| 64,592 rounds | 16 stoppages (+1 w/non-LCI extractor) |
0 malfunctions | 2 parts breakages |
Another month has gone by, and the gun is now just shy of 65,000 rounds. It traveled quite a bit this month as I taught classes in Georgia, Texas, Virginia, and New Mexico.
The G17 suffered its second parts failure this month. During some range time with a law enforcement agency in Texas, it suffered four premature lockbacks (slide locking back while there was still ammunition in the magazine) over the course of just a couple of magazines. Upon disassembly, it felt like the slide release lever (or “slide stop” as Glock calls it) was limp and providing as much downward force as usual. Comparison with an unused lever showed noticeable compression of the used part’s spring (see photo at right; new lever top, old lever bottom).
It’s worth noting that last month the pistol had three stoppages, all premature lockbacks that were blamed on the 10rd Glock magazines. My guess is that was a warning that the slide release spring was weakening.
The old lever had approximately 17,000 rounds through it before it began to fail. While the pistol was certainly dirty, it was properly lubricated and otherwise running without a hiccup. Since replacing the lever with a fresh one, the pistol has fired over 2,500 rounds without another premature lockback or any other mechanical problem.
I’ve been going back and forth between the Glock “dot” and “minus” connectors, trying to find the one that will work best for me overall. Neither of them gives me the rolling feel I got from the Lone Wolf 3.5, but after having my first LW3.5 break at the 16.5k round mark.
Compounding my trouble choosing a connector has been the fact that the Crimson Trace LG-850 Lasergrip is painfully digging into my left thumb every time I fire the gun weak hand only. It’s bad enough that I’ve actually started to flinch when shooting WHO. That makes it very difficult to assess whether it’s trigger (and connector) issues or the grip/flinch causing issues, or a combination of the two. I’m hoping to round and relieve the offending area of the Lasergrip this week to see if I can alleviate that part of the problem.
And no, I still haven’t cleaned it yet… But the pistol is going down to Rogers next week for a private pistol-forum.com class, so I’ll be giving it a thorough cleaning and inspection before then.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous Glock 17 gen4 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Month 13
- Week 42
- Week 41
- Week 40
- Week 39
- Week 38
- Week 37
- Week 36
- Week 35
- Week 34
- Week 33
- Week 32
- Week 31
- Week 30
- Week 29
- Week 28
- Week 27
- Week 26
- Week 25
- Week 24
- Week 23
- Week 22
- Week 21
- Week 20
- Week 19
- Week 18
- 25,000 Rounds with the G17 gen4
- Week 17
- Week 15
- Week 13
- Week 12
- Week 11
- Week 10
- Week 9
- Week 8
- Week 6
- Week 5
- Week 4
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
- 99.8%
- It Lives
- Week Zero
- When Will It Stop?
- Announcement
Thanks for the info. I just put a slide stop on my spare parts list thanks to this.
Ive had this happen a few times to me and now change them “normally”
Todd,
I have the slide lock back with rounds still in the magazine with every Glock I have ever fired that has the factory extended slide stop lever installed due to my support hand thumb pushing it up. Are you certain that this isn’t what is going on with yours?
Am I out of line to ask for video evidence of you actually cleaning this gun? Put that new camera to work dude.
I had the same issue with my gen 3 model 22 in a recent class. I blamed in on the mags. It seemed like the same one each time. Changed it and kept having issues. Then changed the slide release. Problem was still there. I have about 20k shot from mine over about 5 years. I then looked at my grip. Very small change and no more issues. Check your grip. I didnt think that I had changed anything. I had.
copinstructor — Anything is possible, but it seems pretty unlikely to me. I didn’t have the problem for 60,000+ rounds, had a number of premature lockbacks over a very short period of time, replaced the part and the problem went away instantly.
While this thought will no doubt strike you as almost heretical, Todd, had you considered that cleaning only once every, what–15,000 rounds or so?–combined with the heat from extremely high round count sessions might have some occasional minor effect on springs and other small parts? One even might conclude that the slide release on a Glock tends to attract a lot of carbon residue, and enough of that might just possibly effect its operation.
2012 AFHF had the same issues. Going to order a new part