Looking for some plastics/polymer experts: Chime in on Gen 1 Glock

[Groo]

Groo here
The Gen 1 Glock is a special bird.
Mine is a 1986 2 pin frame and was my duty gun for 22 years.
The mags were the no drop free type which drove me to the +2 base plates.[ something to get a hold of]
It also has the original proof marks.
Riding in a duty holster and shooting IPSC for 5 years [ many K rounds for training] the only damage was cracked mags [the original.]
That frame [as was told to me] was the original mill spec [and no finger grooves!!!] and although not overly accurate[ mill spec LOOSE]
will run longer than you.

[myg30]

An FYI : Just a heads up to all with "Older" Glocks. If you send it in to glock for repair or their
free "safety update", you will receive back a like new pistol free including shipping. All the old parts will be replaced, your smooth nice trigger will get replaced with the hard to pull new trigger group. Your valued U notch $$ mags will get replaced with the square notch.
I would strongly suggest you go to a gun show or a gun shop and have the glock armorers only replace your broken or worn out part ex like and extractor). Glock will NOT SELL you parts they feel need to be replaced by a certified armorer. I'm not sure but I would guess you can purchase all the nessary "Aftermarket" replacement parts and repair yourself. Easy to do.
The only part I've ever had break was the leaf spring under the take down latch on a G 21 and a phone call to glock got me a replacement in the mail free.
All my glocks are stock. I've done the $ .25 cent trigger job on the ones that needed it and were not broken in yet. They all are fed my cast boolits. Only my carry pistol gets Factory Jacketed after broken in with a full diet of cast.
No issues with frames or other polymer parts yet. ( except standard guide Rod replacements)
Love my glocks, Mike

[Petrol & Powder]

A lot of good input here and a big THANK YOU to kestrel4K for that excellent post !

We don't know how long Glock frames will last but we DO know how long they have lasted. Based on just that empirical information I'd say the odds are good that the frames will easily go several decades. (they'll probably go a lot more)

Kestrel4K - I'm not an engineer but a lot of my family members are/were engineers so I respect your input. I will say that not all conditions are foreseeable and therefore accelerated wear testing provides a good yardstick but it isn't absolute. Since we don't have time machines, it's about the best we can do

Quest plastic pipe was one of those examples in which additional factors changed the predicted lifespan of the product. Exposure to sunlight (UV light) and chlorine, significantly reduced the expected lifespan of that product. With that example in mind, I think if there was some factor that accelerated the wear of a Glock polymer frame, we would have seen evidence of it by now.
We now have about 30+ years of actual experience with the Glock and Glocks have been exposed to just about everything they are going to be exposed to: Sunlight, heat, cold, water, salt water, every imaginable cleaning solution, different powders, holsters, long term storage, etc. They've proven to be incredibly durable. Time will be the ultimate test but we know for a fact they will go 30 years.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Glock will NOT SELL you parts they feel need to be replaced by a certified armorer. I'm not sure but I would guess you can purchase all the nessary "Aftermarket" replacement parts and repair yourself. Easy to do. Mike

Mike may not sell you every part but there is no need to be "certified" to work on a Glock and all the guns parts are readily available from Brownell's or Midway or about 200 other sources that sell both factory and aftermarket parts.

The Armorers Course, which I have 2 of on CD is good information,,, but the Certification Part is a Joke!!! and doesn't mean squat!!!

I have had several "certified armorers" tell me that if I shot Cast Boolits it would blow up my guns and me. We all know that's BS and when a guy tells me something like that I tend to disregard everything else he says that follows. And if he tells me he's a "Certified Armorer" to boot that pretty much ends the conversation. Just because you listen to a CD or even attend the One Day Armorers Course and get a Certification doesn't mean you know what you are doing. There is a little thing called experience that kind of goes along with it. Also when guy spouts of BS like the Cast Boolit warning it becomes obvious that he doesn't have the experience.

If you own a Glock and have completely Disassembled and Reassembled it 5-10 times you are probably certified enough to work on your gun. There just isn't that much to these guns and as long as you stick with Stock Glock Parts and don't get too exuberant with "Polishing" stuff it is pretty hard to screw one up,,, I think you'll be fine.

My ongoing .02 on this subject.

Randy

[oger]

Just sort of fell into a Gen 1 17-L comp that still has original barrel with no cracks I can find. The thing was in a friends truck in a padded box for almost 20 years and yes I paid him what it is worth.