G19 accuracy degradation

[Crow Hunter]

I have recently noticed a decrease in "accuracy" with my oldest G19. It has no more than 7,000 rounds through it.

I compared it to a couple of my lower round count Glocks and it was a noticable difference.

Previously this particular Glock was just as accurate as the newer ones.

I have never done anything to remove copper fouling from the barrel as I figured that the 9mm was slow enough and hexagonal rifling eliminated the need for this.

Am I wrong? Do I need to clean out the copper fouling or something else?

[Heavy Metal]

Have you replaced your recoil assembly?

[Crow Hunter]

No, I have not.

Still stock as the way it came from the factory.

What is the recommended swap frequency?

I have a GSSF match next month and I was going to take advantage of the armorers service and get a tune up. Anything else that I should specifically ask for?

[Ak44]

I believe recoil springs should be replaced every 5k rounds?

[Crow Hunter]

How does the recoil spring affect accuracy? (not saying it doesn't, I just don't know)

Isn't the bullet out of the barrel before the action starts to unlock?

Wouldn't I get case failures if the gun was unlocking too early?

I am going to take the advice and change it out, especially if it should have been changed out 2000 round ago, but I was just wondering what would be causing it from a mechanical point of view.

The accuracy degradation seems to be more in the randomness of shot placement.

I usually shoot from around 15 yards on a 8.5 X11" sheet of paper. My normal warmup drill is to shoot 5 round into the center of the paper, then 5 rounds into each corner. With this particular G19 my group size was 2-3x as big (off the paper at times).

I tried a couple of other G19s (my backup and my beside gun) and the drill went normal. Luckily for me I was testing a new lot of carry ammo for accuracy so I had all my G19's there, otherwise I would have chalked it up to a bad hair day.

I also tested it with some of my normal practice ammo and got the same results.

[Cruncher Block]

I might check the locking block and the pin that holds it.

[samuse]

Try a new recoil spring. If that doesn't help, try a new slide lock. The barrel locks up against it, maybe it's been worn or damaged somehow?

[Heavy Metal]

The slide lock spring. The slide lock is the takedown lever, not the slide release BTW.

These things along with the recoil spring can affect consistency of lock-up.

[Heavy Metal]

Also check your bore for a 'ring'. You may have shot a squib out of it too.

[Joe R.]

Actually the correct term is slide lock for the device that you pull down on both sides of the frame to disassemble the pistol. The device that holds the slide to the rear when the mag is empty is the slide stop.

[Vash1023]

could always try a new barrel, dont know what a glock barrel is rated for round count wise.

but i hear wolf barrel often have better accuracy then the factory glock ones due.

[Heavy Metal]

I can tell you this much, it is rated for way the hell more than 7000 rounds.

There are people on this forum that put more than that thru a Glock in a single season. I proabally exceed that in two easily.

[CAVDOC]

at 15 yards a glock when optimally managed should about hold a 3x5 card size group without much difficulty- if your gun won't hold 8.5x11 either you have something going on with the gun or you need to have someone else shoot the gun and see what happens. I'd also say look for any chips in the crown as this happens sometimes and will casues a previously accurate gun go haywire fast

[GermanSynergy]

At 7K the OP should get the weapon resprung, and an Armorer will do this for him at the GSSF match if asked to do so.

Short of there being some sort of metallurgical or manufacturing defect with the barrel, I see absolutely no reason to discard an OEM Glock barrel at a mere 7,000 rds.


could always try a new barrel, dont know what a glock barrel is rated for round count wise.

[John_Wayne777]

I'd have to agree with GS...I wouldn't be in any hurry to ditch that Glock barrel. Have the weapon serviced by a competent armorer replacing all the necessary springs, and then see if the weapon is still performing poorly.

[dookie1481]

I can tell you this much, it is rated for way the hell more than 7000 rounds.

There are people on this forum that put more than that thru a Glock in a single season. I proabally exceed that in two easily.

Kyle Defoor shot out a G17 barrel after an estimated 205K rounds.

[Kazzy]

Kyle Defoor shot out a G17 barrel after an estimated 205K rounds.

Yeah, he has a recent blog post about it so you may wanna check it out. I don't think the barrel is the issue here..

[Littlelebowski]

Lockup or crown. Prolly lockup. Replace the damned spring!

[titsonritz]

Actually the correct term is slide lock for the device that you pull down on both sides of the frame to disassemble the pistol. The device that holds the slide to the rear when the mag is empty is the slide stop.

^^^Correct and correct

OP change the recoil spring/rod, it should be done every 5000 rounds, is cheap and will eliminate that as an issue. Take it from there.

I'll give $200 for your worn out POS Glock :D

[Sgt_Gold]

I have never done anything to remove copper fouling from the barrel as I figured that the 9mm was slow enough and hexagonal rifling eliminated the need for this.

Am I wrong? Do I need to clean out the copper fouling or something else?

I agree with everyone who said 'replace the recoil spring'. Inconsistent lockup will affect accuracy, and a weak spring is letting the slide move too fast under recoil. Also, I've 'restored' the accuracy of many many older firearms by a through cleaning of the barrel with a copper and fouling solvent.

[JimmyB62]

If all that doesn't work, put a barrel from your other glock in this gun. Depending on the outcome you may have a better idea of what the issues is.

[Crow Hunter]

If all that doesn't work, put a barrel from your other glock in this gun. Depending on the outcome you may have a better idea of what the issues is.


Damn, I should have thought of that one. Especially since I was standing right there with other ones...:suicide2: That would have told me if it was a barrel or lockup.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

Prolly just needs a rebuild and maybe a good barrel cleaning. And I just need an armorers class. (Signed up for one in August already:D)

The accuracy isn't that bad (for me anyway), I still keep them on a 8.5 X11, just not quite as tight as the newer guns do and previously this was my "most accurate" Glock. I placed 10th with it in my 1st ever GSSF shoot and if I hadn't gotten carried away shooting poppers (I'm not supposed to shoot all 3 of them down? DOH! 20 sec penalty?!?! But I hit them! Shit, but, your going to reset them so I have to shoot them again? SWEET.) I would have been in 4 or 5th place.

I normally shoot a corner of the paper then try to hit the bullet hole with the other 4 shots, then switch corners. Normally, most of my shots fall within 1 to at most 2 bullet diamters around the original bullet hole. (Not rapid fire, warm up slow fire fundamentals) But this time my shots were about 2x that size with some odd non-called flyers.

My brother was there at the time and even commented on how bad I suddenly sucked, until I changed guns that is.:cool:

[Crow Hunter]

Necroposting my own topic.:cool:

I finally got to go shooting this weekend. I swapped out the recoil spring and didn't do anything else to see what would happen.

Group size was cut in half and the random "what the hell, I know I didn't flinch" bullet holes in the target were gone.

Back to being my favorite G19 and let me show up my brother with his brand new M&P compact!

Again, thanks for the help guys!:D

[SiGfever]

Everything breaks.........................





.........eventually. :D


http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1345958

[SMJayman]

Another vote for rocking the copper solvent. I suspect everything is fine, just the barrel is a bit fouled up. I've got two different 9mm Glocks with approx 40k rounds each through the original barrels, and they're both still super accurate.

[Heavy Metal]

I shot my workhorse 19 this evening.

You can check the recoil spring by point the weapon up (after ensuring the mag out and empty), pull the slide to the rear, pull the trigger to the rear and hold to the rear while easing the the slide forward.

Spring tension should be enough to fully close the slide without hanging where the barrel cams into the slide.

My spring is getting a bit soft but still closes the slide. It is a good thing for the time being because the LVE ball I am shooting is the weakest 9mm I have ever used. It will stovepipe about once a box in my 17. So far, only once in about 400 rounds in my 19.

[Omega Man]

Do Bar Sto Glock barrels, have polygonal rifling?

[SMJayman]

Do Bar Sto Glock barrels, have polygonal rifling?

No....

[Omega Man]

Does polygonal rifling provide more accuracy, than the rifling that Glock barrels have? Dont Sig's and HK's have polygonal rifling?

[Crow Hunter]

Does polygonal rifling provide more accuracy, than the rifling that Glock barrels have? Dont Sig's and HK's have polygonal rifling?

Glock factory barrels ARE polygonal rifled. Hexagonal for everything other than .45 and Octagonal for the .45.

As to accuracy. Who knows? According to marketing materials it provides a better gas seal.

However, as I personally have unintentionally demonstrated in this thread (with help from others:D), most pistols accuracy is limited by lockup repeatability rather than the quality of the barrel/rifling.

[TY44934]

^^^Correct and correct

OP change the recoil spring/rod, it should be done every 5000 rounds, is cheap and will eliminate that as an issue. Take it from there.

I'll give $200 for your worn out POS Glock :D

That particular piece has been known to affect the accuracy of the GLOCK handgun.

Replace it and the spring which tensions it.

EDIT: just read P. 2 update from OP; food for thought. Thx.