Glock reliability

[MadcapMagician]

Of the 7 different Glocks I have/had (2 G17s; 2 G19s; 3 G34s), I haven't noticed a difference in reliability. Simply put, they work. Of the many thousands and thousands of rounds fired, the only malfunctions I have had were either bad ammo (factory defects) or with 10-round Klinton Klips that were beat to crap (bad feed lips and/or way worn out springs).

As Todd said, the statistics will have more variation between guns than models themselves.

[jhs1969]

I must be one of the unlucky few as I have had two G19's that gave terrible functioning performance. I'll try to give a brief timeline and description. Some of you with more knowledge may have some input as to the cause or the timeline.

First, I've had quite a number of Glocks, G19's numbering somewhere between 8 and 10. G17's between 4 and 5 and a solo G26. I got my first G19 pretty soon after turning 21 which would have been sometime in the first half of 1990. My last Glock which would have been either a G17 or the G26 which would have been purchased sometime just before 2000. This gives 10 years which I owned somewhere between 13 and 16 Glocks, 1990 thru 2000. I had given up on the G19 first, I probably had not owned a G19 since 1998 or 1999.

Now the problems, I had one of the possible 5 G17's that shot extreme left of POA at ten yrds. Six inches left, I gave it a good break in as some pistols will settle in after a few hundred rounds. This G17 did not, it maintained six inches left after several hundred rounds, I drifted the rear sight to correct but I nearly had to drift it out of it's dovetail. I centered the rear sight and sold it to someone who didn't care, or didn't belive me.

And now the G19's, as I stated I had two poor functioning G19's. The problem was the same for both. During feeding a round from the mag the bullet would nose dive, jamming low on the feed ramp. I had tried several brands of ammo in several configurations of fmj and jhp's. The mags I were using ranged everything that was available from Glock, gen 1,2 and 3 hi-caps and the Klinton 10 rounders. The only difference between the two G19's were the frequency of stoppages. The first G19 started giving this problem in the first 200 rounds and continued for approx the next 1500 rounds before being sent on it's way. It would jam in this manner 3-5 times every 100 rounds. The second G19 went about 2000 rounds before any problems began to show. It then began to jam in the same manner as describe above but it was consistently 2-3 times from every mag, regardless of ammo or the type of mag being used. Both guns used the 5lb trigger connector.

Needless to say my own confidence in Glock's has been shaken to the core. I had at times thought of giving the G19 another try as it has always been my favorite model, especially after the rave reviews it gets here. However that brings me to my third problem with the Glock, it's grip angle. I have owned so many other makes and models and I can switch out between them with relative ease. With the Glocks grip angle I can only be most effective by shooting nothing but a Glock or anything else but a Glock. At this point I have been happy with my MP9, MP9c, HK's and Sig's and find it hard to justify going to a G19 again but sometimes I am still tempted.

Only I can work around problem number three. I wonder if anyone has any ideas what went wrong with these two G19's I described. I thought for awhile it may have been related to the NYPD issue with the G19's but after reading more about that issue I not so sure. Any help?

So much for being brief

[M4arc]

I'd be willing to bet that the nose diving issues were because of the dreaded 2183 followers. Those things sucked and while I never had an issue with any of mine I saw too many issues with then and replaced all of mine just for good measure.

You said that you owned 13-16 Glocks over the years...weren't the other ones reliable?

[Federale]

jhs1969, your Glock 19 issue doesn't have any relationship to the NYPD G19 "issue."

I concur that your problem sounds like a follower/magazine problem.

As for me, I've had a lot of Glocks that I've purchased and several issued to me. I have A LOT of rounds through Glocks, especially in 9mm and in .40. Reliability will vary slightly from individual pistol to individual pistol, but in my opinion, Glocks as a whole are extremely reliable and one model isn't more reliable than another model. I own or have owned, carry or have carried the examples of the 17, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 35 and 21.

Glocks work and they work well.

[jhs1969]

I'd be willing to bet that the nose diving issues were because of the dreaded 2183 followers. Those things sucked and while I never had an issue with any of mine I saw too many issues with then and replaced all of mine just for good measure.

You said that you owned 13-16 Glocks over the years...weren't the other ones reliable?

Thanks for the reply, I had heard of the follower problem but never in any detail. Now that you mentioned it, I recall seeing that number on some of the followers. This may be a connection I had not considered.

Yes, your right. All the other Glocks were stone reliable, no questions. I have had the urge to get another G19 several times in the past 5 years or so, especially the past 3 years. I had planned on getting my wife a G26 and myself the G19. She has rather small hands and found the trigger reach to fit her best on the Glocks, UNTIL, we tried the M&P. She liked the feel of the M&P9c better, and with my history on the G19's, we got a M&P9 for me and a 9c for her. At first I wasn't crazy about the trigger feel and had even planned on selling it then she reminded me why I got the M&P9. It was to fill a heavy duty role for me, being carried regardless of weather and such. If it got abused then oh well. It feels this role great, it goes places I rather not take my 'precious' HK

I have shot my 9 much more than we have shot her 9c, I would guess to have near 700 rounds through my M&P9 at this point. I noticed the trigger began to noticably smooth out nearing the 500 round mark. Now I have a renewed intrest in the M&P's, I guess they have a home after all

I still have an active intrest in the G19, it fills a role the M&P series does not. If S&W were to introduce a 'mid-size' M&P then they may make inroads into the G19's market. With all this being said I still prefer the G19 to all other Glocks and would still like to have one. Maybe the infection will return someday

[jhs1969]

jhs1969, your Glock 19 issue doesn't have any relationship to the NYPD G19 "issue."

I concur that your problem sounds like a follower/magazine problem.

As for me, I've had a lot of Glocks that I've purchased and several issued to me. I have A LOT of rounds through Glocks, especially in 9mm and in .40. Reliability will vary slightly from individual pistol to individual pistol, but in my opinion, Glocks as a whole are extremely reliable and one model isn't more reliable than another model. I own or have owned, carry or have carried the examples of the 17, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 35 and 21.

Glocks work and they work well.

Thanks for replying, you posted while I was replying to M4arc. Yes I agree, after finally finding some details of the NYPD problem it did not sound anything like my issues. Now after touching on a probable cause I find myself gaining some of my lost confidence in the Glocks. I have also put many thousands of rounds through the Glocks, I had set up two of my prior G17's for an IDPA/stock pistol type of competion and had shot the crap out of them. During this time frame I had developed a speed and accuracy I never thought I personally would be capable of. I had owned many 1911's in the past but never felt as confident with them as I did the Glocks. Darn, I can feel that Glock virus spreading again

Talking about this has brought back some good memories with the Glock. Thanks guys

[toddackerman]

I've shot mine quite a bit. Never a problem.

I don't see why it would be considered any less reliable than a G17.

Same reason the the shorter than 5" 1911's have more reported malf's. It's all about the timing cycle designed into the original design. You just can't shorten the barrel and expect the same results. Colt has come very close when they came out with the 4 1/4" Commander series, but it needed an extended ejector to work. That being said (and I own both and have shot both extensively) a shorter barreled gun (within reason) can be made to be reliaable with extra TLC and preventative maintenance like changing the recoil springs more frequently, keeping a closer eye on extractor tension etc..

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

jhs1969,

Your experiences with the Glock are almost a SPOOKY mirror of mine. I swear I wondered if someone had copied one of my old posts from 3-4 years ago until I kept reading.

In my experience a Glock 17, assuming it doesn't have any issues out of the box, is virtually unbreakable. Extremely tough and reliable. I have owned 3 Glock 19s and each have had weird issues. The last one pounded me with brass in the face. The ones before that had FTF issues. My other Glocks have been 100 percent, including my G26.

[Gutshot John]

Same reason the the shorter than 5" 1911's have more reported malf's. It's all about the timing cycle designed into the original design. You just can't shorten the barrel and expect the same results. Colt has come very close when they came out with the 4 1/4" Commander series, but it needed an extended ejector to work. That being said (and I own both and have shot both extensively) a shorter barreled gun (within reason) can be made to be reliaable with extra TLC and preventative maintenance like changing the recoil springs more frequently, keeping a closer eye on extractor tension etc..

If memory serves short 1911s have problems due to the barrel lockup and how the barrel pivots in the shorter slide. It's an imperfect analogy but it's akin to making to decreasing the turn radius in a high speed turn, perhaps a gunsmith can explain it better. The Glock has a different lockup where this problem is less of an issue and why they're so reliable out of the box.

Likewise he 1911 was originally designed to be a 5" gun with the commanders coming later.

The Glock 17 was the original design and was proven well before the G34 ever came into existence.

I've never had a problem with any of mine, but I've heard from more then one person that the MOST reliable was the G19. I have no personal experience that either proves or disproves this.

[ToddG]

While I believe the general idea that shorter guns are less reliable than full-size guns tends to be true, that doesn't mean the reason is the same from design to design. Nor is the degree of reliability loss the same.

For example, the percentage of sub-5" (and especially sub-Commander length) 1911 pistols that have or develop problems is much higher than the percentage of G26's that do.

Just because a less than full size gun develops a problem doesn't mean it's a size issue, either.

The only G19 I ever owned was a dog. Can't recall exactly without digging out my log book, but it suffered right around 25 of the NYPD/Phase3 malfs in about 6,000 rounds. It was the last Glock I ever owned (unless you count the 17/T). But I'd still be the first to say that the G19 is an extremely reliable and durable gun.

Talking about the reliability differences between a G19, G17, and G34 is like arguing whether a car advertised as 299hp is going to be better for your commute than one advertised as 301hp. First, the variation in actual output (or reliability, for the guns) will vary enough from car to car that you'll see way too much overlap to draw any conclusion. Second, you're comparing a factor that is only one tiny part of the whole equation.

If the G19 works better for you from a size, comfort, and/or concealability standpoint then get a G19. Even if you bought five of them, the odds you'd ever find a statistically significant loss of reliability compared to a G17.