Is the Apex Glock extractor the fix for BTF in Gen3 & 4 Glock 9mm's?

[ReverendMeat]

Sold my G19 to a friend last year after about 1,700 rounds through. Had constant BTF which I wrongly attributed to ammo. I installed the Apex extractor a couple days ago. We took it out tonight and ejection was consistent at about 4:00. I tried a few rounds without the magazine and it was consistent at about 5:30-6, sometimes going straight over my head instead of hitting me in the face. Buddy got one BTF, I got zero, out of 100-150 rounds. May not be 100% but it's a helluva lot better than BTF every shot.

[L-2]

I shall let the readers know, for me, the Apex "FRE" gen3 extractor caused a different failure on my gen3 G17 and G19.
The Apex extractor would intermittently pull and hold onto the spent casing, pulling it ABOVE the ejector. This causes a combination doublefeed-horizontal stovepipe when the slide tries to return to battery.

Emailing Apex, they confirmed this might occur on some Glocks. My G17gen3 works best with the 30274 ejector and my G19gen3 works fine with the 336 ejector. A few brass-to-face hits is ok with me compared to that awful FTE doublefeed.

What I was originally hoping for was to have my 9mm Glocks eject as well as my .40 Glocks.

[Dave J]

The Apex extractor would intermittently pull and hold onto the spent casing, pulling it ABOVE the ejector. This causes a combination doublefeed-horizontal stovepipe when the slide tries to return to battery.

Emailing Apex, they confirmed this might occur on some Glocks. My G17gen3 works best with the 30274 ejector and my G19gen3 works fine with the 336 ejector.

Did Apex recommend a fix? And am I reading correctly that you went back to stock? I had similar malfunctions with a 2013 G17 Gen3 with the Apex FRE and 30274, but haven't had time to mess with it much further. (Stock ejector + 336 was an anemic lawn sprinkler, with frequent BTF and even some brass over my left shoulder...switching to the Apex FRE made it fly in the proper direction, and I was happy...until the DF/HSP malfunctions started.)

[L-2]

I don't recall Apex offering a fix.
Yes, I went back to stock.
I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one with our new acronym "DF/HSP", but sorry for your malfunction.
I'll be picking up a new G26gen3 next week, too. We'll see if that'll be OK.

[fwrun]

In my case, I had awful BTF issues with my Gen3 17 Serial USC***, as well as about a 90% failure rate when conducting the 1911 test, and common DF/HSP. I bought the gen 3 FRE from Apex, still no luck- failing 1911 test, more BTF, and DF/HSP.

I contacted their customer service, who then had me send in several up close pictures of the slide and extractor installed. Based on what they saw, they told me I would need the Gen4 FRE, even though I had a Gen3 pistol. They sent me the new FRE at no charge, and since then I have had 2.5k problem-free rounds fired with extremely consistent ejection.

[Mr_White]

I experimented over the weekend with an Apex FRE in my Gen3 G34. I wasn't having BTF issues or an epidemic of malfunctions, but I wanted to see what the Apex extractor would do in my gun.

Pretty neat I would say. Robustness of ejection with the Apex extractor was noticeably greater with Gold Dot, HST, Speer Lawman, and Federal Champion.

[Gary1911A1]

Hu

In my case, I had awful BTF issues with my Gen3 17 Serial USC***, as well as about a 90% failure rate when conducting the 1911 test, and common DF/HSP. I bought the gen 3 FRE from Apex, still no luck- failing 1911 test, more BTF, and DF/HSP.

I contacted their customer service, who then had me send in several up close pictures of the slide and extractor installed. Based on what they saw, they told me I would need the Gen4 FRE, even though I had a Gen3 pistol. They sent me the new FRE at no charge, and since then I have had 2.5k problem-free rounds fired with extremely consistent ejection.

Good to heard. Guess I need to place an order.

[BobLoblaw]

I bought the Apex FRE which didn't improve BTF with a gen 4 G19. Then I bought the White Sound plunger thingy which didn't help either. The G19 sat in the safe until I forgot about it.

Then I saw this thread. A $3 non-LCI SLB used with the Apex FRE finally cured the BTF (for now). Thank you, PF.

[DocGKR]

It has solved my G17's problems.

[ldunnmobile]

I bought the Apex FRE which didn't improve BTF with a gen 4 G19. Then I bought the White Sound plunger thingy which didn't help either. The G19 sat in the safe until I forgot about it.

Then I saw this thread. A $3 non-LCI SLB used with the Apex FRE finally cured the BTF (for now). Thank you, PF.

Great post. I believe a lot of people have tried the Apex WITHOUT installing the non-LCI SLB, which Apex specifically recommends. When that doesn't work they just assume the Apex FRE isn't working properly.