Trigger slap in Glock 23 with Glock 22 trigger?

[1KPerDay]

Hi,
I let a buddy borrow my Gen 3 Glock 23 (with G22 trigger/guts swapped in) for a match because he ran out of ammo for his gun. Anyway, he complained that the trigger was slapping the crap out of his finger. I hadn't really paid it much attention and I shoot it well, but since he mentioned it, I've shot it back to back with a stock Gen 3 G19, a G22, and a G41, and it does slap my trigger finger while the others don't. After a long string it's enough to make the trigger finger tingly/numb.

Which I assume isn't good, even though I've done okay with it in casual matches. ( click for video if interested).

Out of curiosity I wondered if it was simply the .40 round in this platform that was causing the issue, so I swapped the G23 upper onto the G19 frame for 10 rounds, and didn't notice any trigger slap. So I can only assume it's my particular G22 trigger in the G23 setup.

I don't like the serrated Glock triggers and all of my Glocks have smooth triggers. I can't swap the G22 back because that pistol is long gone.

Any ideas? What could be causing this? I basically pulled the pins, removed the entire trigger assembly including the spring housing and connectors, and swapped them between the G23 and G22. My understanding was that they are completely interchangeable. Was I wrong?

 

[GLOOB]

Have you dry-fired it or stripped it and looked inside? That almost sounds like a broken trigger spring.

 

[1KPerDay]

Dry firing feels fine. I haven't stripped it. Nothing appears broken with the slide off but I'll take a close look. BTW I also tried the G19 slide on the G23 frame and didn't notice any painful trigger slap. But I didn't shoot a ton of rounds. So I assume it's the combination of the .40 round and my particular trigger.

 

[GLOOB]

I put the smooth trigger in all my Glocks. AFAIK, the rest of the stuff is exactly the same between 26/19/17, even the gen4.

FYI is it very easy to change out just the plastic trigger part, itself, to a different trigger bar, in case you ever need/want to do that. For instance, you might have an older Glock with a great trigger pull, and you don't want to mess with changing the trigger bar. There's a blind pin that holds the trigger onto the trigger bar. You can drill a tiny hole in the blind side and easily push the pin out with a small punch. Then swap triggers and reinsert the pin.

The force that returns the trigger forward comes from the slide returning to battery. When that happens, the striker engages the sear, and that's what pushes the trigger back. So the velocity of the slide returning to battery plus the strength of the striker spring are what determines how "hard" the trigger returns forward. The trigger spring resists this force, which is why I suggested to take a look at it.

With the trigger spring broken, the trigger wouldn't always reset when dryfiring, though, unless you keep the trigger pulled while cycling the slide. So that's probably not the case.

It may just be the recoil. I am a diehard Glock fan, but the only Glock 40 I shoot anymore is the G20. I admit the G27 and G23 feel "snappy" to me with hot ammo. I could shoot them fine for awhile. But the snappy feel wears down my nerves faster, so range time often ended up with higher concentration and worse accuracy. I like 40 just fine in some other platforms, though (besides the G20!).

 

[rcmodel]

My old G23 has always had bad trigger slap since brand new.

So bad the safety blade will wear a blister on my finger pad if I shoot it enough in one stretch.

Might just be the nature of the .40 caliber recoil.

rc

 

[GLOOB]

Come to think of it, the G27 was my third Glock. And it was also the first Glock on which I felt the desire to sand down the trigger safety so it would be more flush. It definitely made a difference.

 

[1KPerDay]

And it was also the first Glock on which I felt the desire to sand down the trigger safety so it would be more flush. It definitely made a difference.

I did that on mine. Feels much better but it still slaps me.

When I put the .40 upper on the stock G19 it didn't slap.

Maybe I'll try again and shoot more rounds to make sure.

 

[Bovice]

This is why I don't particularly care for the .40 caliber glocks. .40 in other platforms doesn't slap.

 

[1KPerDay]

Again, the .40 upper on the stock G19 frame doesn't slap. The G27 doesn't slap. The G22 doesn't slap. My brother's stock G23 doesn't slap.

 

[GLOOB]

That's really interesting. So it's the G23 frame that is the culprit?

Did you try the G19 upper on the G23 frame?

Does the G19 frame have the stock serrated trigger, or is that one swapped to smooth, as well?

Does the trigger safety maybe stick out farther on the smooth trigger?

Also, I don't suppose you have tried holding the trigger back and letting go the slide release (with the gun empty) to see how that feels?

 

[1KPerDay]

That's really interesting. So it's the G23 frame that is the culprit?

Did you try the G19 upper on the G23 frame?

yes, as noted above. Felt fine but could probably try more rounds.

Does the G19 frame have the stock serrated trigger, or is that one swapped to smooth, as well?

stock serrated trigger

Does the trigger safety maybe stick out farther on the smooth trigger?

that's the one I sanded down flush because it was pissing me off

Also, I don't suppose you have tried holding the trigger back and letting go the slide release (with the gun empty) to see how that feels?

no but I will... thanks!

 

[1KPerDay]

If I remember tonight I'm going to swap the entire assemblies between the G19 and G22 and see what happens.

 

[1KPerDay]

Well... interesting.

I removed the complete trigger assemblies from both the G19 and my G23, and swapped them. I cleaned both while they were out (didn't remove the springs or connectors; just hosed down with solvent and wiped them off) and wiped down the interior of each frame. I don't thing I've detail stripped mine since I put the smooth trigger in, a few thousand rounds ago.

Put the G19 upper on my G23 frame, with the serrated G19 trigger/guts, and the initial racking of the slide was stiff... something was binding during the first 1/8 inch. But it seemed to slide freely and return to battery freely so I put a couple mags through it. Felt fine, functioned fine.

Then I put the G23 upper on the G19 frame, with the smooth trigger and guts that I'd been using in my G23. Felt and functioned fine. No obvious trigger slap, except maybe for the last couple rounds in the magazine. But not to a great extent and I was pretty much paying attention solely to the trigger. The only discomfort I felt was from Glock knuckle from the unmodified OEM trigger guard hump. I'll never understand why Glocks have that ergonomic nightmare there. I've smoothed it out on my G23.

I was wearing nitrile gloves and wondered if perhaps they were decreasing the sensation, so I removed them and tried another couple mags. Nope, still felt pretty good.

Wondered if it was the ammo, so I switched from Lawman and WWB to my reloads, and it still felt the same. No obvious or distracting trigger slap.

Hmmmm....

Swapped the triggers back, put the G23 upper back on the G23 frame with smooth trigger/guts, and tried again. Felt fine... maybe a little tingly on the tip of my finger but nothing close to what it had been.

Tried the G19 again, felt fine.

So. I can only reason that either:
a. cleaning the trigger assembly/frame had something to do with the improvement, which makes no sense to me, or
b. putting the G19 upper with G19 trigger in my G23 frame somehow rounded off/deburred whatever surface was contributing to the slap.

Or some combination of the two. I imagine the mystery will never be satisfactorily solved.

Thanks for the advice!

BTW tried letting the slide home from slide lock with my finger on the trigger (with G23 upper on both frames/triggers); felt fine/normal.