights. Total cost was shipping to Glock, and applicable insurance. Based on my experience, they are very reliable and have great customer service. Of course, I would never "neglect" a duty/carry/SD/hunting/competition pistol in such a way. That's why this is my "training pistol".

 

[L-2]

My first suspicion was a broken extractor.
My 2nd thought wondered to what extent this gun has ever been disassembled by anyone.
If so, I'd wonder if the correct extractor is installed.
I'd wonder if the extractor-depressor-plunger is installed in the correct direction.
I'm also wondering exactly which model of Glock this is.
I'm wondering if this was a used gun.
As now already reported, it could be a dirty extractor and slide where the extractor sits.

After all the above, I'd also be looking at the relationship between the ammo and barrel, but if 3,000+ rounds have already previously been good, then a quick ammo to barrel plunk test and it should be ok.

I wonder what the cleaning habits have been for this weapon, too.

A bad batch of ammo, weak loads, could always be an issue but might take some experience to feel the difference when shooting to notice.

 

[GRIZ22]

You don't have to take any gun completely apart for ckeaning. My Glock 26 is about 18 yrs old and has never been taken down farther than fieldstripping.

You're not cleaning your gun properly if you find you have to disassemble it for cleaning. The only time you should go past fieldstripping is when the gun is broken.

 

[Shaq]

You don't have to take any gun completely apart for ckeaning. My Glock 26 is about 18 yrs old and has never been taken down farther than fieldstripping.

You're not cleaning your gun properly if you find you have to disassemble it for cleaning. The only time you should go past fieldstripping is when the gun is broken.

Quite true. I know some people just feel better when they've detail stripped their guns. It actually wears the polymer, then the pins start backing out. As long as you test the firing pin's free movement, you're good to go, regardless of how many rounds have been fired.
For those who aren't familiar, it's easy. Hold the slide, press in the FP safety with your thumb & shake the slide forward & back. The FP should rattle front & back freely.

 

[C0untZer0]

I once knew a guy on the Glock forum who was trying to "torture test" his 17L so he shot it right out of the box with no cleaning to try to prove what a great gun it was. The only gun that I ever shot straight out of the box was my HK P7M8 and it ran like a champ. But anyway this guy had FTEs and since I had a 17L he asked me for advice on how to solve it. I said "start by cleaning it", but that kind of defeated the purpose for him since he wanted bragging rights that the gun shot great right out of the box.

Finally he capitulated and cleaned the gun from stem to stern. including the extractor and the FTEs went away.

 

[PabloJ]

I had four Glocks. They had small amount of some kind of grease on inside the slide and all shot well right out of the box. All were very reliable. Matter of fact one went almost 1400 rounds before fist and only stoppage I had with that gun until I sold it. The other three had only a few more. In reliability department in self-loader department I would rate Glock second only to the Soviet era designed Makarov pistol.

 

[LiveLife]

Same thing happened to my TCP 738. Cleaned the hard crud around the extractor and no more extraction problem.

Question: Do you regularly clean your glock to the level of taking out the extractor? How often do you do this?

No. Unlike my wife, Glocks are "low maintenance" pistols:

- Barrel gets cleaned and four slide rails/striker release get wiped and lubed after each range session

- Rest of Glock get cleaned as needed

 

[ny32182]

My opinion: There are really only about three possibilities:

-SUPER dirty chamber
-Broken or not-correctly-tensioned extractor
-Weak ammo

Or some combination of the above.

Detail cleaning the slide is a good step to take just to rule it out, but in my experience, it is really hard, bordering on impossible to get an extractor dirty enough to where it is non-functional... However it is possible I guess. If cleaning doesn't do it, I would replace it as a next step.

It will get dirty, but it will shed junk out around the small gaps between the extractor and the slide. Basically it will reach a point of maximum dirty-ness, and that will be it. And it should still work fine at that point if it isn't broken. I've gone over 20k in other guns without cleaning the extractor (same basic design) and only cleaned it then because I had the slide all the way apart for other reasons.

Keeping the firing pin/striker channel clean is more important, to prevent light strikes, but that doesn't sound like your issue.

Also if you are going to change any spring on a schedule, it should be the trigger return spring. It will eventually break with no warning and you will have to manually push the trigger forward to fire another shot. You might get a vastly different number of rounds out of one spring vs. another, but changing it every 5k should be more than enough, and they are very cheap.

 

[JohnBiltz]

You don't have to take any gun completely apart for ckeaning. My Glock 26 is about 18 yrs old and has never been taken down farther than fieldstripping.

You're not cleaning your gun properly if you find you have to disassemble it for cleaning. The only time you should go past fieldstripping is when the gun is broken.

With a Glock you should clean the striker channel once a year or so. Found that out the hard way. I was getting light strikes.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I once knew a guy on the Glock forum who was trying to "torture test" his 17L so he shot it right out of the box with no cleaning to try to prove what a great gun it was. The only gun that I ever shot straight out of the box was my HK P7M8 and it ran like a champ. But anyway this guy had FTEs and since I had a 17L he asked me for advice on how to solve it. I said "start by cleaning it", but that kind of defeated the purpose for him since he wanted bragging rights that the gun shot great right out of the box.

Finally he capitulated and cleaned the gun from stem to stern. including the extractor and the FTEs went away.

One of the advantages of the H&K P7 is that it will run with a broken extractor

 

[stchman]

To the OP:

Give the gun a good cleaning. Give the barrel and chamber good soaking in Hoppe's #9. Soak the slide and frame in #9 as well.

Let the parts soak for several hours(maybe overnight). Take a toothbrush and clean everything. If the gun is a 9mm, use a 45 caliber brush to clean the chamber out real good. Spray everything off with non-chlorinated brake cleaner and allow to dry. Your gun will have no lubrication so use a decent aerosol lubricant before re-assembly. I do this with all my guns and have never had a problem with FTFs or FTEs. If the gun still has issues, it might need to go back to Glock.

I bought a pistol a while back from a guy that said it jammed too much(got it for a good price), and after a thorough cleaning and lubing(gun looked like it had NEVER been cleaned), the gun worked GREAT!!!!

 

[TheProf]

Here's the update...

I'm still having extractor issues.

Here's my thinking process and what I have done so far..

1. I have had 4000 problem free rounds with this very gun prior to the problem cropping up this past two weeks. I'm familiar with Glocks and have logged over 15,000 problem free rounds with various Glocks. So, I'm ruling out limpwristing.

2. I replaced the RSA. Brand new...last week.

3. I'm using a brand new factory magazine.

4. I'm using WWB factory ammo (my usual practice round) (but of a different batch)...just to rule out a bad batch of ammo.

5. I have soaked and brushed and cleaned the extractor. I don't see any broken parts. I've clean the whole slide...down to the last itty bitty part.

6. The chamber is sparkling clean.

So I take it out to the range today...to do a 100 round test. And I still had one failure to extract. Again, I had to use my fingernail to pull the spent cartridge out.

So here's my question...


Can I swap the extractor from a G19 and use that in my G26?

I'm thinking that although I don't see obvious chipping on my current G26 extractor, it may be a super small chipping that my poor eyes is not seeing.

 

[Shaq]

After reviewing posts, I noted that your Glock is a Gen 4, which were known for extraction failures due to manufacturing changes to save costs. The problems were mainly with lighter-loaded ammo like the WWB and Federal Champion.

I'd contact Glock; they are well aware of the issue & they'll probably send you replacement recoil spring and extractor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5rDSB9JAqo

 

[Jenrick]

A failure to extract the fired cartridge is caused by only a few things:

1) Excessive friction between the cartridge cause and the chamber walls. This is normally seen immediately if it's a barrel issue, as any and all ammo will stick to whatever high spot is in the chamber. Otherwise it's normally an ammunition issue. A good thorough chamber cleaning and a change in ammo brand is the best method of figuring out if this if the issue.

2) A VERY dirty extractor. If you can't see crud blocking the extractor hook, it's not dirty enough to worry about.

3) A broken extractor. It will take a clearly visibly missing chunk of extractor for it malfunction. If you're not seeing that, it's not the problem.

4) A weak or stuck extractor spring. There has to be enough tension on the extractor from the spring assembly to keep it tight on the case. If this spring is weak, or more likely has some gunk in it's channel it can be to light to stick to the case. Cleaning, and then replacing this would be my first move.

Replacing the recoil spring assembly will help correct some of the above conditions by slowing the movement of the slide down. This gives the extractor the opportunity to work even if it's dirty or marginally tension'ed. Big thing though is to make sure it's go enough spring pressure to function correctly regardless. A properly sprung extractor should work even in a gun with no recoil spring (and no you should NOT test that on one of your personal guns, it's a neat trick they occasionally show in armor'ers school).

-Jenrick