Misfire with Glock 26 after using slide stop

**andy t** · 04-30-11, 20:13

I encountered a very strange malfunction today that was 100% reproducible with my Glock 26, third gen. This happened with both Wolf and Remington UMC ammo:
With a gun at slide lock, insert a magazine, and use the slide stop to close the slide forward.
Press the trigger - there is a click. If I examined the primer, the indentation (see photos below) appears smaller than the primers of cartridges that were fired normally. If I try to fire the same cartridge again, it fires ok.
However, if I pull back and release the slide, the gun fires without any problems. What could be causing this? This Glock has about 3000 rounds through it, without any malfunctions that aren't ammo related.
Photos:
Primer of misfired cartridge:

Two normally fired primers on left, misfired on right:

Another view:

**Wildcat** · 04-30-11, 20:32

Looking at the location of the striker impression, my first thought is that the slide may not have been fully forward when the striker was released.

Look at the fired primers and the striker impression is well centered. The mark made during the misfire is not centered because the barrel likely was not cammed fully into battery when the striker landed on the primer.

**andy t** · 04-30-11, 20:35

If the slide wasn't fully forward - than the question is why? Is it possible the recoil spring needs to be replaced?

**Wildcat** · 04-30-11, 20:41

How many rounds on your recoil spring assembly?

Another possibility is a stiff or sticky extractor.

If you perform the loading sequence that produces the problem, is the top of the barrel hood flush withe the top surface of the slide?

**ptmccain** · 04-30-11, 21:19

You should not release the slide via the slide lock lever.

Always pull the slide all the way back and let it go.

**skyugo** · 04-30-11, 21:22

Originally Posted by ptmccain

You should not release the slide via the slide lock lever.

Always pull the slide all the way back and let it go.

it should work either way. this gun is either extremely dirty or the recoil spring needs replacement.

the over-top or slingshot methods of unlocking the slide DO tend to offer a little more velocity going into battery, which is one of the arguments for this method.

one more thing to check out is your mags. bent feed lips could hang the rounds up possibly robbing the slide of the velocity needed to go into battery.