Open Glock

[got glock]

Ok, so I got this wonderful new pistola put together and I am getting light primer strikes. I am so excited to get this thing running right it is ridiculous. It does'nt go bang about 1 in 15-20.

The gun has a Caspian G17 slide, Briley barrel and comp, tungsten guiderod, 13 lb spring, lightened striker and a Vanek connector, ejector and safety plunger. The parts are on a stock 3 pin frame.

I have been expierimenting with various striker and striker spring combinations all afternoon. I have tried the following springs in combination with a stock, Lightning Strike steel and Glockworks modified strikers with stock (1 in 20 light strikes), wolf standard power (1 in 15) and wolf reduced power (forget about it) springs. I have also tried different safety plunger springs just looking for something different that might work.

Along the way I noticed that the striker was hanging up on the hole in the breachface so I carefully filed off a very small amount of the striker tip to allow freedom of movement. I checked the fitment of parts using the sharpie trick and everything moves great.........until you install the safety plunger. Once the safety plunger is installed the striker no longer drops free and I feel some friction once again. So I check the part fitment with the sharpie and the slide hole is no longer rubbing on the tip of the striker only on the safety plunger/striker interface.

I use Winchester Small Pistol Primers for my loads. I have never had any problems with light strikes in several different gun/trigger combinations.

So does anybody have any ideas of things to try to remedy the situation or is it really just part of the break in process of a new pistol. Thanks in advance for the help!

[Glk21C]

All I can suggest is try Federal Small Pistol Primers. They go bang easier than other brand primers, especially Winchester. Good luck

[Chris Keen]

Somebody once told me that Winchester Primers are prone to 1 in 1000 failures, but I personally have never had any problems. Maybe a bad lot.

Also make sure your striker tip(s) are not chipped, or broken.

[bountyhunter]

So does anybody have any ideas of things to try to remedy the situation or is it really just part of the break in process of a new pistol. Thanks in advance for the help!

Yes I think I know what it is, and NO light strikes are not part of break in. The trigger bar is releasing the striker before the FP plunger is fully raised. Did you check the nose of the striker and see if the edge of the groove is getting dinged from hitting the plunger?

When I installed the Sotelo kit in my 35 it did exactly this. I ended up having to reshape the rear of the trigger bar to allow it to proceed a bit farther back before it released the striker.

On my current setup, I had to go back to the stock plunger which raises a bit earlier than the rounded off one. It increases the pull weight slightly, but it stopped the light strikes.

Edited February 2, 2008 by bountyhunter

[Jman]

Welcome to the forum Got...

Sounds like you have defined the problem. Light striker = light strikes. I'd reinstall the stock striker parts including plunger

and the stock springs. Function fire 100 rounds. Work up one part at a time from there and test. Sounds to me like lots of

mixed parts not playing well together. FWIW.

Jim M

[got glock]

"Yes. The trigger bar is releasing the striker before the FP plunger is fully raised. Did you check the nose of the striker and see if the edge of the groove is getting dinged?"

Ok you lost me on that one. What is the edge of the groove?

[bountyhunter]

I checked the fitment of parts using the sharpie trick and everything moves great.........until you install the safety plunger. Once the safety plunger is installed the striker no longer drops free and I feel some friction once again. So I check the part fitment with the sharpie and the slide hole is no longer rubbing on the tip of the striker only on the safety plunger/striker interface.

Here is how to tell if the plunger is dragging on the striker:

unload, cock and fire and HOLD THE TRIGGER BACK.

Rock the gun fore and aft and you should hear the striker flipping back and forth free in the channel. If it is not moving, something is dragging.

Try pulling the trigger a bit harder to get the trigger bar farther back and see if it frees up the striker. If so, the safety plunger is dragging because it is not fuully raised.

[bountyhunter]

"Yes. The trigger bar is releasing the striker before the FP plunger is fully raised. Did you check the nose of the striker and see if the edge of the groove is getting dinged?"

Ok you lost me on that one. What is the edge of the groove?

The nose of a Glock striker has several machined grooves to accept the corner of the firing pin plunger. As the plunger is raised, it lines up with the groove that allows the striker to come all the way out. Plunger down, it goes into the shorter channel which does not allow that. If it is banging into the plunger, you can usually see it in that area.

[got glock]

"Rock the gun fore and aft and you should hear the striker flipping back and forth free in the channel. If it is not moving, something is dragging.

Try pulling the trigger a bit harder to get the trigger bar farther back and see if it frees up the striker. If so, the safety plunger is dragging because it is not fuully raised."

When I pull the trigger normally I hear the striker moving back and forth. When I pull the trigger harder I hear a very small click and the striker moves back and forth a little louder. Maybe the striker is hanging up on the safety plunger.

[got glock]

"Yes. The trigger bar is releasing the striker before the FP plunger is fully raised. Did you check the nose of the striker and see if the edge of the groove is getting dinged?"

Ok you lost me on that one. What is the edge of the groove?

The nose of a Glock striker has several machined grooves to accept the corner of the firing pin plunger. As the plunger is raised, it lines up with the groove that allows the striker to come all the way out. Plunger down, it goes into the shorter channel which does not allow that. If it is banging into the plunger, you can usually see it in that area.

Yeah I checked that, I really could not see any wear marks with the sharpie. I think that tomorrow I will take everything back to stock and go one part at a time and see what seems to remedy the problem. Thanks for all of your quick replies.

Edited February 2, 2008 by got glock

[Dan Mancini]

For the purposes of testing only, put the stock recoil spring back in the gun and see if you get the same failures.

Are your light primer strikes off center in the primer?

The recoil spring puts tension on the slide to hold the slide in battery as the trigger bar pushes the striker rearward. If the recoil spring pressure does not exceed your striker spring and trigger bar pressure, the slide will slip out of battery and then the safety plunger does it's job and prevents the gun from firing.

A 13 pound spring doesn't sound too low, but you never know, there are spring failures from new stock. If it solves your problem then start lowering recoil spring rates from stock until you get failures, and move one pound heavier.

Dan

[KeithB]

Somebody once told me that Winchester Primers are prone to 1 in 1000 failures, but I personally have never had any problems. Maybe a bad lot.

Also make sure your striker tip(s) are not chipped, or broken.

had one win primer fail to go boom

[Mad Scientist]

all those things would be true with a stock slide but I think the problem is in the Capian slide. 1 in 5 of the slides I have looked at will have the firing pin slot in the breach off center. caspian is aware of the problem and will repair at no cost if you send it back to them. there will be tell tell marks on the striker tip on the left side of the gun looking from the rear. Good luck and shoot safe.

John

[Jman]

There you have it folks. Nice to see around John!

Jim M

[jobob]

I was having the same problem with my open Glock 17. But mine has a factory stock slide. It has a Triggerkit installed. I tried nearly everything. I began to think that maybe my KKM barrel had a chamber that was too long, resulting in possibly a cushioning effect when the firing pin hits the primer, driving the round into the chamber. Before sending it back to KKM, though, I tried changing the firing pin safety plunger back to OEM. The problem went away. The plunger that came with my Triggerkit had been rounded and polished, which turned out to be too much. It wasn't being completely depressed when the firing pin was released, causing drag on the firing pin and light strikes. So, try a Glock plunger and see if that helps.

[nphd2000]

O.K. So I had a light strike today with my open G17 w/Caspian slide. It looks like my striker hole in the breechface is actually too high. The primers are struck high and when measuring the hole compared to a stock slide it's a few thousanths off.

Anybody else have this? Can I shave the bottom of the firing pin so it protrudes enough to reliably strike?

[jobob]

O.K. So I had a light strike today with my open G17 w/Caspian slide. It looks like my striker hole in the breechface is actually too high. The primers are struck high and when measuring the hole compared to a stock slide it's a few thousanths off.

Anybody else have this? Can I shave the bottom of the firing pin so it protrudes enough to reliably strike?

Could it be slightly out of battery when the firing pin drops? That seems to also be a problem with my open Glock. Caused, I found, by the combination of a light recoil spring and a fairly tight fitting barrel, it takes a little more force to get it into battery. I thought I had fixed the missfire problem by replacing the firing pin safety plunger, but I had another missfire, and it was a VERY light firing pin strike. More like a firing pin tap. Anyway, putting back OEM firing pin and recoil springs fixed the problem. Now I have to see if going to, say a 15lb. recoil spring, and switching back to the light firing pin spring, will function the gun without missfires.

[got glock]

"The primers are struck high and when measuring the hole compared to a stock slide it's a few thousanths off."

Amen to that. I tried shaving a few thousands off the striker tip but it did not work. My solution is to send the slide back to the manufacturer and let them deal with it. They insure that they will get it right this time.

[nphd2000]

"The primers are struck high and when measuring the hole compared to a stock slide it's a few thousanths off."

Amen to that. I tried shaving a few thousands off the striker tip but it did not work. My solution is to send the slide back to the manufacturer and let them deal with it. They insure that they will get it right this time.

You had the same problem?

Did you speak to anyone in particular?

Thanks,

Nick

Edited February 11, 2008 by nphd2000

[Charlie Vanek]

O.K. So I had a light strike today with my open G17 w/Caspian slide. It looks like my striker hole in the breechface is actually too high. The primers are struck high and when measuring the hole compared to a stock slide it's a few thousanths off.

Anybody else have this? Can I shave the bottom of the firing pin so it protrudes enough to reliably strike?

I have taken a file and opened up the hole in the breech face more to where the firing pin falls through the hole with no resistance, but I would contact Caspian.

[nphd2000]

O.K. So I had a light strike today with my open G17 w/Caspian slide. It looks like my striker hole in the breechface is actually too high. The primers are struck high and when measuring the hole compared to a stock slide it's a few thousanths off.

Anybody else have this? Can I shave the bottom of the firing pin so it protrudes enough to reliably strike?

I have taken a file and opened up the hole in the breech face more to where the firing pin falls through the hole with no resistance, but I would contact Caspian.

I want to do that instead of going through the hassel of sending it back but where do I get a file that small? I also trimmed the firing pin tip but I'm concerned about breaking it (although I use Federal primers) I'd rather open the hole and get a new firing pin.

Thanks.

Edited February 11, 2008 by nphd2000

[Charlie Vanek]

I want to do that instead of going through the hassel of sending it back but where do I get a file that small? I also trimmed the firing pin tip but I'm concerned about breaking it (although I use Federal primers) I'd rather open the hole and get a new firing pin.

Thanks.

I cut a small file down enough to work.