Glock Extractor Issues Gen 4 - Gen 3

[ChazzMatt]

Proud owner of Gen 3 17,19,26 and a 21sf.

I couldn't help but stumble upon an issue today while reading some threads online. Perhaps I have been under a rock, because I had not heard of this internet "glock extractor mania" until today.

The opinions and expertise found on the resource of M4carbine.net is where I believe the rumors can be boiled away and the facts brought out.

The issue is that supposedly many 2010-2011 glocks, including Gen 3's were issued or shipped with extractors that are different from Gen 3's from 2009 and earlier.

see photos on this thread, page (4) especially:
http://www.firearmstrainingandtactic...?t=1546&page=4

My questions are:

What is the story really? Is this internet pajama ninja dilirium?

Did glock change the extractors?

What is the Gen 4 concave topped extractor pictured on the above thread? Page (4)

Could this all be poor pistol marksmanship and limp wristing with blaming the gun?

Anyway, I hope we can get some relevent answers, rational discussion and hard evidence (pictures are nice).

I own glocks, shoot glocks and also own and shoot 1911s. THIS IS NOT A GUN BASHING THREAD.

Please refrain from turning this into an ego fest. Facts only and 1st person experiences. Thank you and lets get to the bottom of this.

Where have you been?

I'm also a major Glock fan -- but not to be confused with mindless "fanboi". Since 1990, I have only owned 9mm Glocks -- either the Glock 19 and later the Glock 26. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes both.

Before 1990, I owned other brands of guns, but since then I've seen no need. I have also shot many other brands of guns over the years, and rented and shot many other calibers of Glocks (specifically .40 and .45 ACP) but the 9mm Glocks are what I seem to prefer.

Right now I own a Gen3 Glock 19 and a Gen4 Glock 26. Late last year, I sold my Gen3 Glock 26 to the buy Gen4 Glock 26 -- and intended to do the same for the Gen3 Glock 19, replacing it with Gen4 Glock 19 as I like the new grip. But those plans are on hold due to the jamming, extraction problems with the new Gen4 Glock 26.

Yes, that's right. My new Gen4 Glock 26 which I want to love is a jamming mess. Over the 300 rounds I put through it so far, I've have at least 4 stovepipes, jams, FTEs where the gun could not fuction until I cleared that jam. That's not counting the two jams a friend of mine had, because I'm talking direct evidence I experienced. I've been shooting Glocks for two decades and I don't limp wrist.

In my 21 years of owning/shooting Glocks, I've never had a gun like my Gen4 glock 26 which has failed like this.

But let's look at the Gen4s in general. Glock is now on the fifth (or sixth, I've lost count) redesign of their spring on the 9mm model Glock is now issuing the FIFTH different spring since launching their Gen4. So, SOMETHING is wrong with the 9mm Gen4 Glocks.

WHY is Glock on their FIFTH dual recoil spring design? Because of jams, stovepipes, FTE. In the beginning, Glock tried to blame "weak U.S. market ammo" which was bull. Any reputable gun should be able to fire factory SAAMI spec ammo. Period. Winchester white box is loaded to SAMMI specs. If Glock can't fire that, it's Glock's fault.


With these admitted problems, besides Glock has also blamed their extractors.... Glock told customer they had a batch of "out of spec" extractors. Is it that or a bad design? or does the new method of manufacture (MIM -- metal injection molding) allow shoddy, out of spec extractors? Again, no press release on the bad batch of extractors, instead just talking to customers directly, who then post the gist of their conversations on forum boards.

Here's why the "bad batch" of extractors are relevant. Since the Gen4 Baby Glocks did not change springs, the one thing that did change between my Gen3 Glock 26 and the new Gen4 Glock 26 was the extractors. They changed right before the Gen4s were launched, and the new extractor design is also being used on Gen3s still being sold. So, if my Gen4 Glock 26s is then it's not the springs, it's the extractors.

Whether it's the new design or whether it's the new method of manufacture (MIM), SOMETHING has changed that Glock has enough failures and complaints they are trying to fix the problems.

All the people who are focusing on the extractors are saying is, maybe it's not the springs, maybe it's the OTHER element that got changed around the same time the springs (in most 9mm models) were changed. Since the Baby Glock springs were not changed, when my new Gen4 Glock 26 jammed, the extractor issue looks very valid.

Someone on another forum posted this, which has direct observational evidence:

After speaking with Glock customer service yesterday, he recommended I take some fine steel wool to my Gen4 extractor to smooth out the finish a bit and see if that would improve the fit.

I did as he suggested, but during the process, received my Lone Wolf 9mm extractor. While the steel wool DID improve the fit of the Gen4 extractor, I noticed some small, yet OBVIOUS differences between the Lone Wolf version and the Glock version. In fact, the Lone Wolf extractor looked and fit EXACTLY like the extractor in my older Gen3 G19. The Gen4 Glock extractor has the obvious dip that others have mentioned as well as some extra ridges that don't exist on the older Gen3 extractor and the Lone Wolf version.




The Lone Wolf extractor performed brilliantly. NO malfunctions at all and NO brass to the face, even with the 115gr Remington UMC.

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Again I am a major Glock fan, but I'm not a mindless fanboi who cannot admit that Glock screwed something up here and are trying to fix it. At least 5 spring designs shows Glock knows something is amiss, so fanbois should also.

Also, "weak" ammo is a not the reason for any of these failures in spite of what Glock or fanbois say. SAAMI spec factory ammo should fire reliably in ANY production pistol. If it doesn't, it's a failure of the pistol design -- not a failure of the SAAMI spec ammo.

I like the new grip design, which is why I sold my Gen3 Glock 26 and replaced it with Gen4 Glock 26. I had planned to also sell my Gen3 Glock 19 and replace with Gen4 Glock 19, but now I am going to wait a year on that until Glock sorts everything out.

I ordered a Lone Wolf extractor but have not yet installed it. Going to do so this next weekend....