slide lock fell out of my G19 while shooting

[trailrunner]

I was at the range this afternoon. I had only been shooting my G19 for a short while when I noticed a small piece of metal on the shooting bench. At the time I figured that the person using the lane before me must have dropped it. I finished shooting another couple hundred rounds in my G19 and left. When I got to my car and was rummaging around my range bag, I noticed that the slide of my G19 was slipping off the front. I looked more carefully, and noticed that the slide lock (part 21 on the Glock parts list) was missing from the frame. I went back into the range, and I told the range master my story, and he went out and found the part. We noticed that the slide lock spring (part 20) had come out of its place. We put everything back together, and now the gun seems to function fine, but I was not able to actually shoot so so far I could only test it by racking the slide, dry firing, and taking it down.

This is a gen 4 that has only seen about 3k or 4k rounds. The only thing different is that I started off the session by shooting 50 rounds of Critical Defense to ensure that it works fine in my gun. I'm also a little surprised that after the slide lock came out, I was able to continue shooting another couple hundred rounds without noticing anything, or that the slide didn't fly downrange.

I'm not sure if my gun is defective or if this was a one-in-a-million fluke. The only thing that I can think of is that I put the ball of my thumb on my support hand right on the slide lock. The finger on my shooting hand is also on the slide lock. Perhaps when I was shooting I jiggled it loose, but I've shot tens of thousands of round in Glocks without this happening.

[trailrunner]

I did some googling and apparently this is not uncommon.

[Kyle Reese]

I had the same thing happen to me at one of Todd's classes four or five years ago, with a Glock 19 Gen 3. Round count was significantly higher than yours, but I've never had it happen before or since.

JV and ToddG got to laugh at me when my Glock 19 upper assy plunked into the dirt.

Turns out my slide lock spring (part # 20 on the Glock schematic) was broken. I make it a point to replace mine every 7500 rounds in my Gen 4 9mm's and 5,000 or so in Gen 3's.

[JustOneGun]

If I recall correctly it can fall out if it is installed backwards also.

[Kyle Reese]

If I recall correctly it can fall out if it is installed backwards also.

Yup. Make sure that the lip is facing you when reinstalling.

[orionz06]

I had the same thing happen to me at one of Todd's classes four or five years ago, with a Glock 19 Gen 3. Round count was significantly higher than yours, but I've never had it happen before or since.

JV and ToddG got to laugh at me when my Glock 19 upper assy plunked into the dirt.

Turns out my slide lock spring (part # 20 on the Glock schematic) was broken. I make it a point to replace mine every 7500 rounds in my Gen 4 9mm's and 5,000 or so in Gen 3's.

Defoor posted on this recently mentioning he had never seen it before.

[JV_]

It's not uncommon for the spring to break in the first Gen4 19 guns.

The Gen4 19/Compact guns use a longer slide lock spring. I don't know if that spring came out after the Gen4 19s were released, or they always had it.

[trailrunner]

It's not uncommon for the spring to break in the first Gen4 19 guns.

My Gen 4 is relatively new (bought it in late 2012), and has the new style spring. The odd thing is that my spring did not break. It came of out position, but once we put it back, it now seems to be fine.

[1slow]

I had this happen once with a GL30 between 2000-2005. Spring was broken.

[JV_]

What's the date on the spent casing package that was included with the gun?