Problems with new Glock 30, .45 ACP

[Lee Enfield]

I bought a new Glock 30 this week and it seems to have a few issues. I have not had a chance to fire it yet, but a few things struck me as being slightly off. Here's what's going on:


- When hand-cycling rounds, the gun chambers, but WILL NOT EJECT a live round with a mag in place. If I remove the mag the round pops out with no problem. I was finally able to eject a live round with a mag in place, but it took so much force I was worried about breaking the extractor. When I pull the slide back, it opens just enough to see all of the case before it locks up completely. It happens at the same position every time, with EVERY SINGLE ROUND. Not good. Also, after hand-cycling these 10 rounds, there appears to be brassing on the ejection port and on the feed ramp. This is with factory ammo, which drops in the chamber and falls out fine by the force of gravity.

- The mags are pretty stiff to load, which is normal for new mags. When full, they are really hard to seat with the slide closed, and I worry about how much tension is being placed on the mag catch and that tiny little plastic notch on the magazine. After seating a full magazine once, and then removing it, there a noticable indentation in the mag notch where it engages the catch. My friend's G27 mags, even when new, did not take as much pressure to seat. I am worried that the magazines and or catch may wear out prematurely because of this. (I also owned a Kel-Tec S2k rifle that used Glock magazines. It wore them out to the point where they fell out when firing, on a regular basis. I'm hoping it's something Kel-Tec screwed up with that particular design, but I don't know how it would be different with the Glock).

- When reinstalling the recoil spring assy. after field stripping, the guide rod sometimes sticks way out the front, even with the slide closed. Pushing the guide rod usually makes it snap back into place. I think I may not have had it seated correctly, as it hasn't done this the last few times I field stripped the gun.

- Sort of unrelated, but I pulled the trigger forward after I had dropped the striker, just to see what it would do. I later noticed that the manual says not to do this. Hope I didn't break anything.

Yeah, I know Glock Talk would be the forum to go to but I'm still waiting for them to activate my account! I was hoping you guys could offer some advice.

[brickler]

My first advice for anything here is to contact Glock:
GLOCK, Inc.
6000 Highlands Parkway
Smyrna, GA 30082
U.S.A.
Tel.: +1 770 - 432 1202
Fax: +1 770 - 433 8719

- When hand-cycling rounds, the gun chambers, but WILL NOT EJECT a live round with a mag in place. If I remove the mag the round pops out with no problem. I was finally able to eject a live round with a mag in place, but it took so much force I was worried about breaking the extractor. When I pull the slide back, it opens just enough to see all of the case before it locks up completely. It happens at the same position every time, with EVERY SINGLE ROUND. Not good. Also, after hand-cycling these 10 rounds, there appears to be brassing on the ejection port and on the feed ramp. This is with factory ammo, which drops in the chamber and falls out fine by the force of gravity.

This could be one of two things. either the extractor bar has a problem and it needs to go back to Glock, which by the way they are really courteous and very quick, or you may have ammo that has a short of oddly shapped lip on the edge of the casing. Try with some other ammo and see if you have the same problem. There are some cheaper manufacturers that seem to get weird stampings on that edge that the extractor has to grab. I've seen that before but not very common.

As for the brassing, parts sometimes rub, and you are cycling live rounds, so they are heavier, and still have all their own pieces parts attached, and you are manually cycling which is much slower and probably less violent than what happens during live fire.

- The mags are pretty stiff to load, which is normal for new mags. When full, they are really hard to seat with the slide closed, and I worry about how much tension is being placed on the mag catch and that tiny little plastic notch on the magazine. After seating a full magazine once, and then removing it, there a noticable indentation in the mag notch where it engages the catch. My friend's G27 mags, even when new, did not take as much pressure to seat. I am worried that the magazines and or catch may wear out prematurely because of this. (I also owned a Kel-Tec S2k rifle that used Glock magazines. It wore them out to the point where they fell out when firing, on a regular basis. I'm hoping it's something Kel-Tec screwed up with that particular design, but I don't know how it would be different with the Glock).

You'll find that the mags are stiff to load the last few rounds in for a while. There is a lot of tension in that double stack. I often keep a couple rounds out of mine if it is just sitting around. Has nothing to do with wearing out the springs or any of that non-sense. Just lazy and don't feel like going through the hassle of loading two more rounds.

When full the magazine seems to have a bit of a bulge to it. Not something you can really see but you can tell when you are loading into the gun. Just pushing up into the magazine well can get it home but that last quarter of an inch it doesn't hurt to give it a little shove with the heel of your hand. I don't know how many rounds I have put through my 30 but I have not had the magazine catch fail yet, and doesn't appear to be worn. Kel Tec uses different plastics than does Glock, so you may see different results.

- When reinstalling the recoil spring assy. after field stripping, the guide rod sometimes sticks way out the front, even with the slide closed. Pushing the guide rod usually makes it snap back into place. I think I may not have had it seated correctly, as it hasn't done this the last few times I field stripped the gun.
- Sort of unrelated, but I pulled the trigger forward after I had dropped the striker, just to see what it would do. I later noticed that the manual says not to do this. Hope I didn't break anything.
Yeah, I know Glock Talk would be the forum to go to but I'm still waiting for them to activate my account! I was hoping you guys could offer some advice.

I get that every now and again. It is just things are not aligned quite right. Pulling things back apart and realigning and making another run at reassembly usually gets it there.

I wouldn't pull the trigger forward as practice, but if it seems to be ok, then you should be fine as far as that is concerned.

[1911 Headbanger]

First, Hand cycling doesn't mean squat. Not trying to be smart here, but the gun cycles and slams back and fourth with much more force and speed than you can with your hand.

The mag will have to be broke in. Fully load it and bump it into place. The spring is stiff and holds the top round up with force. Therefore, you will be pushing that round downward when you push the mag into place. Don't worry, that's just the way it is, but will get easier as you mag springs set a little.

If the mag guide is sticking out of the front very much, then you are installing it wrong. If it protrudes just a small amount it will improve as it breaks in.

I have seen pistols that will function by hand cycling but won't when shooting. The speed and timing involved, along with how the spring shoves the next round up in the mag in a magic of engineering design. Make sure your barrel and chamber are free of the oil or grease from the factory and shoot it. Once again. Hand cycling is not the same as shooting. Which means you should shoot the gun for reliablity check, not hand cycle.

[Lee Enfield]

Shot 80 rounds of Winchester 230 gr. FMJ ammo through the gun a few hours ago. Used the same ammo I had used for hand-cycling, and had no problems. Everything went bang and got ejected. The mags are getting a little easier to load, as expected.

I know hand cycling is different, and the gun shot fine, so why be concerned?

Well, what if I get a round that won't go off because of a dud primer? I shouldn't have to remove the (full) magazine to rack the slide and clear it. It's not just that the round is not ejecting, it won't even let me pull the slide all the way back!

I think it may be due to the part of the slide that pushes the next round into the chamber (not sure what it's called). It's flat for most of its length, then sticks up more...it's hard to explain but it looks as though it would have to push the rounds in the magazine down as the slide comes back. The "catching" feeling may be this piece starting to push down on the really strong mag spring when I retract the slide. It does not catch with an empty mag, or with the mag removed.

The Kel-Tec/magazine problem concerned me because it wasn't the mag catch that was wearing out, it was the notches on the Glock magazines. New magazines stayed in fine for a while but eventually wore out and fell out.

[Rocketgeezer]

Shot 80 rounds of Winchester 230 gr. FMJ ammo through the gun a few hours ago. Used the same ammo I had used for hand-cycling, and had no problems. Everything went bang and got ejected. The mags are getting a little easier to load, as expected.

I know hand cycling is different, and the gun shot fine, so why be concerned?

Well, what if I get a round that won't go off because of a dud primer? I shouldn't have to remove the (full) magazine to rack the slide and clear it. It's not just that the round is not ejecting, it won't even let me pull the slide all the way back!

I think it may be due to the part of the slide that pushes the next round into the chamber (not sure what it's called). It's flat for most of its length, then sticks up more...it's hard to explain but it looks as though it would have to push the rounds in the magazine down as the slide comes back. The "catching" feeling may be this piece starting to push down on the really strong mag spring when I retract the slide. It does not catch with an empty mag, or with the mag removed.

The Kel-Tec/magazine problem concerned me because it wasn't the mag catch that was wearing out, it was the notches on the Glock magazines. New magazines stayed in fine for a while but eventually wore out and fell out.

Sounds like you were doin a lot of fussin over nothin, 4 Glocks here, a 21, 36, 27, 26, between all of them my wife and I have shot 7 to 8000 rds, with not one single hiccup from any of them, shoot your new gun and enjoy it and dont worry about messin with it on the bench, you may also find that while its great to keep your weapon clean and all, with a Glocks its not really nessessary all the time