The Truth about Glocks and Cast

[iomskp]

I have a Glock 34 I bough new about 4 years ago, all I have put through it is about 1000 rounds of cast 125 gr round nose the only complaint I have is the trigger guard is too dam small for my fingers, the gun shoots well, its accurate and there is no leading.

[Tom W.]

The Glock 17 for all it's vaunted reliability is very easy to limp wrist and induce jams.

Bob

My wife and I went to the range and fired her 17 for the first time. She, being a new shooter, limpwristed the first shot and the pistol did just what you'd think it would do. After I cleared the pistol and handed it back to her, reminding her that she needed to hold it a bit firmer, there were no subsequent issues.
I sure like how easy these pistols field strip for cleaning!

[6bg6ga]

I've seen jams in all makes and models caused by limp wristed people. I problem is always corrected by telling them to hold on to it.

[Catshooter]

Ferguson,

I agree with your reasoning behind dumping the Ruger. S&W has stopped producing parts for their 3rd generation line of autos. One of the reasons I bailed on them entirely.

Now I would strongly disagree that there's not much difference between the 17 and the 26. The 26 conceals much better for most clothing/holster set ups. This is forty years of carrying every day talking here. All day with very few exceptions.

Yes you'll have commonality of parts, holsters, mags, sights all manner of things. The Glock is a great system for those who care to utilize it.

If funds are tight (and I know what you mean) then I'd try the factory barrel with your boolits first before getting an after market for the 26. All the Glock 9s have always given good chamber support.


Cat

[Love Life]

My Glock 9mm pistols gobble up boolits with no issues. I've put close to 12 lbs of HP-38 through the two pistols.

[robertbank]

In fairness guys most guns are reliable when fed decent ammo. The Glock is no different. It, like the M&P and XD are very easy to field strip down to the frame if you want to. All three, the Glock, M&P and XD, polymer pistols have features that appeal to shooters. From my observation none of the three give anything away to the others. Find a model you like and run with it. All are under constant improvement with various minor changes being made either to correct a problem, reduce production costs or provide additional features for the consumer.

Take Care

Bob

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks. Over on the Ruger forum there is a guy looking for a recoil spring for his P95 which was only discontinued last year. Nobody has them in stock, he called Ruger and the person that answered said they would not sell him one and all P95 parts are "obsolete". They said if he had a problem he could send the pistol in and they would look at it.

That's not going to fly with me. When I buy a gun, even an inexpensive utilitarian gun, I hope it will be a lifetime purchase. Both my Marlin .30-30's are older than me (35) and lived a hard life before I got them. With proper care and load development they are alot more accurate than I can hold. Same for my Belgian Browning Auto-5 inherited form my papaw and 1983 Marlin 995 .22 rifle that I have put tens of thousands of rounds through when I was a kid. I see no reason why any of Ruger's firearms could not be lifetime guns, including their centerfire auto pistols. However if they are going to bail on supporting them after a few years, and/or insist on a trip back to the factory for every little issue, then there are clearly better choices out there. Even Kel-Tec has every single part other than receivers available for purchase on their website at very reasonable prices with fast shipping.

[robertbank]

Wolf likely makes springs for the gun.

Bob

[Lefty Red]

Thanks. Over on the Ruger forum there is a guy looking for a recoil spring for his P95 which was only discontinued last year. Nobody has them in stock, he called Ruger and the person that answered said they would not sell him one and all P95 parts are "obsolete". They said if he had a problem he could send the pistol in and they would look at it.

That's not going to fly with me. When I buy a gun, even an inexpensive utilitarian gun, I hope it will be a lifetime purchase. Both my Marlin .30-30's are older than me (35) and lived a hard life before I got them. With proper care and load development they are alot more accurate than I can hold. Same for my Belgian Browning Auto-5 inherited form my papaw and 1983 Marlin 995 .22 rifle that I have put tens of thousands of rounds through when I was a kid. I see no reason why any of Ruger's firearms could not be lifetime guns, including their centerfire auto pistols. However if they are going to bail on supporting them after a few years, and/or insist on a trip back to the factory for every little issue, then there are clearly better choices out there. Even Kel-Tec has every single part other than receivers available for purchase on their website at very reasonable prices with fast shipping.

Sounds like they are willing to stand behind the P95, just are running out of parts. Kind of like the Security Six.
I have no doubt they would replace the weapon with a newer model if they were unable to repair the P95.

Jerry

[Catshooter]

In fairness guys most guns are reliable when fed decent ammo. The Glock is no different. It, like the M&P and XD are very easy to field strip down to the frame if you want to. All three, the Glock, M&P and XD, polymer pistols have features that appeal to shooters. From my observation none of the three give anything away to the others. Find a model you like and run with it. All are under constant improvement with various minor changes being made either to correct a problem, reduce production costs or provide additional features for the consumer.

Take Care

Bob

Actually Bob I would disagree. Getting parts for Glocks, either factory or aftermarket is so easy even a Neanderthal could do it. Some of the M&P parts are available but try getting parts for the XD. Or the special tools required to work on them.

Being in Canada, I'm sure you can get Glock parts. Can you get M&P parts?

Maybe parts aren't important to you. There are to me and many others though. Ferguson sums up our viewpoint.

Lefty,

You missed the part where Ruger said the pistol is "obsolete". They have run out of springs because they aren't making/ordering them anymore.


Cat

[FergusonTO35]

Out of curiosity I went looking for parts for the M&P and XD. To my surprise there are a fair number of sellers that carry them. However, they are all backordered on many items and you will spend about 2-3X the cost of an equivalent Glock part in most cases. The cheapest price on an XD recoil I could find was $29.95. The old style Glock recoils are $6-10.00, gen. 4's are about $16.00. Ruger does sell most of the SR parts at very reasonable prices. Unfortunately most of them must be ordered by phone; you tried calling the Ruger parts dept. lately? Also many parts are sold on an exchange basis only, including the Glockish trigger bar.

I'm not so much in love with Glock pistols themselves as I am with not having to be at their mercy for everything. If I bought a 30 year old first generation pistol I could replace everything except the slide and frame brand new if I wanted with a minimum of effort and a wide variety of choices on where to get parts, OEM and aftermarket. Not very many guns or manufactured products in general that are like that. Can't do that with a 30 year old Ruger or S&W auto, or even the last of their hammer fired guns.

[robertbank]

Actually Bob I would disagree. Getting parts for Glocks, either factory or aftermarket is so easy even a Neanderthal could do it. Some of the M&P parts are available but try getting parts for the XD. Or the special tools required to work on them.

Being in Canada, I'm sure you can get Glock parts. Can you get M&P parts?

Maybe parts aren't important to you. There are to me and many others though. Ferguson sums up our viewpoint.

Lefty,

You missed the part where Ruger said the pistol is "obsolete". They have run out of springs because they aren't making/ordering them anymore.


Cat

Yes on the M&P and parts are inexpensive. If you like to tinker the Apex parts can make the gun into a real player for competition.

Has anyone checked with Wolf to see if they make springs for the gun. I doubt any of the manufacturers wind their own springs. Otherwise you are out of luck.

The Glock certainly is easy serviced but you have to like the gun you buy. I don't care for the Luger angle on the Glock or how anyone gets over the hump on the back strap but most do. The guns are cool and like most forearms are reliable. They, like all guns, do require servicing and apparently break given the concern here by the owners for availability of parts. The guns come with cheap plastic sights and a barrel that some prefer not to shoot lead in. The M&P solves both issues with good sights and an excellent barrel....now.

My M&P fits me better than any Glock I have tried and for playing IDPA it is a great gun. If I played a sport where there was more movement I would likely go with a CZ Shadow. For what I need a handgun for defense for the 9MM is to light as is the .45acp.

Take Care

Bob

[Love Life]

One upgrade I very much enjoy about the Gen 4 Glocks is the mag release button. Much better.

[FergusonTO35]

I'm not a fan of the Glock grip shape at all. The angle I do like, it works for me. I sanded down the ridiculous, unnecessary finger bumps on my Glock 19 because they poke my fingers when I grip the pistol. Being a 19 and a generation 4 my pistol already has a small grip and a minimum of hump without any of the backstraps installed. I don't know why Glock thinks its a good idea to put that huge bellbottom hump on the grip of the full size pistols, I'm glad the 19 doesn't have it. The only thing I would gain with a 17 would be two extra rounds and somewhat longer barrel at the expense of a pistol that's way bigger and needs the grip radically reshaped so it would have to be super cheap for me to buy one.

A buddy's girlfriend is really interested in the SR9C so I might be able to swing a Glock 26 at least via layaway.

[knobster]

I've put hundreds of rounds through my Glock 22 - tiny bit of leading, easily cleaned up, no ill effects. Put nearly a thousand rounds through my Glock 17 - same thing, no ill effects. Put maybe 100 rounds through my Glock 21 - not yet enough data to report. Very little leading thus far and I still have all ten fingers, my eyes and Glock barrels.

[FergusonTO35]

My dealer said he should get a G26 gen. 4 in next week so hopefully it will be mine. I hope the POI is correct with the factory barrel and boolits on this one. My 19 shoots quite high with the factory barrel and boolits. It is perfect with the Storm Lake barrel. I suspect that is due to the different twist of rifling.

[Lefty Red]

One upgrade I very much enjoy about the Gen 4 Glocks is the mag release button. Much better.

True! I just picked up a Gen 4 G19 and its wonderful. First time a Glock felt good in my hands.
Jerry

[FergusonTO35]

Gents, do you find that factory Glock barrels shoot high? Today I did a comparison between the factory barrel and Storm Lake barrel in my 19. Distance was 10 yards, load was 3.7 grains IMR 700X with 124 grain FMJ. All groups out of the factory barrel were 1.5-2" high while those of the SL barrel were pretty much spot on. The Glock barrel does shoot very neat groups with FMJ whereas the SL barrel prefers boolits.

I understand that the Glock is supposed to be spot on at 25 yards. I never shoot at that distance, 10 yards is the norm for me. My pistol currently wears the original front and the Glock adjustable rear. I've deepened the notch in the rear as much as I can to bring the POI down. With it in the all the way down position I can make neat POI groups with my pet 3.7 Bullseye/Lee 356-120-TC load. I would like to get a slightly taller front sight so I don't have to keep whittling down rears, if anybody knows where to get one. When I get my Glock 26 out of layaway jail I may try to get it dialed in with this load using the factory barrel and different or modified sights.

[yondering]

I had a G23 (40 S&W) that shot high with 180's, but my others all shoot to point of aim. That is, impact is even with the top of the sight; if you're centering the sight dot on the bullseye, you'd find they all shoot high.

Maybe you just got a barrel that's a little off? Or, it might be that it shoots to point of aim with full power loads; you can expect it to shoot a little higher with lower velocity loads. My 19 shoots slightly high at 10 yards with 3.5gr Bullseye and that Lee 120TC bullet. With full power loads though, it's dead on. This is with the fixed sights it came with.

As a side note, I modified my 120-TC mold so it's now a 105gr HP. I'm pushing it to 1400+ fps from my G19 with Ramshot Silhouette, and it's the most accurate load I've run through this gun. Recoil is just a light snap, more easily managed than the 124gr +P loads. This is with the stock barrel, and powder coated bullets so no leading at all.

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks for the anecdotes. From reading posts here and other places it looks like Glock expects the pistol to be dead on at 25 yards. Still it seems odd to have such a difference in elevation between two barrels. My usual handgun distance is 10 yards and 15 is pushing it. My shaky hands and astigmatism make 25 yards an exercise in frustration and wasted ammo. So, what I've decided to do is order a few of the 6.1 mm plastic rear sights, only $5.00 or so each. I'm going to whittle down the rear notch bit by bit until they are dead on with my chosen load. If that works well I will look into getting better quality front and rear sights of the correct dimensions.