One of the things that draws many people toward the Glock brand is the rugged reliability Glocks are known for. Anytime you see an Glock advertisement you will see them caked in mud, run over by a truck, surviving Katrina or some other hard core situation. Many people have referred to them as the perfect gun for those operating in foreign theaters at the tip of the spear.
If you have followed MCC for the any length of time you know how we feel about the Glock. We run them in competition and carry them regularly. For a time I even trusted my life to a Glock 23 as service weapon. To put it mildly we are fans. Their simplicity of operation and price point make them hard to beat.
Having said all of that, they are not indestructible or unbreakable. No machine is when moving parts are involved. I have seen a few Glocks go down in my 11 years as a gunsmith. All but one were totally preventable with a maintenance schedule because they were spring failures.
Today we are told that springs can last for many years at a time. Most of the time they do, but every once in a while they fail with catastrophic consequences. Two examples illustrate the point.
1. The one thing on Gen1,2,3 guns have that I have seen fail on multiple occasions is the guide rod assembly. If you run one of these guns get an extra guide rod to have on hand. If you shoot regularly, change these out every 5,000 rounds or every few years.
2. Just the other day I had a friend call with a Glock that wouldn’t reset the trigger. When he finally got it to reset, the gun went full auto. This can be a function of several things, but in this case it was a broken trigger spring. Replaced the gun functioned safely and properly.
With both of these items you are literally talking about less than $20. Think of it as a tune up that should happen regularly over time or by shot count. A little prevention goes a long. way.
All of these springs can be ordered directly from Brownells.com.