At a match recently I said that I don't trust Glocks. My reason is simple. They have too many mysterious problems. I was immediately called a "Glock Basher" and asked to name these socalled problems.
Here is a brief summary condensed from The Gun Zone,
"Glock's Gravest Problem
A potentially ruinous event strikes the popular police pistol
First it was the April 1992 Product Upgrade, public disclosure of which was spurred by the AD Heard 'Round The World, but which had its origins in Glock's 1991 failure in the DEA "frisbee test."
Then it was the contentious issue of the Glock kB!s which the Smyrna, Georgia importer of the immensely popular Austrian-manufactured handgun has yet, more than 11 years after the catastrophic failures started happening on a regular basis, to properly address.
Next up were the defective guide rods of the Models 26 and 27 built between mid-September and late-October, 1999.
Then came the mysterious "Phase 3 Malfunctions" for which Glock, Inc. staunchly denied responsibility for almost six years before sucking it up and sending a mini-machine shop to City Island, NY to retro-machine over 26,000 of NYPD's Models 19.
Now things look grim indeed for the company which, in just 16 years, has not only captured a lion's share of the United States law enforcement market, but revolutionized the handgun industry.
First word reached public notice the week of 7 October 2002 with the story out of the Bernalillo County (New Mexico) that the Sheriff's Department had discovered a problem in some newer .40-caliber Glock pistols that could lead to breakages after prolonged use.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department has discovered a problem with its new Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic handguns.
Deputy Robert Ray, the armorer who runs the department's shooting range, he says the department scrambled to inspect all of its Glocks on Monday after two weapons broke.
The inspection turned up two more broken guns. Ray says that on some newer versions of the gun, two pieces of steel in the lower portion of the weapon were improperly machined. Those pieces may be prone to breaking under the stress of repeated firing. (see sidebar for complete text)
The days after this news broke, a tip from a source in the 703 area code reached TGZ that "Glock has a big problem:"
Glock has recently discovered a serious structual problem with their guns. They redesigned their rear slide rails many years ago to make them longer, but for some reason shortened them again in the last couple of years©ˆ. This shorter rail, coupled with some bad steel and a machine that stamped the rails incorrectly, is now causing some rear rails to break off the guns©˜. When the rail breaks, it can lock up the gun. Not a good thing in a gunfight.
Glock recently went to the FBI and told them about this problem and quietly replaced over 700 frames. They apparently have no intention to tell their other customers about this problem. This problem affects ALL models of Glocks and TENS OF THOUSANDS OF GUNS. What about the DC Police with 4000 guns, NYPD with 35000 guns.
They have a major recall situation on their hands, but like their infamous "upgrade," this will never be called a recall. This needs to be investigated and publicized to make Glock take care of their other customers and not give preference to the big FBI.
And investigated it is, first with the FBI's Firearms Training Unit in Quantico, Virginia, and then with Glock, Inc. which has been telling its 9mm-issuing agencies that it was only the .40 S&W pistols, due to the higher pressure, which are at risk. Although the same defect is present on all the polymer pistols, the company doesn't think the 9 x 19mm cartridge "is powerful enough" to break the rail.
Glock Inc.'s initial solution, curiously published on the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation site as opposed to the official Glock site, offered the following:
We have made the decision that in the interest of customer service, replacement frames will be offered to anyone who has a firearm in this range ("a very small percentage of GLOCK pistols produced between September of 2001 and May of 2002") and decides to take advantage of this offer. The replacement frames will have identical serial numbers to our customer's original firearm except the numeral 1 will be added as a prefix.
Here is a brief summary condensed from The Gun Zone,
"Glock's Gravest Problem
A potentially ruinous event strikes the popular police pistol
First it was the April 1992 Product Upgrade, public disclosure of which was spurred by the AD Heard 'Round The World, but which had its origins in Glock's 1991 failure in the DEA "frisbee test."
Then it was the contentious issue of the Glock kB!s which the Smyrna, Georgia importer of the immensely popular Austrian-manufactured handgun has yet, more than 11 years after the catastrophic failures started happening on a regular basis, to properly address.
Next up were the defective guide rods of the Models 26 and 27 built between mid-September and late-October, 1999.
Then came the mysterious "Phase 3 Malfunctions" for which Glock, Inc. staunchly denied responsibility for almost six years before sucking it up and sending a mini-machine shop to City Island, NY to retro-machine over 26,000 of NYPD's Models 19.
Now things look grim indeed for the company which, in just 16 years, has not only captured a lion's share of the United States law enforcement market, but revolutionized the handgun industry.
First word reached public notice the week of 7 October 2002 with the story out of the Bernalillo County (New Mexico) that the Sheriff's Department had discovered a problem in some newer .40-caliber Glock pistols that could lead to breakages after prolonged use.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department has discovered a problem with its new Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic handguns.
Deputy Robert Ray, the armorer who runs the department's shooting range, he says the department scrambled to inspect all of its Glocks on Monday after two weapons broke.
The inspection turned up two more broken guns. Ray says that on some newer versions of the gun, two pieces of steel in the lower portion of the weapon were improperly machined. Those pieces may be prone to breaking under the stress of repeated firing. (see sidebar for complete text)
The days after this news broke, a tip from a source in the 703 area code reached TGZ that "Glock has a big problem:"
Glock has recently discovered a serious structual problem with their guns. They redesigned their rear slide rails many years ago to make them longer, but for some reason shortened them again in the last couple of years©ˆ. This shorter rail, coupled with some bad steel and a machine that stamped the rails incorrectly, is now causing some rear rails to break off the guns©˜. When the rail breaks, it can lock up the gun. Not a good thing in a gunfight.
Glock recently went to the FBI and told them about this problem and quietly replaced over 700 frames. They apparently have no intention to tell their other customers about this problem. This problem affects ALL models of Glocks and TENS OF THOUSANDS OF GUNS. What about the DC Police with 4000 guns, NYPD with 35000 guns.
They have a major recall situation on their hands, but like their infamous "upgrade," this will never be called a recall. This needs to be investigated and publicized to make Glock take care of their other customers and not give preference to the big FBI.
And investigated it is, first with the FBI's Firearms Training Unit in Quantico, Virginia, and then with Glock, Inc. which has been telling its 9mm-issuing agencies that it was only the .40 S&W pistols, due to the higher pressure, which are at risk. Although the same defect is present on all the polymer pistols, the company doesn't think the 9 x 19mm cartridge "is powerful enough" to break the rail.
Glock Inc.'s initial solution, curiously published on the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation site as opposed to the official Glock site, offered the following:
We have made the decision that in the interest of customer service, replacement frames will be offered to anyone who has a firearm in this range ("a very small percentage of GLOCK pistols produced between September of 2001 and May of 2002") and decides to take advantage of this offer. The replacement frames will have identical serial numbers to our customer's original firearm except the numeral 1 will be added as a prefix.
If you don't expect much of your pistol, a Glock will serve you very well, especially the 9mm Glocks. That covers well over 99% of handgunners.
