Debris inside Striker Channel, Brass Flakes, Gunk

[cclaxton]

I had a number of light strikes when I shot the Arctic Blast IDPA match in Wilkes-Barre. I was shooting a relatively new G34 with a Shaun Hopkins trigger job. While at the match my friend loaned me a 5lb striker assembly so I could do better at the match, but it made no difference in terms of frequency. The light strike was exactly in the middle of the primer and no rectangular burnish. These are CCI primers and a standard G34 spring set.

I neglected to clean the Glock before I went, so shame on me for that. Anyway, I used Q-tips to clean the channel, and you can see from the pictures what I pulled out of the channel. They appear to be brass flakes, presumably from the primers. I have thoroughly cleaned everything, including FPB, spring, Extractor, etc. Need to take it to the range to test fire it and see if it's okay. My guess is that this is the problem, since the ammo shoots fine in my Cz. But still possible since the Cz shoots almost any ammo.

Has anyone else seen this happen? Any clue as to what kinds of primers might flake off and end up inside the striker channel?

I hope to make it to the range tomorrow to test fire, assuming I can make it to the car and from the car to the NRA range door without getting frostbite.

Enjoy the pics....more to come..

Thanks,
Cody
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...69246189431153

[JBP55]

That looks pretty bad. What trigger work was done to the Glock and what is the trigger pull weight?

[Wayne Dobbs]

That's not that much debris and certainly not enough to cause the light strikes, IMO. I've seen lots of nasty Iraqi Glock 19s that were lots worse and still shooting. Is the channel liner intact inside the striker channel??? Let us know how the test fire goes. Maybe you were limp wristing! (Bad Glock joke)

[cclaxton]

That's not that much debris and certainly not enough to cause the light strikes, IMO. I've seen lots of nasty Iraqi Glock 19s that were lots worse and still shooting. Is the channel liner intact inside the striker channel??? Let us know how the test fire goes. Maybe you were limp wristing! (Bad Glock joke)

You mean there's a liner in there? I have no idea. Can it be extracted? How do I tell?
Thanks,
Cody

[Wayne Dobbs]

Cody,

There is a polymer cylindrical liner that is friction retained in the striker channel. Its purpose is to center the striker and keep it moving straight ahead. You can tell if it's in there by pulling your striker assembly and by using a good light to look or by simply running a punch tip, paper clip tip, etc. against the channel's side. You should feel the "step" when you encounter the back end of the part if it's still in there.

[BN]

CCI primers is part of the problem with any striker fired pistol. I've had good luck with Federal and Winchester.

Check the tip of the striker. Sometimes they get eroded which can cause light strikes. Look at it with a magnifying glass.

Your CZ is a hammer fired pistol and will set off harder primers.

[BN]

Double tap.

[5pins]

I had this happen to me years ago with my G19. I would spray out your striker channel with some gun scrubber, there is probably more where that came from. My theory is that as the ammo feeds, small bits of brass are shaved off of the rim. Make sure the striker and channel are dry, no lube.

[ST911]

Small amounts of flaking and debris in the FP channel aren't uncommon, depending on use/ammo. I have removed MUCH more debris than what you picture in guns that were running fine. Stacking tolerances between your aftermarket parts/mods and the harder CCI primers seem to be the culprit here.

I wouldn't mess with the striker or its energy at all. Go back to OEM.

[EricP]

You mean there's a liner in there? I have no idea. Can it be extracted? How do I tell?
Thanks,
Cody

You can remove the liner with a 5/16" lag bolt. It will damage the liner, so have a replacement. Since you mentioned the gun is relatively new, I wouldn't bother. You also mentioned a trigger job, if your smith accidentally took too much material off of the trigger bar at the firing pin block lobe, I could see the striker dragging on the FPB. Do you see any marking on the striker or FPB? Swapping out trigger bars might tell you a lot.

CCI primers is part of the problem with any striker fired pistol. I've had good luck with Federal and Winchester.

I've used a lot of CCI primers in Glocks and not had that problem.