John Wayne
Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2007
- Messages
- 1,133
Not long ago, I purchased a new Glock 30 in .45 Auto. The gun was reliable in its extraction/ejection when shooting. However, with a loaded magazine inserted, rounds could not be hand-cycled through the gun. If there was a round in the chamber and a loaded magazine inserted, the round in the chamber COULD NOT be extracted without first removing the magazine. The slide would retract approximately 2/3 the way and then stop, abruptly. It would return forward into battery without issue. Remove the magazine and the round would eject, no problem. This happened regardless of whether there were 2 cartridges in the mag, or 10. It happened with both factory mags.
After the factory plastic sight fell off, I took it to a Glock armorer and told him about the problem. He replaced the sight, put new followers and springs in my (basically new) mags, but said that it was normal for a pistol to have this problem. I put approximately 5-600 rounds through the pistol before I sold it, so it was not a "break-in" issue. I noticed the part of the slide that picks up a new cartridge from the magazine had a slight hump on it, which I theorized could be causing the slide to stick--i.e., it would retract until the hump caught on the nose of the next bullet in the magazine, at which point there was insufficient force to push all the remaining cartridges down and allow the "hump'' to clear.
I recently purchased a Springfield XD 45 Compact, which is comparable in size to the Glock 30. I wanted another compact .45, and the XD had 3 free magazines, metal sights, and conventional rifling. Magazines have adequate spring tension but are much easier to load, XD has a different extractor design, and the "pusher" part of the slide is also flat, sans hump. It seemed like the perfect answer to all the things I didn't like about the Glock.
Well, lo and behold, it does the same thing. Shoots fine but will not eject a chambered round with a loaded magazine inserted. Now, in both cases, 9mm and .40 variants of these pistols do not have the same issue. At the range, I took a friend's Glock 17, 19, and 27 and my Springfield XDM9, inserted full magazines and chambered every round, racked the slide, and ejected them in rapid succession until the magazines were empty. No problems, and all cartridges were flung clear of the ejection port.
(NOTE: I have since learned that this is not necessarily a recommended practice, even at the range, as the primer of the cartridge can potentially hit the extractor, potentially firing out of battery and igniting the cartridges below it).
Summarily, the two (very similar) compact polymer .45 Autos I've owned required removal of the magazine to clear the chamber. I care about this because if I have a light strike or a dud primer, the conventional "tap, rack" drill will not work, first requiring the removal of the magazine. This is not a quality I want to deal with in a defensive handgun, and a problem not encountered in the 9mm/.40 variants of the same design.
Is this a problem inherent to the cartridge, to the platform, or to the size of the pistol? Is this normal, and if not, can anything be done to fix it?
After the factory plastic sight fell off, I took it to a Glock armorer and told him about the problem. He replaced the sight, put new followers and springs in my (basically new) mags, but said that it was normal for a pistol to have this problem. I put approximately 5-600 rounds through the pistol before I sold it, so it was not a "break-in" issue. I noticed the part of the slide that picks up a new cartridge from the magazine had a slight hump on it, which I theorized could be causing the slide to stick--i.e., it would retract until the hump caught on the nose of the next bullet in the magazine, at which point there was insufficient force to push all the remaining cartridges down and allow the "hump'' to clear.
I recently purchased a Springfield XD 45 Compact, which is comparable in size to the Glock 30. I wanted another compact .45, and the XD had 3 free magazines, metal sights, and conventional rifling. Magazines have adequate spring tension but are much easier to load, XD has a different extractor design, and the "pusher" part of the slide is also flat, sans hump. It seemed like the perfect answer to all the things I didn't like about the Glock.
Well, lo and behold, it does the same thing. Shoots fine but will not eject a chambered round with a loaded magazine inserted. Now, in both cases, 9mm and .40 variants of these pistols do not have the same issue. At the range, I took a friend's Glock 17, 19, and 27 and my Springfield XDM9, inserted full magazines and chambered every round, racked the slide, and ejected them in rapid succession until the magazines were empty. No problems, and all cartridges were flung clear of the ejection port.
(NOTE: I have since learned that this is not necessarily a recommended practice, even at the range, as the primer of the cartridge can potentially hit the extractor, potentially firing out of battery and igniting the cartridges below it).
Summarily, the two (very similar) compact polymer .45 Autos I've owned required removal of the magazine to clear the chamber. I care about this because if I have a light strike or a dud primer, the conventional "tap, rack" drill will not work, first requiring the removal of the magazine. This is not a quality I want to deal with in a defensive handgun, and a problem not encountered in the 9mm/.40 variants of the same design.
Is this a problem inherent to the cartridge, to the platform, or to the size of the pistol? Is this normal, and if not, can anything be done to fix it?
