Review: Glock 17 Gen 4

One of our instructors ran a Glock 17 Gen 4 for 5 months putting approximately 4000 rounds through it. The weapon worked flawlessly till he started to use PMC 115 Gr Bronze ammunition at which time the weapon had 1 stovepipe malfunction approximately every 200 rounds.

Glock 17 Gen 4 malfunctions (failure to extract [looks like a double feed] and failure to eject (stovepipe) are well documented and unfortunately not that rare especially in early Gen 4 model releases. The malfunctions are primarily thought to be caused by the G17 having the same captured double recoil spring designed to solve issues with the G22 in .40 caliber. Glock made the decision to put this same recoil spring in the 9mm G17 (which didn’t have any performance problems from Gen 1 thru 3) because they’d done “parts sharing”  in past generations.

Shooters have tried many different approaches to fix the problem with their Gen 4s, from aftermarket recoil springs (particularly the tungsten 17# from Glockmeister), to gunsmithing, to getting a #02 replacement spring from Glock. The replacement spring from Glockmeister seems to have resolved many peoples problems along with the replacement factory spring from Glock. Glock’s response to the problems, apparently, has been: “Use NATO spec 9mm ammunition” because of its higher pressures to cycle the weapon.

As Tuhon Tom Kier said, is Glock going the way of the 1911? They couldn’t leave a good thing alone? The 1911, in its day, would shoot ball ammo all day in any conditions due to its looser tolerances. But then competition shooters wanting greater accuracy began to chase ever tighter tolerances which resulted in the less skilled “pistolsmiths” producing 1911s that were the ultimate workout in “tap, rack” drills.

Let’s hope Glock realizes an incredible weapon system needs help and they focus on resolving the problems and return the G17 to its title of undeniable champ of reliability . . .