Gen 4 G17 reduced weight recoil spring?

[ck1]

I was having some consistent stoppages here and there over the course of a bunch of rounds and that would be abnormal for a 3rd Gen Glock 17 and was concerned enough about it that I called Glock quite a few times and somehow was luck enough to get an "02" recoil assembly (supposedly the new softer one for the Gen4 G17). Glock CS is first rate, as I pushed them enough were they were willing to get what I believe to be a pre-production one out to me to fix my issues and take care of a customer which is great.

Thing is, the spring has arrived just as it feels as though my original spring has finally broken-in and softened up to a point where the failures every few hundred rounds seem to have gone away and while it's still on the stiff side as far as racking it, it's now at least in the neighborhood of a stock 3rdGen G17 (this is after around 3300-3500rds on the original recoil assembly). After shooting it a few hundred rounds on-and-off against the original assembly, and switching them out and dry-firing and racking it lots, I've settled on just sticking with the original assembly and will not be using the 02 spring.

I'm not a firearms engineer by any means, but as it seems from what I can detect the particular 02 spring that I received isn't really much if any lighter as far as racking/slide-speed is concerned, but, it is softer in how tight the action locks itself up which I could feel in the trigger immediately, shooting-wise the timing of the gun just felt completely "off" when shooting with the 02 installed, it was opposite to I think what most of us would expect when going to a slightly lighter spring: the felt recoil was greater, and the sight tracking was all over the place and the way the gun cycled just felt weird... really hard to describe, but a lot of the things I've come to like about shooting the Gen4 just deteriorated. In dry-fire it's no contest at all that the 02 spring effects the trigger feel negatively which is also pretty weird as the only time I've ever felt this is in a case of running a really light or worn recoil spring in a 3rdGen G17 along with a stock striker spring, basically a set-up that's on the edge of firing out-of-battery... the 02 isn't going to go out of battery or anywhere near there, but I could feel the difference in lock-up in the trigger nonetheless; super weird. Only thing I can think is that the outer spring isn't the one that needs to lose coils, maybe it's a couple off both or just off the little inner spring...

I don't know really, just know this one didn't increase the slide-speed for some more built-in reliability against potential softer shooting 9mm loads and maybe make the gun less intolerant to less than a perfect grip, which is what I'm used to over thousands upon thousands of rounds through 3rdGen G17's.

This is just one example, and it's entirely possible that I just got a bad spring I guess, but think I just got a crash course in finding out that a dual-spring set-up is a lot more different than the single-spring set-ups I'm used to then I first thought.

I'm not completely sold yet on the reliability of my Gen4 with it's original spring either, so if I experience anymore random stoppages I may just take the hit and trade it in towards a 3rdGen RTF2 since the changeable backstraps aren't a deal-breaker in my case and boring reliability is far more important to me.

(On a side note, I've decided to shoot the gun in "SF" form for a while to see how I do with it and evaluate if it's a positive for my shooting or not before I decide whether or not to get rid of it, I've found I'm not a fan of how the backstraps attach, as I can feel the "seam" in the web of my hand on prolonged shooting sessions and have noticed the longer pin used with them can work itself loose, the top of the backstraps should fit into a slight recess in the frame as do the sides IMO, but for smaller hands the Gen4 is no doubt better.)

Edited June 29, 2010 by ck1

[TecheTitan]

Sorry to hear about all the trouble. I was not having problems before with mine, except for when my wife and daughter shot it. They had stovepiping problems which I think was from limpwristing, but I never had any when I would shoot it. I have been using 115gr. UMC stuff the whole time. I do think that the factory spring is too tight. I was neer a big fan of Glock before this pistol, but the current setup I have now with a Vanek Trigger, the Jager guiderod with the 13lb. spring and lonewolf barrell has turned this into one of my favorite guns.

[Longfastglass]

Glock is now offering a replacement lighter recoil spring set for the Gen4 G17 that they will be happy to send out if you just give them a call. I just had one sent. I should receive it in a couple of days since they are in North GA and I am in the south.

[ck1]

FWIW, The 02 spring I was sent for my Gen4 G17 did nothing more than make the gun's lock-up weaker and just messed up the trigger break, didn't change the slide-speed or slide-resistance in the least (which is the whole problem and why it short-strokes now and then and stovepipes/feed-jams).

I had a few more stoppages and the Gen4 experiment is over for me. I took a hit and traded it in for a 3rdGen RTF2 G17 as I just lost confidence in the Gen4 and wanted to go back to concentrating on my shooting instead of beta-testing a pistol, which is what I was feeling like I was doing with the Gen4.

I know there are guys out there who's Gen4 17's have run great, mine had more than double the stoppages that I've ever seen in any of my 3rdGens over the span of years and thousands upon thousands of rounds, it just wasn't "right" and had to go.

My "new" 3rdGen G17RTF2 has passed over 1500rds without any drama whatsoever, just like I expect and just like I'm used to. Ahhh... boring reliability creates such a nice calming feeling.

[JBP55]

My G4 G17 has fired 7,000 trouble free rounds with 10 plus shooters using the stock guide rod and now the Jager guide rod with a 15# ISMI spring. I have only fired a few hundred rounds since installing the Jager firing pin but it works great with the Vanek trigger.