Gen4 Glock 9mm 1sthand reports thread

[kmrtnsn]

I don't see "police officers and armed professionals" experiencing the "problem" that some are experiencing with the G4. For one, the vast majority of police officers do not shoot low-powered crap target ammo; they shoot quality duty loads and the G4 does not appear to have an issue with this kind of quality ammunition. In addition, if there is a matter of break-in (I doubt), then most of this professional purchase group is required to demonstrate proficiency before carrying a new weapon, that means at least a qualification course, if not some practice preceding it, that amounts to a respectable amount of ammunition. I have never met an armed professional that sticks a weapon in his/her holster without trying it out first, let alone being allowed to.

[Outrider]

Better grip, softer shooting, more accurate, whatever... If it stovepipes, fails to feed, or anything else that stops the gun, it's not doing what a 9mm GLOCK by reputation is expected to do... RUN

Generally speaking, semiautomatic pistols don't like limp wristing or weak grip. Glock pistols in 9mm were always a little more finicky about it than some others. How many times have you read about a person getting nailed in the head by brass from a 9mm Glock and people come out of the woodwork telling him it's his grip?

With the new spring set up the Glock 17 seems to have even a smaller room for error. That said, in the first 150 rounds with a brand new Gen 4 Glock 17 I had two failures to feed properly. Both times the round was out of the mag, the tip, was on the feed ramp and somehow the round got turned as the action closed. It was with the second round of a fresh mag both times and both instances were towards the start of the range session. It did not do it at the end.

I have not been back to the range yet to test if it was a mag follower thing, an issue with the feed ramp and jacketed, soft point rounds I got at the range (the range makes visitors shoot its ammo), or if it was grip/wrist related. I'm hoping to get out again and try different ammo.

I can say the pistol was comfortable and I was getting very tight groups with it so I'm hoping the failures were from the range ammo. I am not worried yet.

[Luke_Y]

I don't see "police officers and armed professionals" experiencing the "problem" that some are experiencing with the G4. For one, the vast majority of police officers do not shoot low-powered crap target ammo; they shoot quality duty loads and the G4 does not appear to have an issue with this kind of quality ammunition. In addition, if there is a matter of break-in (I doubt), then most of this professional purchase group is required to demonstrate proficiency before carrying a new weapon, that means at least a qualification course, if not some practice preceding it, that amounts to a respectable amount of ammunition. I have never met an armed professional that sticks a weapon in his/her holster without trying it out first, let alone being allowed to.

Hey don’t take my post wrong; I am a fan of Glock. I own several, carry one daily, shoot and recommend them often.

I don’t know if there is a “problem” or not… I said “ If “. I’ll go back and bold it. That’s why I’ve been following these threads, waiting to see if it sorts out. I would think that between this thread, LAV’s thread, the locked thread, and several others here and elsewhere, along with reports that Glock is engineering a solution of some sort; It has the appearance at least that all is not well…

Anyhow, most of what I typed was in response to ck1’s reply.

I agree 100%. That said, if all issues disappear once the recoil assembly breaks-in than it's really no big deal...

I don’t find a break in period acceptable for a duty handgun. I simply wont excuse a non user induced stoppage much past the first magazine. The first stop after that should be down to a worn part or mag needing replaced. Now, I know that 100% reliability is a goal not a reality. But, Glock was pretty much there with the prior 9mm. And I don’t know why it shouldn’t eat pretty much any available commercial ammo either, the current ones do…

kmrtnsn, it’s not the crowd here, and it’s not right, but it’s a reality that there are 10s of thousands of Glocks riding in duty holsters that wont see 500 rounds in a 10 year service life. You are kidding yourself if you don’t see that. As for that practice and qualification, for many that will be a 25 round qual and maybe shoot the rest of the box. For those users a duty gun with a “break in period” is a liability.

I stand by what I said. If there is a problem, even if it’s just break in, that is a step backwards for Glock.

Shit, Littlelebowski I’m sorry for junking up your firsthand experience reports thread. When I made the first post I thought I was reading the LAV thread, I’m subscribed to both.

[ck1]

Luke Y, I agree with a lot of what you said but I kind of feel like this "first-hand" thread is here just to get a better sense of what guys are really seeing with the Gen4 17's, philosophy aside. I have almost no tolerence for a break-in period as well, but doubt I'd have seen a hiccup if I was shooting duty/sd ammo... Think many of us are seeing that the focus for the new Gen4 was clearly the .40 and the laws of physics deem that means what we're used to with Glock 9mm's has changed.
Wish they had decided to give the 9mm it's own softer assembly right from the start, still, I honestly cannot find a better 9mm pistol to spend my money on right now...

[varoadking]

200 flawless rounds yesterday, and another 400 today thru my Gen 4 G17. All WWB 115FMJ.

That puts me at about 1,500 rounds now, without the first bobble or failure...

I finally have it dialed-in now too...shooting it to POA...finally...

[Littlelebowski]

This thread is about first hand experiences. There are other threads devoted to rumors about fixes and conjecturing on what's "wrong" with the Gen4 9mm Glocks. Let's keep this thread on topic and make it another reference in the invaluable library of knowledge that is M4Carbine.net.

[John_Wayne777]

I was in class this weekend with a gentleman who has had a number of malfunctions with his 4th generation G17. I witnessed one today, a 180 degree stovepipe where the spent casing was caught in the ejection port in a primer-forward position. Ammo was Federal 115 grain FMJ, IIRC.

[halfcocked]

Gen4 G17 - approximately 600 rounds fired so far

Fiocchi - 115 gr - 300 rounds, no problem
American Eagle - 124gr - 150 rounds, no problem
Speer Lawman - 124 gr - 150 rounds, 1 FTE

1 FTE occurred during second or third mag of Speer. The Lawman is not under-powered crappy target ammo. It was during my last range session and occurred right around the 500 round count area.

I cannot recall the last time any of my Glocks had a hiccup, including my new Gen4 G22 (duty gun) which already has 1K+ without a problem. I will continue working the gun to see what happens. Maybe just a fluke and I am attributing it to all the Gen4 speculation??

[HK45]

One round FTE? I wouldn't be too concerned.

[HK45]

Think many of us are seeing that the focus for the new Gen4 was clearly the .40 and the laws of physics deem that means what we're used to with Glock 9mm's has changed.

I find no reason at all to think that is true based on my experience and others reported here.