Different trigger feel across gen 5 Glocks

[Andy T]

I have Glock 45, 19x and two different 19 MOS. All Gen 5. And all of them have different feeling triggers.
19 MOS #1 (~1500 rounds) and 19X (~ 450 rounds) have a relatively clean feel and a crisp break.
45 (~ 220 rounds) feels grittier almost as if the trigger bar is dragging on something ?
19 MOS #2 (~ 200 rounds) trigger feel "rougher" - and occasionally has that same "trigger dragging across something" feeling.
All pistols have the $.05 trigger job.

Has anybody else observed this?

[GJM]

I have Glock 45, 19x and two different 19 MOS. All Gen 5. And all of them have different feeling triggers.
19 MOS #1 (~1500 rounds) and 19X (~ 450 rounds) have a relatively clean feel and a crisp break.
45 (~ 220 rounds) feels grittier almost as if the trigger bar is dragging on something ?
19 MOS #2 (~ 200 rounds) trigger feel "rougher" - and occasionally has that same "trigger dragging across something" feeling.
All pistols have the $.05 trigger job.

Has anybody else observed this?

Yes, across many Glock pistols and generations.

[Jim Watson]

Quite normal and predictable.
Everybody focuses on the plastic but the working parts are stamped out of sheet metal with all the slop and roughness that implies.

In my youth, we didn't have MIM or plastic and nobody paid much attention to cast Rugers. We thought the gun business had been taken over by the devil with stamped parts that would be the ruination of it all. Hard to imagine that attitude looking at a Remington 870 now. But there is an effect.

[JBP55]

I polish mine before ever firing a round and they work as they should.

[O4L]

Spend a little more and give them the $.25 trigger job. [emoji16]

[M2CattleCo]

The stamped metal parts that rub together are situated to where the top edges of the cut side are facing towards each other. The rough edges don’t rub on anything.
I have never felt a $0.25 trigger job actually change the feel of the trigger.

Glock triggers are inconsistent and generally get worse as they age

[pangloss]

There's definitely pistol to pistol variation, but the Gen5 guns seem the best to me. I've put ~9,000 rounds through three 19.5 and trigger pulls range from very good (for a Glock) to pretty awful. Parts are cheap and easy to replace, so I'm not wasting any energy resenting needing to replace a $15 trigger bar in my practice gun.

[RJ]

Yeah, can't disagree there is a lot of variation. I've owned five, they all have their characteristics but I'm not a really high volume shooter by pf standards.

Having said that, I got a lot of good info from this Johnny Glock video. (Turns out this guy is quite near to where I live, I've been thinking of checking into a trigger job from him.)


https://youtu.be/kxtz95lWRvU

[GJM]

Something I have noticed, is that while I can detect fairly subtle differences in triggers when dry firing, when live firing trigger differences seem much less apparent. Another way of expressing this is, a good grip equalizes many triggers.

[Leroy Suggs]

Something I have noticed, is that while I can detect fairly subtle differences in triggers when dry firing, when live firing trigger differences seem much less apparent. Another way of expressing this is, a good grip equalizes many triggers.

and a rapid trigger press.

[professor]

I received three Gen 5 17s with consecutive serial numbers directly from Glock. All three triggers had a distinctly different feel. But in my experience, it is not unique to the Gen 5. I’ve seen the same thing in consecutive pairs of Gen 3s and 4s. The only consecutive pair I’ve owned that felt the same was set of G44s.

[john c]

When I go to buy a glock, I have the guys at the local shop pull out 3-4 examples and we all dry fire each one. I then pick the one with the best trigger. We’re pretty good friends, so they’re cool with that level of service.

One time I had no intention of buying a G19, but upon testing the trigger, I had to have it. The tolerances stack just right so that it feels like a custom trigger.

I’m required to carry an un modified gun, so getting a better trigger out of the box is more important than another person who can use aftermarket parts.


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[Rex G]

Yes, but not just Gen5. Gen3 and Gen4, too, but my several Gen4 pistols were probably most likely to have been delivered with relatively consistent trigger pulls. (I have not used pre-Gen3.) As I see it, well, they are Glocks, with triggers designed to be merely “good enough for government work,” and not one bit better. And, being a government (PD) employee, until relatively recently, I had to learn to live with factory parts, that showed no evidence of having been given a “trigger job.”

As GJM indicated, a getting good, proper grip, on the weapon, is a way to equalize triggers.

[FrankB]

I bought 3 Gen 5 Glocks all at once, and the triggers seem identical to me. I’m sensitive to trigger feel when dry firing, and have done more than one trigger job on 1911’s. The Glock trigger was something that seemed right from the factory, but that’s just me.

[M2CattleCo]

I have four Gen5s and the triggers were all wonderful out of the box, but as the round count creeps up past 5K on the trainer gun, the trigger is bad, bordering on terrible.

I’ve had the same experience with every Glock I’ve owned going back to a Gen2 17 I shot in USPSA until the slide cracked.

[john c]

I have four Gen5s and the triggers were all wonderful out of the box, but as the round count creeps up past 5K on the trainer gun, the trigger is bad, bordering on terrible.

I’ve had the same experience with every Glock I’ve owned going back to a Gen2 17 I shot in USPSA until the slide cracked.

What goes bad in the triggers?

Also, do you just replace the fire control components when they start to go bad?


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[M2CattleCo]

They get gritty and crunchy and heavier.

New firing pin plunger, spring cups, and sometimes channel liner will clean it up if it’s not the plating on the trigger bar.

[Hot Sauce]

I have never felt a $0.25 trigger job actually change the feel of the trigger.

Glock triggers are inconsistent and generally get worse as they age

This is the direct opposite of my experience with non-Gen5 triggers, but I've heard it about Gen5s on PF often enough that it can't be ascribed to coincidence.

[Mjolnir]

The stamped metal parts that rub together are situated to where the top edges of the cut side are facing towards each other. The rough edges don’t rub on anything.
I have never felt a $0.25 trigger job actually change the feel of the trigger.

Glock triggers are inconsistent and generally get worse as they age

Mine are pretty much the same and I find that the subjective trigger variation has decreased and more consistent than other polymer designs - CZ P-10, HK VP9, FN 509 (especially).


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[Mjolnir]

When I go to buy a glock, I have the guys at the local shop pull out 3-4 examples and we all dry fire each one. I then pick the one with the best trigger. We’re pretty good friends, so they’re cool with that level of service.

One time I had no intention of buying a G19, but upon testing the trigger, I had to have it. The tolerances stack just right so that it feels like a custom trigger.

I’m required to carry an un modified gun, so getting a better trigger out of the box is more important than another person who can use aftermarket parts.


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Same here. For the P-10 C they would go get all they had and I would select test groups then further select by trigger feel. When people shoot mine they are universally impressed with it.


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[JonInWA]

My Gen4 has more of a rolling triggerpull/break than my Gen 3 Glocks. And whgile I'm not outright saying that thed polish triggerjobs are a waste of time, essentially the same thing is accomplished with properly lubricating the key interfacing surfaces and then the natural burnishing effect is accomplished within around 500 rounds of actual use.

There were reports of the finish of the Gen5 triggerbars flaking off prematurely, causing some adverse triggerpull characteristics; not sure where Glock is with that with current production examples. There are also apparently some internal component finishes made available to LEOs that are not available to the commercial market-even with identically labeled pistols (i.e., the "M" models) .

Best, Jon

[CarloMNL]

They get gritty and crunchy and heavier.

New firing pin plunger, spring cups, and sometimes channel liner will clean it up if it’s not the plating on the trigger bar.

My G17.5 is fairly low mileage at ~7,000 rounds. I had to replace the trigger bar at about the 5k mark, when the plating started to flake. Today, I had to replace the spring cups. Channel liner still looked good but the trigger now has noticeable stacking prior to the break (at least more than when the gun was newer.)

Does the trigger return spring influence this in any way? The little that I know is that the older Glock TRS were expansion springs versus the G5 TRS that is a compression spring.

[RJ]

Does the trigger return spring influence this in any way? The little that I know is that the older Glock TRS were expansion springs versus the G5 TRS that is a compression spring.

That's a really good question. I'm going to my first basic Armorer's class in August, maybe I can ask GLOCK.

[JBP55]

My Gen4 has more of a rolling triggerpull/break than my Gen 3 Glocks. And whgile I'm not outright saying that thed polish triggerjobs are a waste of time, essentially the same thing is accomplished with properly lubricating the key interfacing surfaces and then the natural burnishing effect is accomplished within around 500 rounds of actual use.

There were reports of the finish of the Gen5 triggerbars flaking off prematurely, causing some adverse triggerpull characteristics; not sure where Glock is with that with current production examples. There are also apparently some internal component finishes made available to LEOs that are not available to the commercial market-even with identically labeled pistols (i.e., the "M" models) .

Best, Jon

I have never seen a used Glock with proper lubrication with a trigger as good as one of my new Glocks after I finish trigger work and I have worked on more than 100 Glocks.

[pew_pew]

Gen 5 triggers have been the worst for me. All start off nice. All turn in to 3 stage triggers once they get some rounds on them.

[CLaw]

Is there a consensus that it related to the plating of the parts or is it related to the new geometries?
Gen 5 triggers have been the worst for me. All start off nice. All turn in to 3 stage triggers once they get some rounds on them.

[pew_pew]

Is there a consensus that it related to the plating of the parts or is it related to the new geometries?

Not sure just something I’ve noticed.

[HeavyDuty]

I would love to find a vendor who could apply DLC to stock Glock trigger bars and connectors…

[rayrevolver]

I would love to find a vendor who could apply DLC to stock Glock trigger bars and connectors…

I had saved a few links to places that did coatings. One was Jabuie but the site is now down.

I can't remember if Ionbond is another term for DLC or a whole different thing, but these guys say they do small parts for $20.

https://www.evolutionarmory.com/ionbond

[CarloMNL]

That's a really good question. I'm going to my first basic Armorer's class in August, maybe I can ask GLOCK.

And if you don’t mind, maybe you can ask them why the spring keeps wiggling loose off the extractor depressor assembly on the Slimlines. 🤣

[vcdgrips]

My Glock universe is presently 6 (2 G3 34s. 2 G3 35s. 1 G1 17 and 1 G2 19). All of them have the OEM - connector with a 5.5 TRS. They all feel roughly the same though the two guns with the most rounds thru them (the training 35 and 34) are a bit smoother and lighter. On both the G1 17 and the G2 19, I had to mix and match a bit with connectors until they all felt close.

I am told in the early Glock Team Sevigny days, they would test fire fire control parts until they got an extra set on the gun they liked.They would bag said set(s) up and should a gun break something, they would remove out the offending part and all others and swap in the "matched" set to duplicate the feel of the trigger to the extent such can even be done with a gun like a Glock given its tolerances.

Bottom line- Glocks can have trigger feel difs, both inter and intra generational on otherwise identical guns. This opinion is shared by the staff of a KC Metro Police Training Academy where the range master would concur based on firing literally thousands of pistols since the area departments went all in on Glock 15 ish years ago.

Dry Fire. Live Fire. Grease/Lube and go. If trigger feel is really driving the train, perhaps the Glock is not your platform because no remotely safe Glock trigger, imho, is going to hold a candle to any decent SA trigger.

[Sammy1]

I love my Gen 5's, love the trigger.... but I don't have any that are high mileage (ty Covid ammo prices). I have heard of longevity issues with Gen 5 Glocks but I don't know enough about it to offer an opinion. I wonder if something like an NP3 coating to the internals would help.

[M2CattleCo]

I love my Gen 5's, love the trigger.... but I don't have any that are high mileage (ty Covid ammo prices). I have heard of longevity issues with Gen 5 Glocks but I don't know enough about it to offer an opinion. I wonder if something like an NP3 coating to the internals would help.


In my experience, it’s not a Gen5 issue. It’s always been an issue. I had a Gen3 17 that ate trigger bars every couple cases of ammo, even after being completely rebuilt several times.

I’ve been around high round count Glocks for 20 years and haven’t seen on that got better with polishing or use. At best they stay the same. I think people get used to them.

I had Robar do a couple sets of internals in NP3 back in ‘17 and they’re still going strong.

[CDFIII]

Are the Apex trigger offerings NP3 coated? I have been looking at their parts and am intrigued. Are they SCD Gadget compatible and do they have any benefits? I am open to other aftermarket triggers but they must be SCD compatible if anyone has recommendations. I have just been swapping out factory Glock parts until my triggers feel better. Some of my guns don't need it but the majority of my Gen 5's do.

[RJ]

Are the Apex trigger offerings NP3 coated? I have been looking at their parts and am intrigued. Are they SCD Gadget compatible and do they have any benefits? I am open to other aftermarket triggers but they must be SCD compatible if anyone has recommendations. I have just been swapping out factory Glock parts until my triggers feel better. Some of my guns don't need it but the majority of my Gen 5's do.

The Apex trigger kit I put in my G34.5 a couple months ago appears to be a standard OEM Glock trigger and trigger bar, with an Apex shoe. I do like the flat face as opposed to the more rounded Glock bladed trigger safety one.

The Apex connector that came with the kit appears to be identical to OEM, but is simply stamped "Apex" on it. I don't have a picture of the trigger and trigger bar but I did grab one of the connector before install:

73103

I have previously had Overwatch trigger and trigger bars on a G19.5, a G43X, and a G48; all of which had SCDs at one point or another and had no issues with the SCD/functionality. At least one of the trigger groups I bought was NP3 coated, trigger and trigger bar, connector, and plunger, IIRC. I could detect no change due to the plating. All of the difference was in the geometry of the trigger shoe.

I am currently running an SCD with Glock OEM parts in my G48 for carry. Sample of one person, YMMV and all that.

[O4L]

I am currently running an SCD with Glock OEM parts in my G48 for carry. Sample of one person, YMMV and all that.

What OEM parts are you running if it's not the factory set up? Thanks.

[RJ]

What OEM parts are you running if it's not the factory set up? Thanks.

I’m sorry I don’t understand what you are asking? Glock OEM parts, I.e. what came in the gun?

[O4L]

I’m sorry I don’t understand what you are asking? Glock OEM parts, I.e. what came in the gun?Okay. I know that some guys change around different trigger parts such as connectors, trigger bars, trigger shoes and such but they are still Glock parts.

I was just curious as to if you had swapped any parts to get the trigger feel you were looking for. Thanks!

[RJ]

Okay. I know that some guys change around different trigger parts such as connectors, trigger bars, trigger shoes and such but they are still Glock parts.

I was just curious as to if you had swapped any parts to get the trigger feel you were looking for. Thanks!

Ah! Gotcha. For sure just original Glock parts. Well, less the SCD of course but I won’t carry a Glock without one.

On topic, the shortage must be affecting spares because getting trigger bars or connectors to try and swap out is kinda hard these days. I had to find a different source for my RSA for instance. Only Midwest Gun Works had them.

[JBP55]

[QUOTE=RJ;1234506]The Apex trigger kit I put in my G34.5 a couple months ago appears to be a standard OEM Glock trigger and trigger bar, with an Apex shoe. I do like the flat face as opposed to the more rounded Glock bladed trigger safety one.

The Apex connector that came with the kit appears to be identical to OEM, but is simply stamped "Apex" on it. I don't have a picture of the trigger and trigger bar but I did grab one of the connector before install:

73103

I have previously had Overwatch trigger and trigger bars on a G19.5, a G43X, and a G48; all of which had SCDs at one point or another and had no issues with the SCD/functionality. At least one of the trigger groups I bought was NP3 coated, trigger and trigger bar, connector, and plunger, IIRC. I could detect no change due to the plating. All of the difference was in the geometry of the trigger shoe.

I am currently running an SCD with Glock OEM parts in my G48 for carry. Sample of one person, YMMV and all that.[/QUOTE


Almost all aftermarket triggers start with an OEM trigger bar and the APEX connectors are not OEM Glock connectors.

[FreaknAZ]

In my experience, it’s not a Gen5 issue. It’s always been an issue. I had a Gen3 17 that ate trigger bars every couple cases of ammo, even after being completely rebuilt several times.

I’ve been around high round count Glocks for 20 years and haven’t seen on that got better with polishing or use. At best they stay the same. I think people get used to them.

I had Robar do a couple sets of internals in NP3 back in ‘17 and they’re still going strong.

Agree 100%, I've had to replace trigger bars in my Gen 3 19 and all my Gen 4's. The plating usually starts to bubble and the trigger pull will progressively get worse until it's just too nasty to use.
I have a G17.5 that has a little over 500 rounds and feels just like it did after the initial application of grease. I recently picked up a G34.5 and I can tell the difference in pull due to the different connector. Between the two I like the G34.5 break better.
I'm eventually going to send off trigger bars and connectors to have them coated.

[GJM]

I have a number of Gen 5 19 pistols, and each is different with one outlier that is a pound heavier.

[HeavyDuty]

I'm eventually going to send off trigger bars and connectors to have them coated.

Please let us know what you end up doing here - I’ve considered the same.

[pew_pew]

Iv’e been switching back to Gen 3s. Well, mostly shooting staccato now but I picked up a Gen 3 34 last week. Have had several Gen 5s where the triggers all get bad.

Id love to hear what Johnny Glock thinks of it and what’s he’s been seeing.