Glock works despite it's "bad trigger"

[Thorkind]

So a friend of mine comes to me on Friday and says he's had enough of his Glock 19. He wanted to trade his G19 in on a Beretta 92. He said that the Glock trigger was terrible. I took a look and dry-fired it. At first I thought he had the New York Trigger setup in his pistol, because it was quite a nasty pull but at least it still had a positive reset. So I asked if I could field strip and check the internals. I examined it and saw no visible problem. I then pushed the firing pin/striker safety down and ... oops... talk about a nasty "ccccruunnnchhh". At this stage I detail stripped the slide and lo and behold, the firing pin safety spring was in the channel SIDEWAYS! Turns out, he had put through approx. 2000 rounds like this with no malfunctions! Couple of lessons here. First, make sure, double sure, triple sure, that all parts are in the right place after a detail strip. Second, the Glock is one seriously forgiving gun!

[DS]

Hopefully the friend is now back on the Glock wagon - he will have to look far for that kind of forgiveness. lv29

[Corné]

My first pistol was a CZ model 50 and with very little knowledge I stripped it totally. I then had to put everything back together. There was one part that could go in two different way's. The first time I had it in the wrong way but the gun still seemed to work (dry). I then realised that it was in the wrong way around and had to strip it again (what a mission) to get it in the correct way. I do not know what would have happend of I fired it. I think the part was part of the sear and trigger setup.

A friend also called me about a year or so ago asking me what the problem could be for a full auto Glock. He had stripped his and reassembled it and went out to the range. His Glock was now in Full Auto Mode. On stripping it, he found that the firing pin safety spring was also not correct and things just went haywire due to this.

[abhm]

So a friend of mine comes to me on Friday and says he's had enough of his Glock 19. He wanted to trade his G19 in on a Beretta 92. He said that the Glock trigger was terrible. I took a look and dry-fired it. At first I thought he had the New York Trigger setup in his pistol, because it was quite a nasty pull but at least it still had a positive reset. So I asked if I could field strip and check the internals. I examined it and saw no visible problem. I then pushed the firing pin/striker safety down and ... oops... talk about a nasty "ccccruunnnchhh". At this stage I detail stripped the slide and lo and behold, the firing pin safety spring was in the channel SIDEWAYS! Turns out, he had put through approx. 2000 rounds like this with no malfunctions! Couple of lessons here. First, make sure, double sure, triple sure, that all parts are in the right place after a detail strip. Second, the Glock is one seriously forgiving gun!

in fact can anyone think of a more forgiving weapon? to quote ole Tommy Lee Jones in US Marshalls "throw away that nickel plated sissy pistol and get yourself a Glock"

[BigT]

Glocks you just cant beat them. Every now and then I consider getting something else just for a change more than anything but the fact that they are so forgiving and so easily user serviceable always brings of back.

[Armed Preacher]

Glocks are forgiving and that also points to their LARGE tolerances in manufacturing. Their triggers are crappy, its not so much the weight of pull or the long trigger pull but the overtravel is the really crappy part.
Removing the overtravel makes the Glock trigger more acceptable to many people and it has the added bonus of a faster reset.

[Corné]

Armed Preacher,

I disagree with you regarding 'LARGE TOLLERENCES in manufacturing'. I would rather say that it is a case of design that gives the impression of large tolerances. These large tolerances in design is what makes the Glock so effective and reliable. The standard trigger is crappy but changing the disconnector to the lighter version improves it tremendously. The long trigger pull and overtravel is not that bad and once you get used to it, you do not even notice it anymore. I would also not do any modifications on a SD Glock regarding the overtravel as this just adds a possible failure point that could actually interfere with the trigger and render it Out Of Order. I can easily do sub .2second splits with my Glock with the so called long trigger pull and overtravel. My son recently did .14 splits with the same Glock (2meter close target engagement).

I would also say that the Glock trigger is part of the success of the penetration it had in the US law enforcement agencies. A lot of them had revolvers prior to going over the Glock and thus the trigger on the Glock assisted with this transition.

The Glock is not the Formula 1 gun of guns but the straight foreward no fuzz bundu basher that can and do get the job done. It is robust and very forgiving towards dirt and adverse conditions.

On overtravel. If I were to carry a 1911 style pistol for SD, I would setup the trigger to allow for overtravel as to give bigger tolerances to possible problems that could arise and thus enhancing the reliability of the system. I also watched a DVD of some person (I can't remember his name) and in reference to 1911 his advice was if you were to carry them into battle and thus in adverse conditions, he prefers to have 'clunkers' with loose fitted slides and parts as to enhance reliability. A 'clunker' is less prone to jams due to dirt and other environmental issues. I would say that Glock falls into the 'clunker' category by Design and not Manufacture....

[Johann the Horrible]

Now the Glock is a good gun BUT the tolerances are rather large. There is a term "Glocked brass" and that refers to brass ruined by a Glock. No gun can be made to shoot it except a Glock. The 9mm is better than the 40 but you will still probable notice that you get all your brass back as no-one wants it. I know of one shooter that got some "Glocked brass" mixed up with his own stuff and ended up buying new cartridges because his 30M just stopped running every time he tried to feed it the Glock brass.

[Corné]

Johann,

I 100% disagree with you. You know me and I reload for my Glock 17 and my Vektor SP1 and I do not have separate brass for these two and I take whatever brass I pick up. Yes, I discard all Nickel Plated cases and a look at my brass before reloading and after reloading I case gauge. My brass is a mix match from just about anything under the sun and who knows how old and how many times reloaded. My reject rate is about 1 to 3 per 100 in the initial stages and about the same in the final stage which I would say is not bad. I have seen Vektors with a fully supported barrel that produced crappy brass as it had a faulty chamber and created bulged brass form normal loads. I can accept that a Glock with a unsupported barrel and high end loads with old brass can create bulged cases but not normal loads. All brass will eventually either crack from the top of the middle and create a bulge at the back. The bulge at the back is because no reloading equipment that I know off will size a case 100% in lenght wise and there is always a small part at the rear that remains unsized as the resizing die just do not reach down to the bottom. Maybe the 30M had a problem and is not within standard dimensions.

[SSP]

+1

The 30M should not be used as a gauge of whether or not brass is out of spec!