Anyone have a glock magazine wear out/fail?

[ZDL]

If so, approximate round count? What were you doing when it failed? Normal (reload, drop every now and then) abuse or excessive (drop a lot, stepped on, kicked, in the course of duty type stuff) abuse?

Thanks.

[JonInWA]

One of my old 10 rd magazines for my G17 has a follower which seems to cant a bit higher than it should at the front of the magazine, but it still seems to function well. I've replaced the follower with a new one with the same result, so I gather that the problem is probably due to some distortion/spreading of the inner metal tube at the top. The magazine has been heavily used from 2006 in IDPA, GSSF and steel plate competitions, but I can't really say that its been abused, even in IDPA use.

Annually, I inspect all of my springs for wear, and as preventive maintenance replace them as necessary.

Best, Jon

[Carne Frio]

I have one Glock m19 mag that has a crack in the plastic that runs from the top down, almost to the bottom on the rear portion. The metal liner shows through. It works just as well as when new. It does not drop free when empty.:D

[woodandsteel]

My very first Glock was a glock 22. It was issued to me in 1994. At that time, it had been issued two years earlier. Back then, we shot a lot more than we do now. I can't give an aaccurate amount of rounds fired. But, I would estimate an average of 500 per year. (this sounds low, because I was issued a newer one a few years later and didn't shoot this one as much)

Anyway, we are always allowing our magazines to fall to the ground during qualification rounds and drills. The only problem that I have encountered was a failure to feed last fall. I replaced all my magazine springs and haven't had any problems. I did notice that the old springs were quite a bit shorter than the new ones.

[ToddG]

Mags are disposable. If you have a suspect mag, crush it, toss it, & replace it.

Glock mags have an excellent reputation for durability, but that doesn't mean they're immune from unusual wear or bad luck.

[woodandsteel]

Mags are disposable. If you have a suspect mag, crush it, toss it, & replace it.

Glock mags have an excellent reputation for durability, but that doesn't mean they're immune from unusual wear or bad luck.


That's a good point. I should just replace the mags. Afterall, I carry a bag with me that has extra AR and Glock mags. I really shouldn't carry the older ones.

[Paul45]

After years of use, I had to change the springs in my G34/G17 mags. Other than that, the Glock mags have been good. I have had HP and 1911 mags than you just could not trust. Threw those out!

[mario]

Glock 23 mag w/ 16K+ rounds through it showing excessive wear around magazine release notch. Still functions flawlessly but soon it will be a range only mag

[Trempel]

During recent training, I cracked the baseplate on a G17 mag. I guess you can dump them on the concrete only so many times. While the baseplate is cracked, it never came off and the mag still functioned without a problem. I'm not using that one for anything but the range until I can figure out a way to replace the baseplate.

And this leads me to a question: What's an easy way to remove the baseplates from Glock mags? Am I the only one who is having issues with squeezing the sides of the magazines together?

[BT2012]

I have a G19 as my duty gun. The only issue I've had is failure to drop from the mag well. As far as round count or how long it was loaded before it became an issue, I couldn't tell you but it lasted for a good few years. Mag are expendable but if it still fail to function properly after changing the mag springs then it should not be used for duty or self-defense. In my opinion, I would keep the mag and use it as part of malfunction drill ONLY. As I mentioned above, I've had failure to drop freely from the mag well and I had to rip it out. I've marked bad mags as "Training Use Only" so I don't mix it with good mags during reload drills.

[Hellfire]

Glock 23 mag w/ 16K+ rounds through it showing excessive wear around magazine release notch. Still functions flawlessly but soon it will be a range only mag

Wow. Mine don't last nearly that long.

[skyugo]

Mags are disposable. If you have a suspect mag, crush it, toss it, & replace it.

Glock mags have an excellent reputation for durability, but that doesn't mean they're immune from unusual wear or bad luck.

from what i understand if you send old mags into glock they will rebuild/replace them for free.

[ZDL]

Mags are disposable. If you have a suspect mag, crush it, toss it, & replace it.

Glock mags have an excellent reputation for durability, but that doesn't mean they're immune from unusual wear or bad luck.

No doubt. I'm just looking for a cross section of current users and their data. Just a curiosity thing. Hardly ever hear anyone talk about glock mags other than availability and cost complaints. Probably a good sign.

[mark5pt56]

I need to ttake a pic of the three primary training mags for my 17. You would be amazed in my opinion. The only thing that ever happened to one was the spring collapsed onto itself twice-years apart-I replaced that spring after the second time.
I've had them for 9 years and they look like crap, but work 100%.
They worked real great today!-just have to figure out which Glock model I want now:)

[JHC]

I put 3-5K rounds of 9mm through my Glocks each year for the past 3 years and through this I've been using 3 or 4 older 10 round mags for 90% of this shooting. Occassionally I get a failure to lock back on one, but that's it for problems. I reserve my high caps for matches and every so often I run them on the range to check them out. So far flawless including those that pretty much stay loaded (down loaded one round out of old habits). I'm awfully impressed by them.

BTW no concrete for them to drop on. Just dirt.

[M4arc]

During recent training, I cracked the baseplate on a G17 mag. I guess you can dump them on the concrete only so many times. While the baseplate is cracked, it never came off and the mag still functioned without a problem. I'm not using that one for anything but the range until I can figure out a way to replace the baseplate.

And this leads me to a question: What's an easy way to remove the baseplates from Glock mags? Am I the only one who is having issues with squeezing the sides of the magazines together?

Follow these instructions: Glock magazine disassembly (http://www.topglock.com/content.aspx?Ckey=magdis)

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB28dFAMVQc

[sff70]

I've seen very old G17 mags (non FML) that were bowed so extensively that they had to be stripped out of the pistol with effort.

[SeriousStudent]

I have had just one go south on me, years ago. It had caught a rock right on one of the feed lips, and would not feed correctly after that. I used a boot heel as Mr. Green advocates, and into the trash it went.

I think G-19 mags were $14 then, this was before the 1994 ban. Fourteen bucks is not worth the risk, as others have stated.

I am pretty sure that was a NFML mag, with a early follower with a four digit code stamped on it. I bought the pistol in 1988, and it was an orginal mag body, spring and follower.

[coltm4sp1]

Chuck Taylor had an article in the aug. 1999 handguns magazine . (The Worlds Toughest Handgun , 165000 rounds through a g-17 in 10 years ) And he said the magazines would wear out in the 10,000 rd. range.

[User Name]

I had a magazine spring fail on a G19 magazine. Though I have fifty magazines. 25 G19 and 25 G17. I know I won't wear all these mags out I just hate loading magazines at the range so I usually load 12 magazines and keep them in my range bag.

[Heavy Metal]

Chuck Taylor had an article in the aug. 1999 handguns magazine . (The Worlds Toughest Handgun , 165000 rounds through a g-17 in 10 years ) And he said the magazines would wear out in the 10,000 rd. range.

Actually, it was just the spring that failed.

[CarlosDJackal]

I have a Glock 17/34 17-round magazine that I only use to top off with because the feed lips are starting to spread out and the polymer is starting to split from the metal liner.

Magazines are disposable and they should not be expected to last forever.

[ST911]

Worn out a bunch of mags. Lips, springs, internal liner seam spread.

They're disposable. When in doubt, throw them out.

[SSGN_Doc]

Just had a G19 baseplate fail on me. It cracked along the retaining grove on one side and won't stay on. New base plate should fix it right up.