The last thing people think about when customizing their pistol is troubleshooting Glock issues that impact its function or reliability. Pistols are mechanical tools, and whether you install custom Glock parts or keep them stock, problems can creep into your gun–especially if it’s new or has recently been repaired. Understanding how to identify the root cause of the most common issues and fix them increases your familiarity with your weapon and helps you keep it cycling and firing correctly.
Safety First
Before you begin working on your gun, whether you’re customizing it or troubleshooting it, make sure it’s unloaded and the chamber is empty. Likewise, anytime you leave line-of-sight to your gun while it’s assembled, you should re-verify that it’s unloaded and safe before working with it. When live-fire testing any adjustments or modifications, remember to take it slowly at first. This helps avoid unnecessary thermal changes and stress right out of the gate. The basic rules of gun safety are there for a reason–use them.
Top Glock Issues
While no single blog could cover the issues that can arise from a complex machine such as a Glock-type pistol, we’ve done our best to put together our five most-asked-about issues with custom Glock parts and the solutions we recommend gun owners start with to fix them.
My slide fails to feed a bullet.
The first consideration in any failure to feed is your magazine. This isn’t just a Glock issue–every magazine-fed weapon can run into magazine issues that keep rounds from loading into the chamber. Start by ensuring the magazine is properly seated by getting in the “tap and rack” habit. When loading a new magazine, insert the magazine all the way until the magazine catch clicks, and then give the base of the magazine a sharp, moderately forceful tap to seat it firmly in the well, lead bullet pressed firmly up against the underside of your slide.
If the issues with your Glock persist, it’s time to look at the magazine itself. Check your magazine’s lips to ensure they’re not bent or damaged from a drop during reloading. Next, consider the magazine spring and whether it may be providing too little pressure to press the rounds up where the slide can grab them. If the spring is supplying too much pressure, it may be popping the rounds up with too much force, which is common in new magazines (they’ll “wear in” with use).
As the slide moves a round forward, the nose is guided toward the chamber by an angled feed ramp. This ramp should be smooth, polished, and clear of dirt, debris, or obstructions. Be sure you’re inspecting the feed ramp on your gun during regular gun cleaning and maintenance.
Finally, check your extractor to ensure it’s moving freely and has goop spring pressure. The extractor’s primary function is to remove rounds from the chamber, but as the slide moves forward to strip the top round from your magazine, the extractor catches and centers it for chambering. An extractor that’s too weak or too strong may not be positioning the round properly for feeding.
My trigger doesn’t reset when I rack my slide.
When your trigger fails to reset, the problem often lies in the angle of the trigger connector. One of the more common Glock issues with both stock OEM guns and those upgraded with custom Glock parts is the angle of the trigger connector, which plays a big role in the trigger group’s overall performance. To check your connector angle, remove the trigger assembly from the firearm, then lift the trigger bar up and out of the trigger mechanism housing. This will expose the trigger connector for inspection.
Slide a piece of regular copy or notebook paper between the connector and the housing. It should be able to slide through the gap with a small amount of felt resistance. If there’s no resistance, too much resistance, or it can’t enter the space, an adjustment is needed. Simply reverse the connector’s orientation in the housing and place the housing on a flat surface with the connector up. To create more space, gently but firmly pull up on the connector several times. To reduce the space, press gently but firmly down on the connector three times. Remember that you want very small movements to fine-tune rather than change the angle. NEVER USE PLIERS or a HAMMER for this adjustment.
Reinstall the connector in the correct orientation and re-check the gap. Repeat as necessary until you’ve tuned the connector. Reinstall the trigger bar, being sure to center it in the slot of the trigger mechanism housing. Then, reinstall your trigger group.
Why doesn’t my pistol fire when I pull the trigger?
The big question here is whether or not pulling the trigger releases the striker. If the trigger is releasing the striker but the gun isn’t shooting, then either you have bad ammunition (usually reloaded ammo) or a weak strike. Weak strikes may be due to the striker spring needing replacement, or a mistake was made when installing Glock custom parts. Remove the striker assembly and verify the condition of your parts and their proper installation.
A gun not firing without a strike may indicate a failure to reset, which could again point to a connector issue, as above. You should also check your trigger bar and spring. A damaged trigger bar may not be interfacing with your connector properly. You also want to make sure the trigger spring is centered and standing vertically to ensure it’s supplying the proper force and not causing a bind in the trigger mechanism due to misalignment.
Why is my slide not extracting/ejecting the empty cartridge?
Failure to extract is most often caused by the weapon not cycling fully, and there could be a number of culprits here. First, you want to make sure you’re using new or properly loaded ammunition and that your slide has the lubrication necessary to reduce friction for a full range of slide movement. Underpowered ammunition (either commercial or reloads) may not provide enough force to make Glock’s short-recoil operated slide move far enough for extraction. Likewise, too much friction can steal enough energy from the process to cause a short cycle that fails to extract.
The other common cause of failure to extract involves the addition of other custom Glock parts. If your slide (and the gear attached to it) becomes too heavy, your cartridge may not have the force for a full-range cycle. Removing heavier elements might help. Of special note, the right optic mounting screw on some Glock models may be impinging the extractor plunger. The team over at Gideon Optics put together a nice write-up and video on fixing the Glock Optic screw jam issue that will have your gun cycling like a pro in no time if this is the culprit.
Why does my slide stick open after every shot is fired?
There are a couple of potential Glock issues to check if your slide is locking open after every shot. The bad news is that two of the main culprits are caused by the gun owner/shooter, but that also means they’re fixable by you. The easiest thing to check is your grip to ensure your thumb isn’t contacting the slide lock due to recoil. Correcting your grip to avoid the lock lever–especially if you’ve upgraded your gun with an extended lock lever–fixes this common and often embarrassing problem and will help improve your overall control and accuracy.
The second common cause is the incorrect installation of custom Glock parts, particularly the stop lever and locking block pin. The locking block pin keeps the locking block in place to ensure the frame and components stay properly aligned. Check the installation of the stop lever and locking block assembly, removing them and reinstalling them if necessary to ensure they are seated and aligned properly.
Your Source For Custom Glock Parts
We’re proud to offer cost-effective Glock custom parts so you can build a better pistol. If you run into problems, reach out to our support team with as complete of a description as possible. Get the parts you need to resolve your Glock issues from Patmos Arms today.