[I.C.N.H.]

I originally sent this to Dean, and he suggested I post this on the forum.

I'm about one month from turning 18, so please excuse any mistakes in terminology. I recently went shooting with a family friend. I used a Glock 19, firing "military surplus" 9mm ammo (M882, I guess). Several times, I had failures to fire, and I did TRB to clear the gun. When I took a look at the cartridges afterwards, I noticed several primer strikes in the 12 o'clock position, and one centered light primer strike. I could try to dig up these cartridges and photograph them.

Because of the similarities to Dean's with your Glock 21, I'd guess that the pistol was out of battery, and when I watched the owner fire the pistol I saw that it was once out of battery after firing. I'm not sure about the age of the gun, but I know that the owner is very dilligent with cleaning and maintaining his guns.

Any thoughts? By the way, what type of primer is used in M882 ball?

 

[LIProgun]

Welcome to the forum, Clever.

A couple of thoughts on ammo. First, milsurp does not automatically equal M882. There's lots of foreign 9x19 hardball out there these days, and some is of dubious quality. Federal has relased overruns of true M882 ammo in plain white boxes, and Winchester sells it in its USA line, though they don't label it as such. Both are generally fine quality.

As for the primer, the US Army Ammunition Data Sheets reference on M882 that I have specifies the primer as simply "Percussion" -- not too detailed. I suspect Federal is using a standard ATK manufactured primer (e.g., either a Fedeal or CCI small pistol primer) and Winchester uses its standard WSP.

I'm no expert on the Glock issue, but assuming the gun is properly cleaned and lubed, and that the ammo is in-spec, two possibilities that come to my mind are limp-wristing and a weak recoil spring.

 

[Dean Speir]

 

More I cannot add.

 

 

[JRWnTN]

Several times, I had failures to fire, and I did TRB to clear the gun. When I took a look at the cartridges afterwards, I noticed several primer strikes in the 12 o'clock position, and one centered light primer strike.

I witnessed something similar. The shooter was using lead reloads and it looked like the bullets had not been seated deeply enough and the slide was not completely closing. When he pulled the trigger, the striker would go forward, leaving a light mark on the primer.

 

[Trabuco]

When we first imported G19's to Central America in 1988 we had a SERIOUS problem with the pistols going full auto when firing
TZZ hard primed sub machinegun ammo. This also happenned to a lesser extent with German GECO ammunition. The lower pressure,
American made ammo would not make the guns go full auto
BUT often the recoil impulse was insuficient for the pístol to go fully into battery.

 

[Quail Fat]

In all sincerity, I believe the light strike at the 12 o'clock position is simply a design flaw. The Glock barrel locks into the slide at the exact same time the slide is fully 100% forward, rather than locking into the slide an eighth of an inch prior to the slide being at its farthest forward position.

The problems you are describing happened to me quite often, mainly with the Glock 19, and happened with most of the small frame Glocks that I have owened yet never with the Glock 20/21/29/30 size pistols.

I really don't think it is limpwristing. Limpwristing will short-stroke the slide resulting in a stove-pipe malfuction. Limpwristing will also cause the brass to eject close to the pistol rather than zinging it away 5 feet or so.

For me, I tried everything to fix the pistol. I replaced the recoil spring even though it happened on a new pistol. I applied Tetra gun grease to the lugs and the locking block. I "broke in" the pistol with a thousand rounds of ammo. I used a firmer grip and "locked my wrist". Some suggested the firing pin channel was dirty, so I cleaned it, yet no matter what I did, the darn light strike at the 12 o'clock kept happening. The malfunction isn't too common, some people never have them, others (like me) get one about every 400 rounds or so which is enough for me to not use a Glock.

 

[I.C.N.H.]

According to the gun's owner, he hasn't had any malfunctions of this type until that day, where the gun had a FTF on about 1-2 of every 10 rounds. So I have no idea what's going on. Maybe it was just a bad lot of ammo, or just bad ammo in general.

I don't think I was limp-wristing, though I can't be 100% sure. The brass was ejecting pretty well and I didn't have any stovepipes - once again, it's kinda hard to tell.

And yeah, I don't think I'll get a Glock after I turn 21 (the age of handgun ownership in my state). I've liked the 1911 for quite a while anyways, and I don't think it's too much to expect of a well-maintained handgun to go bang when I pull the trigger.

 

[Dean Speir]

I don't think I was limp-wristing, though I can't be 100% sure.

I'm down with QF on this one… if'n you wuz limp-wristing, you'd be inducing ejection failures all over the place.

…I don't think it's too much to expect of a well-maintained handgun to go bang when I pull the trigger.

You are wise beyond your almost 18 years, Brasshopper!