Friday, July 06, 2012

New Glock Fail

So a couple of weeks ago, I spotted a Glock 21 (.45 ACP) on Gunbroker. It had a pretty low starting price that looked ok to me so I bid that amount and forgot about it...until I got the e-mail letting me know that I'd won.

Well I sent the money off and it came in to my dealer yesterday so I went to get it today.

Shiny, eh?
It was used, but you'd never know it. Not a scratch, scuff, or dull spot on it. The inside was as clean as the outside and the magazines were a bitch to load to capacity, as new Glock mags typically are.

So after competing the transfer, including the oh-so-redundant background check, I eagerly trotted it out to the firing line and began shooting at the steel plates on the dueling tree target stand.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click...

Hmmm.. Tap, rack...BANG! BANG! click.

And so it went, all through both magazines that it came with. The pistol was misfiring about one in three rounds, always hitting the primers dead center, but not hard enough to set them off.

Yay. A new puzzle-project.

It's a Glock, so it shouldn't be hard to fix. I figure I'll replace the firing pin assembly and see what that does. Granted, I like to tinker with "project" guns, but still...space is getting tight on my "fix it" bench, which is where this one is now residing, right next to the Sig 229 that I bought last month--the one that turned out to be DAO when I was expecting a SA/DA. (That one will be getting a new SA/DA SRT trigger assembly when I get around to it.)

Anyway, the day wasn't a total loss. I still had "Old Reliable with me as a back-up.
It fired every round that the Glock failed to, and the rest of the bag to boot, all without a hiccup.

Apparent moral of the story: Glocks are ok, but there's no beating a good 30 year-old 1911A1 when you really need something shot. (Psst! Glock fanboys...that's satire. I own four of them because I really do like them. Relax.)


Oh, and on the bonus side, I did some probing and found out that the stunningly cute little range-mistress that I saw working out there last Sunday is not dating anyone at the range and I've been given the official blessing of the range manager to pursue her to the best of my abilities. Tally-ho!

21 comments:

  1. Shave. Clean button down shirt, tucked in.

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  2. I am surprised. I have owned two of them and have never had a fail to fire, eject or any other anomaly.

    Give Glock USA a call, They may just take care of it for free.

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  3. @ Capt. S: This is my fourth Glock, and the first one I've ever had a problem with. I generally like them for their reliability enough to overlook the fact that they are ugly and have no souls.

    But I agree that Glock USA's customer Service is among the best in the industry, IMHO. I will give them a call, however I really don't want to ship this thing off just yet. I'd rather try for the fix myself first.

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  4. @ PH: What? Are you saying that my sheer animal magnetism and macho Cessna pilot confidence isn't going to do the trick?

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  5. Good luck with the complex and mystifying device as well as the simple one. You have a range mistress? Wow, all any one sees at my range is well uh, me, an Active Navy retired dude, a LEO, and a angry Ukrainian.

    Sounds like your scenery is better!

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  6. @ Keads: She do make it hard to keep eyes focused downrange. Heh.

    And the range only has minders out on the week-ends and holidays, which is why I usually don't go there then. But now...?

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  7. "What? Are you saying that my sheer animal magnetism and macho Cessna pilot confidence isn't going to do the trick?" Um...

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  8. 30 year old guns and 30 year old women, what's not to love about that.

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  9. It's sounds to me someone put a lighter firing pin spring in the G 21. When you buy used you shouldn't expect a perfect gun right out of the box. I've bought. 1911 used and they would jam so should I say all 1911 are unreliable ?

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  10. Tony,

    When I buy used, I think that I have a right to expect "functions correctly" unless it's specifically sold as not being so.

    And yes, I've bought lemon 1911s ver the years and I have several other perfectly functional Glocks. My comment was not meant to slur all Glocks, however in this case, my trusty 1911 did come through where this particular Glock did not. I don't fault Glock for it's design, however I think that I have a right to expect a working gun when that's what it was sold as.

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  11. If you expect 100% reliability out of the box buy new ( but now days you cant even expect that) I want to think every gun I buy new or used will shoot 100% out of the box, but I've bought enough guns over the years to no better then that. If I buy a used from a guy I've never meet before who tells me its just as good as new. I pretty much just ignore thatcasue people will lie just to get rid of something they no longer want, but if I want the gun bad enough I will buy it expecting to have to work on it to get it 100% reliable. Now I will admit sometimes the guns are 100% reliable but there is times when its not and I'm not going to blame the used gun and the manufacturers for not beiong 100%. I'll blame the guy that lied to me and said the gun shoots like new. What you should of said was the moral of the story is never trust a guy you've never meet when buying a used gun. Not the moral of the story is Glocks are ok but you cant beat a 30 year old 1911, becasue I've bought old 1911 that wouldnt shoot more then 2 rounds without jamming up on me.

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  12. I hope you really don't think everybody selling used guns are 100% honest? You said so yourself the G21 was listed way cheaper then it should of been. That should of been your first clue.. If you want 100% reliability buy new, but hack now days you cant even buy new guns and expect 100% reliability from any gun makers out there now days.. Just put a new firing pin in that G21 and I'm sure you will have a 100% reliable handgun.. Take care......

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  13. Tony, not that I don't appreciate your readership and comments, but why are you getting so wrapped around the axle over this?

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  14. Usually Glocks give zero problems.

    Misfires?

    Maybe they oiled the firing pin tunnel (a no-no with a Glock.) Or aftermarket springs to lighten the pull.

    Best to get a Glock armor to look at it.

    Now I grew up with Colt "O" and Smith "K" frame guns and right now on my desk is a Speed Six .357 and 2 1/2 M66-3 combat magnum (both unloaded.) And near by a Glock 32 .357 that IS fully loaded.

    All excellent weapons. But again, have a Certified Glock Armor look over the 21.

    And chase that filly! I'm long time married and quite happy and I can say a good woman really does balance life out.

    Just make sure you keep the debts low. Money problems kill lots of marriages.

    Now.. back to the chase young man!!!

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  15. Dang, sorry to hear you're having Glock problems.

    Hopefully its a quick fix. If you wait until October I';m taking the Glock Armorer's class then and can probably figure it out for you.

    I'll let you know how my Glock 21 works (Hey, if you get one, I gotta get one right?) once I go get it.

    Take care, and remember, classy yet confident beats the other techniques hands down.

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  16. Guns and girls will both give you problems. The guns are just much cheaper to fix.

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  17. The ladies are much more impressed with Rugers...

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  18. So, that's a perfect excuse to customize the gun a little more... and keep going back to the range to test the waters... I mean the gun.

    Good luck on getting both of 'em to agree with you!

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  19. @ Wing: I went out to the range this morning with two goals in mind. I cleaned out the Glock's firing pin channel and firing pin assembly (It was gunked up with what looked like WD-40 varnish) but alas, it still didn't function reliably. New spring is on order. As to the other reason for going to the range, she wasn't there, either. Failx2 this AM. Very sad.

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