View Full Version : problem with a Vickers Tactical slide stop
Hey guys I've got an odd problem here and am hoping someone can set me straight. I did a search but maybe my search-fu is weak.
I've been running Glocks for 15 years and have always done my own part installations. Not because I'm a genius but because the Glock is so dirt simple. I've been running the excellent Vickers Tactical slide stop in all my current Glocks (gen 3's) since they were available. I've installed them for friends too, never had a problem.
I recently acquired a brand new gen 3 G17. Today I pulled out the OEM slide stop, put in the Vickers, and noticed the Vickers lever not moving easily, and with very little of the quick springiness you expect. I went back and forth between the OEM lever and the Vickers; every time the OEM worked fine but the Vickers was spongy and just not fitting right.
So I compared this brand new OEM lever, the Vickers lever, and an old OEM lever from a previous part replacement. Sure enough, the new OEM lever is visibly different from both the Vickers and the old OEM lever. Check out this pic:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o255/Fire-Is-Life/Glockslidestops01-annotated.jpg
The Vickers matches the old OEM just about perfectly, but the new OEM has a distinctly different profile along the top between the hole and the 'pad'. This must be affecting the fit because there's not much else going on there.
Anyone seen this before? I figured I would ask before hacking on the Vickers part.
acaixguard
05-25-13, 21:08
When you say spongy, do you mean the slide release would feel a little "stuck"? I adjusted the spring position a bit to get the most downward tension, and I also had to slightly widen the gap between the inside and outside of the thumb lever. It was a little narrow when I got it out of the box, which would cause it to rub too closely on the frame, which inhibited it from freely traveling up and down.
Hope this makes sense.
One of the first things I checked was for the spring being off-axis, kinked, etc but I just didn't see any problems with it. Though now I'm thinking that I must have overlooked something simple.
The lack of a lowered top edge would not effect how it moved, only how far.
Is the trigger pin notch in the optimal position? Sometimes they can be hard to get perfect, especially if the pin is tight in the frame.
2 questions:
1) Did you hammer the Vickers slide stop into place? TD has stated that many people having problems had hammered the piece into place and caused slight marring of the part that was noticible under a microscope. Thus, they refused to honor the warranty in cases where the part was hammered into place.
2) Does it function properly or are you getting premature slide lock back?
Thanks for the feedback guys.
No hammering here! The trigger and frame pins were good to go too.
I checked the alignment of the springs between each of the levers and they all looked good. Again, the 'new' OEM lever that came with the gun fit perfectly and the spring action was very lively, just as you'd expect. The Vickers and 'old' OEM levers fit but felt like they were binding. That's what I mean by the term 'spongy'.
I will tear the gun down again soon, see if I overlooked something obvious, and try to take some pics. I have not been active on pistol forums for a couple years so I thought maybe Glock had changed something and I didn't know. But I knew M4C would have the goods.
ETA: I have not shot rounds through the gun with the Vickers installed. With the poor spring action I figured that would not be helpful. But since they're so easy to swap, next time I'm at the range I will interchange the levers and see how it goes.
Always install the locking block pin BEFORE the trigger pin and slide stop lever. You them have to make sure the slide stop lever is properly seated in the notch. Done by moving the pin each direction while pulling on the SSL. Should move freely then.
A lot of people install the pins out of order and f*&k up the SSL springs.
Psalms144.1
05-28-13, 06:50
I had a similar issue with an early Vickers slide lock lever - mine was too "loose" when installed (easily moved up & down then the empty pistol was shaken, and would nudge up with the slightest thumb pressure).
Not sure what the issue was, as, frankly, I'm perfectly OK with the OEM slide stop, so I never bothered to jigger with it beyond the first couple of tries to get it to work...
Last week, I installed one on a co-workers G27, and it went in easy and works like a champ, so maybe I just got a "bad" one.
Regards,
Kevin
Always install the locking block pin BEFORE the trigger pin and slide stop lever. You them have to make sure the slide stop lever is properly seated in the notch.
Yup, got that covered.
Once I get some range time to try things out I'll post an update.
Thanks for the feedback all.
I switched my Gen4 G19 slide lock to a Vickers slide lock. I just looked at the OEM Gen4 slide lock and it looks exactly like the OEM Gen 3 slide lock in your picture. Looks like you may have a OEM Gen 4 slide lock with you Gen 3 G17
I switched my Gen4 G19 slide lock to a Vickers slide lock. I just looked at the OEM Gen4 slide lock and it looks exactly like the OEM Gen 3 slide lock in your picture. Looks like you may have a OEM Gen 4 slide lock with you Gen 3 G17
Gen3 & Gen4 slide stops are compatible. The only slide stop that is not the same fit/function are the two pin gen 1 and gen 2 stops.
Didnt know that they were compatible. Just commenting that my slide stop in my Gen $ G19 looks just like the one the OP had in the Gen 3 G17 he has.
I tore down the new G17 and fiddled around with the levers again. Like as before the Vickers lever just felt like it was binding a small amount. Just for kicks I removed the Vickers lever from an old G19 and dropped it in the new G17. Worked perfectly. The 'new' Vickers lever, that was binding a bit in the new G17, worked fine in the G19.
So I think the problem was that the dimension tolerances between the new G17 and newer Vickers lever just happened to stack up enough to make a small binding problem. By swapping the two Vickers lever between the two guns, everything is fine.
Ballistic Agency
05-31-13, 19:14
I've heard lots of people say that a Glock is a Glock is a Glock and that you can mix up a bag of parts from different Glocks and put them together with no issues. For the most part, this is correct but their are dimensional differences. It's just the dimensions are usually loose enough that it doesn't matter.
We have sold thousands of Vickers slide stops and as it stands now, we have a less than 1% return/support rate on them. They work with almost any Glock but there are odd balls out there when things don't work quite right.
That being said, 90% of the time when someone has a problem with that part, it's because they hammered the pin in.
Some may have issues with the Gen1-3 two pun guns. 2 pin G17's call for the "shark fin" SSL.
I've tested the Vickers SSL and it works fine. Not as well as stock part (399) but it has proven to be reliable enough.
Only the 2 pin 17's use the shark fin. Not the 19's.
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