Is the gen 4 G27 worth the extra cash?

Not much extra, but I don't want to pay more for nothing. Some people feel the perfection has left the building with the glock gen 4s. Thoughts?

 

Not if the gen3 grip fits you well. The changable back straps are just a good marketing idea. Gun fits more hands, more people buy gun.

 

In my case the "extra cash" was the cost of the third magazine it came with. Since I was going to buy more magazines anyway, I just bought four in place of five.

 

What were the problems people were having with the Gen 3's? I want a 27, but other things have taken priority....

 

I believe the Gen 4 Glock came about to fix problems with lights on the G22 (maybe G23 too). That's the reason for the double recoil spring. The adjustable backstrap, and larger mag release were just things they threw in since they were already changing the frame to allow the double recoil spring.

The little Glocks already had the double recoil spring and don't carry lights anyway. So if you like the new grip and want a bigger mag release, it may be an advantage to you, but there really isn't any functional advantage to Gen 4 G27 over the Gen 3 G27.

 

I say buy it. I've bought 9 glocks in the past 4 years (3 Gen 4's) and i love the Gen 4. The texturing of the grip is better with less slip, the new mag release is 3x better than the original and it comes with the extra mag. I don't care for the backstraps one way or the other, I kinda feel like glock was just "keeping up with the Joneses" on that, considering all the other companies that had been coming out with them before the Gen 4.

 

Scince I use "Talon grips on all my glocks, it really makes no difference to me. The 26 and 27 have been flawless all along, why mess with them now. My other guns get VZ's so I know that they are all going to feel a certain way, instead of a dozen different grips on them. Talon are now in rubber, as well, as far as grip size, the default grip always fit my xl, hands very well. I can see it if you havd a gigantic or very small hand, but I like things to stay one way so each time I pick up the gun , I know the grip is the same as my other glocks.And my 1911's are vz-aliens, or sarge's full size, "they are larger than a standard 1911 grip", the are exellent on target type guns as it's all grip you feel, also covers the entire frame

 

I'd get the Gen4. Besides the extra magazine, it has the new ejector which will fix the ejection problem if the gun has it.



A small percentage of recent production Gen3 and Gen4 9/40/357 have erratic ejection that can be bad enough to result in failures to eject. With some, the cause is as simple as an out-of-spec extractor because replacing it fixes the issue. More often than not however, even using an extractor from another gun known to work properly has no affect, only the new ejector will fix it.

I have a Gen3 G27 with NRR serial # prefix and it ejected erratically, though it never malfunctioned. I didn't notice it until about 200 rounds in, so I don't know if it was doing it before that, but it did get progressively worse with higher round count. About 10% of the spent casings would eject straight over my head, some barely touching the top of my head, and a few would eject straight up in the air, hit the ceiling of the shooting stall and come right back down. To confirm this I had someone else watch me shoot. There was quite an extreme amount of brass shavings and dust collecting on the ejection port, with corresponding triangular shaped dents/scrapes at the case mouths of 99% of the spent casings. I tried the extractor from my G23 which ejects fine and it made no difference. I installed a 28926 ejector into the Gen3 trigger housing to use in this gun as well as using a new extractor, and it fixed the problem. Everything now ejects to the right between 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock, and there are no more dents/scrapes at the case mouths of the spent casings. On 50% of the casings there is a tiny scrape about midway down the length of the casing, so the casing is still barely scraping the bottom of the ejection port, but I consider the problem fixed. One of my relatives has a Gen3 G23 with the same problem. I have a Gen3 G23 that ejects fine, we've shot each others' guns with the same ammo and magazines and the ejection problem stays with his G23.

In the case of my G27, I believe the cause of the problem is that the cut-out in the slide which holds the extractor was not positioned correctly. I put the extractor from my G23 which ejects fine into the G27 slide and compared how each slide held the extractor, both with and without a spent casing with the primer punched out under the claw. In the G27 slide, there's more of a gap between the claw and the breech face with and without the casing, and the casing is held to the breech face with noticeably less tension. The extractor depressor plunger has some pretty extreme wear on the muzzle end which does not appear on the EDP of my G23.

If you get a Gen3 and it ends up having the ejection problem, it's a simple matter to install the new ejector. You have to order a Gen4 trigger housing that has the new ejector, remove the Gen3 trigger housing from your gun, pull the ejectors out of each and put the new ejector into the Gen3 housing to use in your Gen3 gun. I don't understand why Glock isn't using the new ejectors in Gen3's as well. So far only one retailer has been confirmed to sell the Gen4 .40 trigger housing with 28926 ejector, glockparts.com. I bought a couple and the ejectors don't have numbers on them, but they are indeed the 28926 ejector. MidwayUSA.com and glockparts.com have both been confirmed to sell the Gen4 9mm trigger housing with 30274 ejector. Other retailers presumably still have the old Gen4 trigger housings with the old ejectors.

Here are a couple of videos showing the ejection problem:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGVk5yYu3Kg
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkHEdNx0Mk4

 

While I love my Gen3 Glocks, I purchased the G27 in a Gen4 configuration. Reason being, the little gun moves in my large hands more than the 22 or 23 so the Gen4 grip keeps it more stable and allows faster follow up shots for me. I'm sure some grip tape would do the same thing though...

 

I use the largest backstrap on both my Gen 4's. I like the grip texture and the extended mag release is great. The extra cost is just what the 3rd mag costs. Extra mags are always good.

I carry the Gen 4 26. I wouldn't recommend the 27. I don't really see the need for it with good 9mm. .40 is harder to shoot quickly because it feels sharper in the recoil, and 9mm is so cheap to shoot.

 

Go for the Gen 4.... the extra mag is nice, and grippier texture and larger mag release make holding and manipulating that small gun, with all that recoil, much easier.

 

Gen 4s are $35 more than Gen 3s here. When you factor in the extra mag, that's only a $10 or so price difference. I bought a Gen4 recently and I liked it enough that I just bought another one. I like the grip size, texture, and mag release better. I'm not so sure I like that new finish they are using on them (it doesn't look very good but we'll see how it holds up) but they are using that on the Gen3 models too. So far so good!