My Glock 19 gen4 issues

[thatpanda]

I purchased a new gen 4 glock 19 at a recent gun show and after I bought it much to my dismay lots of people online were complaining about malfunctions with their new gen 4's. I took out the new 19 tonight and put 300 rounds through her. out of those 300 rounds I had 9 malfunctions, 2 failure to extracts, 3 stove pipes, 4 failure to feeds, and the slide didn't lock back on the last round a few times. The ammo was PRVI 115gr fmj, the magazines were my well worn training mags, and the recoil spring says 03.

The first thing I noticed about my gen 4 that is different from my gen3 19 is the trigger bar looks like its out of spec. when disassembling the gen4 I noticed that when the slide comes off to about 1 1/8 inches, it gets hard to pull the slide off. the part of the trigger bar that presses the firing pin safety is pushed so far to the outside that it contacts the slide and causes tension making the slide hard to remove. the trigger bar is also designed differently. it has what looks like a detent on the side that makes contact with the slide, and I dont know if its supposed to be like that or if its a problem. the slide actually has a nice shiny spot right above the safety plunger where the detent has rubbed into it, and wear marks down the slide where its been contacting.

the other thing I noticed about the trigger bar is that it passes over the firing pin safety plunger off close to the side of the plunger and not towards the center of it. this has caused issues with reassembly where the trigger bar gets stuck between the plunger and the slide, and the slide cannot more further forward to engage the slide lock. In fact I can induce it almost every time I reassemble. pressing the firing pin safety from the magwell with a screw driver allows the slide to move forward and engage the slide lock.

Is this what everyone else's trigger bar looks like? when taking up the slack in the trigger you can actually feel a clicking sensation in the grip frame where the bar is rubbing against the slide. on the gen3 the trigger bar only makes contact with the safety plunger, no slide contact at all.

my slide is also peening. looks like its in the same spot that 3rd gen .40's have it. all my 9mm glocks have had very slight peening in this spot, but nothing that looked like this in 300 rounds. overall it seems like some of the parts on the gen4 don't quite match up to each other.

So what is causing my malfunctions? the mags I was using are pretty worn out and need to be overhauled, but they work fine in my gen 3. any help is appreciated. I dont have access to a decent camera right now, I'll see if I have time to put some pics up this weekend

[dc202]

Have you tried full-powered ammo?

[Wes1977]

Does it say Gen 4 on the gun? i just bought a Glock 19 and it has the sandpaper grip but i haven't noticed it saying gen 4. I'll have to check it when i get home. I know other models came with the marking on gen 4 on it.

I must have the gen 3, my recoil spring is single not double.

[jasonhgross]

The only solution that will probably make you feel good about it: trade it for a gen III.

[ck1]

Something tells me that very soon you will be accused of being a limp-wristed, crappy/weak-ammo shootin' novice. How dare you. ;)

[Careby]

If it's broken, Glock will fix it. If it isn't broken, that just leaves the ammo and the shooter. I'd say try some full power ammo first to break it in. I haven't had any trouble with mine, but I shoot heavier bullets.

[300WM]

Dude, your slide being hard to move at 1 and 1/8 inches would prompt me to send it in. Plus the other things you describe, sounds like you have a frame problem. The slide should move freely off the frame, even new. Could be a slide issue as well. I would send it in. Glock will take care of it.

[thatpanda]

So I'm guessing no one else's slide is hard to remove? I'm going to the range here in a few minutes to try different mags. If im still getting malfunctions I'll call glock tomorrow. thanks for the help

[skyugo]

i really don't see why the new G19 shouldn't be able to fire any factory load marked 9x19.
the old ones certainly do it.

[thatpanda]

just put another 400 rounds through it, the last 100 was winchester nato 124gr. still has problems so I'm calling glock tomorrow.

[KentuckyWindage]

just put another 400 rounds through it, the last 100 was winchester nato 124gr. still has problems so I'm calling glock tomorrow.

That sucks, but glock will make it right. My G19 slide was alittle hard to get on and off kinda like you discribed but has been 100% for 1300 rounds, even with my really light reloads and pull power reloads. Good luck and keep us informed on what happens

[spr1]

The gen 4's with the original insanely stiff recoil spring assemblies were very sensitive to mag spring condition. If the newer ones remain that way, the timing of the slide movement may still be different (almost certainly is), even if the total elapsed time is the same.
In other words, it would be amazing if the new spring assembly did not alter the timing of the slide during the ejection cycle and the return to battery compared to the original single spring.

[CPR]

Did you clean/lube the gun before firing and did you try the new magazines that came with the gun?

It sounds like you got a dud, but I thought I'd throw these suggestions out there.

[M4arc]

There was another member that reported the same issues and IIRC he replaced the recoil spring with a Gen 3 unit and the Glockmeister adapter and his issues went away.

I've very, very disappointed in Glock. It seems that they've somehow managed to **** up what was a very reliable handgun.

I'm sticking with the Gen 3s.

[thatpanda]

I just got off the phone with glock. The tech I spoke to was very helpful in answering all my questions. First off he said there's a new recoil spring that should be out in a week or so that should take care of the feeding and extraction issues. The slide disassembly and reassembly issues are normal. The slide getting stuck because of the trigger bar can be remedied with moving the trigger forward before putting the slide back on. He said a new manual with new Field stripping instructions should be out soon. The slide peening and malfunctions with NATO spec ammo is most definitely not normal so he asked me to send the gun in. He was borderline shocked when I told him about the NATO ammo issues and especially the peening

Overall I'm very satisfied on how helpful the customer service has been. Both people I talked to were very courteous and answered all my questions. Overall I'm very dissatisfied with the performance of my gun. I've owned four different 9mm glocks over the years and have never had any issues before this. If anything this goes to show that you should never purchase a new unproven product when it first hits the market. I'm a Honda technician by trade and we always have problems in the first model year. This proves that even great companies like Honda and glock don't always get it right the first time.

I'll let you guys know what happens after I get the gun back. Never selling my gen3 19

PS. I did not clean the gun before shooting or since. Never did with my Gen 3's and those guns refuse to not run no matter what.

[Magic_Salad0892]

There was another member that reported the same issues and IIRC he replaced the recoil spring with a Gen 3 unit and the Glockmeister adapter and his issues went away.

I've very, very disappointed in Glock. It seems that they've somehow managed to **** up what was a very reliable handgun.

I'm sticking with the Gen 3s.

Or the Gen4 guns with a small piece of metal and the Gen3 assembly.

Ergonomics + Reliability. More or less the same parts count.

I was thinking about it.

[JohnN]

There was another member that reported the same issues and IIRC he replaced the recoil spring with a Gen 3 unit and the Glockmeister adapter and his issues went away.

I've very, very disappointed in Glock. It seems that they've somehow managed to **** up what was a very reliable handgun.

I'm sticking with the Gen 3s.

http://glockparts.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=155990&CAT=737

[bmg]

There was another member that reported the same issues and IIRC he replaced the recoil spring with a Gen 3 unit and the Glockmeister adapter and his issues went away.

I've very, very disappointed in Glock. It seems that they've somehow managed to **** up what was a very reliable handgun.

I'm sticking with the Gen 3s.

The only downside to a gen 3 spring and adapter is that the back end of the recoil spring assembly can move around quite a bit. I'm not sure how much that matters. It seems like the glockmeister guide rod with gen 4 dimensions and a gen 3 style single spring is the best way to go.

[mike benedict]

I have roughly 1000 rounds through my Gen 4 Glock 19 since I changed it to the Gen 3 recoil spring with the adapter doodad and it is trouble free now.

Mike

[Heidevolk]

I have only used the factory gen 4 spring and Brown Bear ammunition through my Gen 4 Glock 19.

Today I lubed the slide with Slip EWL and fired 250 rounds, bringing my total to approximately 600 rounds through the gun.

Previously I had several malfunctions. Today I only had one malfunction in the first 50 rounds fired, which I purposely tried to cause myself by pushing very hard on the side of the slide my thumbs while firing.

After that I fired normally, both strong hand and off hand, and went through 200 rounds without another malfunction.

I'm hoping maybe problems go away as the gun as I continue to break-in the spring. If I can go another 1,000 without a problem, and at least a couple hundred of my carry ammo, I guess I'll consider the gun "cured".