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A few of you requested that I give an update as to the progress on my FTE Glock 17 Gen 4. I have good news and bad news.
Here is it is. As requested Glock sent me a 02 spring, as you can see by the pictures it has one or two less coils than the 01 spring. It is theorized by some that the original spring (I will call it the 01 spring for brevity) was/is too stiff to cycle properly with lightly loaded ammo, I respectfully submit (in my case at least) that’s not the case because, I used multiple types of 9mm ammo noting no difference in FTE rates between lightly loaded ammo or higher performance ammo. Below is a list of the ammo that I had FTE’s with this weapon.
Federal American Eagle Full Metal Jacket, 124 GR, 1090 fps
NATO M882 FMJ, 124 GR, >1200 fps
Speer Lawman 9mm 115gr FMJ, >1200 fps
Remington UMC 9 MM, FMJ, 115 GR, 1135 fps
Master-Cast FMJ 115gr, 1160 fps.
147gr JHP unknown Manufacture.
CCI Blazer 9mm Luger 115gr FMJ, 1145 fps
Today I managed to fire off approximately 200 rounds before I had an FTE with the 02 spring installed. Another 150 down the pipe netted another FTE. A great improvement over the 01 spring were I was getting an FTE every 20/30 rounds; however, still not satisfactory, at least by my standards. Today I used:
NATO M882 FMJ, 124 GR, >1200 fps
Lawman 9mm 115gr FMJ, >1200 fps
Master-Cast FMJ 115gr, 1160 fps.
I was out of the weaker ammunition; in any event, looking at it objectively I thought maybe it’s “Me” am I “limp wristing” this pistol? After 35 years of shooting pistols have I lost it? So I fired off two full mags using one hand, holding the pistol has lightly as possible; result, no FTE’s. The situation was getting very annoying to say the least until, I field stripped the pistol to clean it and SHAZAM! I could not remove the spring from the slide; the ending coil tang had worked its way into the aperture where the guide rod resides, canting the spring slightly, so that the base of the spring that rests against the barrel was not square against the barrel but at a slight angle. I managed to work the barrel out from under the spring and using a wooden dowel tap the spring out of the slide. Closer inspection of the spring tip shows where the spring wants to “slip inside” the hole meant for the guide rod. I submit that some Glock 17 gen 4 slides have either been machined slightly out of specification (too large) with regards to the guide rod aperture and/or the design of the recoil spring was faulty, not allowing for the spring to rebound from a stable platform but instead workings its way into the guide rod aperture canting the spring and causing intermittent FTE’s. All of this happened with the 02 spring, the 01 spring never became stuck and its allegedly the stronger spring. Bottom line, very poor design.
In the pictures the spring on the left is the 02 spring. Also, if you look close you can see where the ending coil is workings its way through the guide rod hole, and "YES" it was installed correctly. Lastly, I noticed a lot of brass shaving and bit's on the slide for only having 350 rounds shot today. What say you? Thanks for your time.
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