IS GLOCK QUALITY REALLY GOING DOWNHILL?

[marathonrunner]

Guys, I have gotten so many great help from this site. I currently own a MP Shield and a MP 9C. I love both except the stock triggers are awful compared to Glock's Safe Action. The reset on Glock's are just way better. But I read many disturbing articles that Glock had many extraction issues because of MIM parts. I know some will argue MIM is not a problem but they said Gen4's seem to have reliability issues. I think Glock has fixed all this right? But even so can anybody confirm is Glock's quality gone down since its' first conception?

What about the MP Shield and 9c? Do they use MIM parts? Do you all think both MP and Glock, quality is similar, inferior, or superior? I hope Glock's are still high quality. I had my eyes set on getting the G19

 

[ronnie gore]

glock

glock had some problems with the 4th gen guns with the recoil springs and extraction, but I understand that they have fixed the problem.
it is strange to me they had a product that worked perfect and they "improved it to the point where it did not work.
I have 12 diferent 3rd and 2nd gen glocks and never had any problem.
also I was an glock armourer before retirement.

 

[jack the toad]

My daughter had an early G19 gen4 which was finicky with some light load ammo.
She installed a replacement recoil spring assembly, provided by Glock RSA recall, which corrected the intermittent (ammo based) problem. No other problems I'm aware of and family members currently own several gen 4's in various calibers as well as numerous friends and local PD members.
For a combat handgun, I think the Glock is hard to beat. I'm not aware of any other parts issues but maybe there are. If I were limited to only one fighting handgun, based on reliability, dependability, ease of operation & maintenance, etc., it would likely be the G17 in current configuration.

 

[Hapworth]

Largely nailed by johnnie gore and jack the toad: the issues centered around the Gen4 rollout, and some Gen3s made simultaneously. Weak extraction, brass to face, stovepipes. Primarily the full size and compact 9mms. Recoil spring mechanism and ejector named as culprits and replaced.

Lot of theories why, none confirmed. Glock took care of its customers with few questions asked and no charge, like a company's supposed to when it made the mistakes.

They run like Glock's now -- combat accurate and extremely reliable.

 

[federali]

G19 Issues

I bought one of the first G19s and I had intermittent ejection issues with quality, factory ammo. I replaced the spring guide with a steel guide I made myself and the problems vanished.

Yes, guns can be "improved" to the point where they work best as a paper-weight. But, Glock, arrogant at times, keeps its ear to the ground and gets on top of reliability issues. With all the competition competing for market share, failure to address reliability issues amounts to product suicide.

I own and use two Glocks and an S&W M&P and I have no plans to sell any of them.

 

[Hapworth]

...it is strange to me they had a product that worked perfect and they "improved it to the point where it did not work...

M&P did it: offering a comparable pistol with interchangeable grip sizes (rightly) forced Glock's hand. Caused a change in the geometry Glock had perfected, and they sent it to the market before thorough testing; like too many products these days, it seems the consumer gets to be the R&D and QA departments.

 

[NZshooter]

I love Glocks, but I think the best Glock ever made is the Walther PPQ M2. Glock needs to play some serious catch up and come out with something more innovative than the 42.

(M&P is obviously a great gun given its success, it just doesn't do it for me, personally)

 

[marathonrunner]

my main concern was with the mim parts like extractor that is known to break, firing pin. Does anybody know if this is true?

 

[Hapworth]

my main concern was with the mim parts like extractor that is known to break, firing pin. Does anybody know if this is true?

I know some point to Glock's MIM switchover as the culprit, but it's speculative. Might want to wander over to Glock Talk for more in-depth discussion.

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

S&W has been using MIM for most of their revolver action parts for a while now(15 or 20 years I think). People fight and argue over whether they're better, but at the end of the day I haven't heard of rashes of broken hammers or other MIM parts on S&Ws.

I wouldn't get too worried about MIM or lack thereof on any gun these days...

 

[MJFlores]

The Gen 4 Glocks seem to have a "lazy" extraction method...meaning they dont throw the brass far at all, and sometime tosses it straight up and it bounces off your gun, your arm...a few have bounced off my head. The older Glocks used the throw it with authority but the new ones just sort of dribble brass out and then end up at your feet or just a foot or so away. With that said, my Gen 4 has never failed to eject or failed in any way so it's been 100% reliable. I'm not complaining, but I wonder what changed to cause the lazy ejection as I call it. I'm guessing recoil spring. Some people really dislike this ejection method...if you search for "Glock to the face" you'll find all the haters. Again, it's not an issue for me but it's a characteristic I noticed of the Gen4 that didn;t seem to be there with the earlier generation Glocks. As for MIM parts, I could care less as I haven't seen any failure rate increases over cast or forged so...no worries there for me at least.

 

[getoff]

glock did screw the pooch when they changed a perfectly good design. they did the RTF on guns before and didn't need to change. that said, i have a gen 4 17, and a gen 4 41. both have seen heavy use with all sorts of different ammo. aside from every 3rd-4th spent case bouncing off the top right side of my head, they have been flawless. the 42 i have heard some bad news from people about but mine have been great.

 

[marathonrunner]

Glock

I also have a Glock 42, have not shot it much but works fine. No jams or misfeeds. My Shield does eject the brass right into my face almost every 5 shots. I don't understand why.

 

[JohnSW]

I also have a Glock 42, have not shot it much but works fine.

It's claimed that Glock made some changes to improve reliability.

Glock Appears To Have Made Changes To The G42 | LooseRounds.com

 

[shouldazagged]

I just wish I still had my second-generation G19 and G22. If it ain't broke, etc.

 

[JaPes]

I used to own a M&P 9mm full size. The reason I bought it was because I was an early Gen4 adopter. I'd rather put up with the stock M&P's trigger than the early production Glock Gen4 9mm full size and compact's brass to the face, head, shooting glasses, over the pistol to the left ejection. I got tired of being beaned by hot brass. The Gen3 grip doesn't fit my hand. The M&P's grip felt better.

The Gen4 issues only plagued the full size and compact Gen4 pistols. IMO, the issue with the early production Gen4 Glocks is that they tried to share too many small parts between the Glock 22/27 Gen4 and the Glock 17/19 Gen4 to cut overall production costs.

Fast forward a few years. The Gen4 9mm full size and compact erratic ejection pattern issue is fixed. Glock now issues a beavertail backstrap. I'm back to owning a G17 and G22 Gen4. M&P 9fs is gone.

I learned my lesson. Don't be the early adopter guinea pig.

(I'd buy a G19 Gen4, but I want to see how the H&K VP9 shakes out for early adopters over the next year.)

 

[Arik]

It's only the late 3rd and early 4th gen 9mm. They changed the angle of the extractor. And they never failed, they just had erratic extraction. It would start to extract more to the shooter's face. They never failed. The problem has since been addressed

 

[K.38]

I don't own a Gen 4 but I have sold a pile of them and many to LEOs.

We had a 42 that had problems but that one seems to be more of a break-in deal and we had a Gen 4 19 come back with a case stuck in the chamber. I got the case out and it was Russian steel. He has been shooting brass case stuff now and has no further problems.

For us anyway we haven't had much of a problem at all.

 

[Vulcan Bob]

Many manufacturers have had this problem. Too many new models and desk jockeys pushing to ship more product.

 

[Allen in MT]

Bought my wife a G-42 and went to the range with a box of Winchester 92 gn FMJ. Had a lot of FTE.
May be due to not enough rounds down the tube for break in.??
Had a partial box of Lawmen 95gn TMJ and shot 12 rounds no problems. Will try again next outing.