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.

============

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....

[Psalms144.1]

My 3rd Gen G19 is "waiting shipping" back to me from it's third trip to Smyrna to try to make it stop drawing blood from my forehead with ejected brass. As directed, I wrote a very detailed letter, describing the problem, previous "fixes" applied by the factory, and requesting that the service tech contact me when they diagnosed the problem.

As stated, I would never have known they touched my pistol if I hadn't checked today. The only thing the unhelpful service person on the phone told me was that they replaced the extractor.

When I mentioned that this has been tried twice in the past, with no lasting results, I was not-so-politely gaffed off and hung up on.

I got the impression that the service guys are being beat down.

I'll post the results of this repair once my pistol is back in my hands.

Regards,

Kevin

[TacMedic556]

compared my G19 to my buddys G19. His is from 2003, mine is from 2010. The extractor difference is definite. His is flat, machined and smooth. There is no LCI.

Glock should just re-issue the earlier extractors and allow all owners to get one per gun.

[CrazyFingers]

This issue has me concerned as well. I have been wanting a modern striker-fired pistol for some time, something smaller and lighter than my 92fs and 1911. I did not like how the grip felt on an M&P 9c, but a Gen3 G19 felt great. The size and balance were just right. Now that I'm ready to make the purchase, I have serious concerns about the quality and reliability of Glock 9mm pistols.
Short of finding an older Gen3 with the straight extractor, is there any definitive way to buy a reliable G19? I'd rather not have to buy a third party extractor to get a pistol to run the way it should out of the box, and it doesn't sound like sending it back to the factory solves the issues.

[TAZ]

Those 9mm extractors from newer guns do look like crap as far as outgoing QC goes. For shots and giggles I took my Gen4 21 apart and took a look at the extractor. Pics below. Not as clean as the LWD unit as there are still parting lines visible, but the deformation that is displayed in the pics above aren't there at all. I am closing on 1K rounds through the gun now without any issues. Wonder if it's only the 9mm that is being affected by either new tooling or worn out tooling. iPhone pics below of my extractor for comparison.

[ChazzMatt]

Right before the Gen4s were introduced, Glock not only changed the extractor design they also changed the method of manufacturing -- going from "machined" parts to MIM (metal injection molding). All new Gen3s (Glock still sells them) and Gen4s come with the new design, questionable extractors. Glock admitted they had a batch of "out of spec" extractors earlier this year, but that's all they will admit. Whereas, Lone Wolf makes their Glock extractors based on the OLD tried and true extractor design and machined parts -- the way Glock used to.



BUT, there's a new development...

After Glock issued 5 or 6 new spring designs the past few months and even issed a press release about the final one, they have QUIETLY introduced a new EJECTOR design. All new 9mms leaving the factory have this new EJECTOR (not extractor).

See, the reason they were blaming "weak" ammo before is because strong force will help overcome the flawed new extractor design -- to forcibly push the casings out. Sure, they'll whack you in the face and burn your cheek, but they're out. Ammo in the lower ranges -- while still SAMMI spec and fired fine in prior Gen3s -- suddenly failed to eject, jammed, stove piped and otherwise shown a spotlight that something was wrong.

But rather than admit they cheaped out by going MIM and not checking quality or testing the new design enough on the new extractors, now Glock has re-designed their ejectors to work with their new extractors.

People who have the newest springs and newest ejectors say the Gen4 problems now seem to be solved. But unless you are an armorer, Glock will not send you a new ejector for a gun you already own. They might send it to an armorer to install on your gun, I don't know. Or if you ship it to them they will install it.

The old part number is "336". The new part is numbered "30274"


Old Gen 4 Ejector In Back

The new ejector seems to be shorter, thicker and more stubby (less pointed) and slightly different angle.



So, make sure you have the newest double recoil spring, make sure you have the newest ejector, and doesn't hurt to have a Lone Wolf extractor.


More pics here:

https://www.m4carbine.net/showpost.p...&postcount=457

In those pics, the new ejector is in the middle.

If you want to know more, here's a google search for Glock, Gen4, ejector, "30274": http://goo.gl/DelE7

[Doc Safari]

We know that late model Gen 3's come with Gen 4 extractors but as far as you know the new ejectors are only in Gen 4's, correct?

EDITED TO ADD: Glock has really screwed the pooch on the Gen 4 9mm's.

[aaron_c]

My Gen 3 (test fired 9/21/11) has that 336 ejector. I bought it less than a month ago and had to send it in to glock today.

[TacMedic556]

What is the ejector part number on the EARLY pre-336 9mm Ejectors for the 17, 19, 26?

Did the newer Gen 3's all get ejector 336? What should the ejector number be?

[brushy bill]

Does anyone know if the new Gen 3s will ship with this ejector also or is it only the Gen 4s?