LL's "Almost Guaranteed to Work fixes for Gen4 Glock 9mm issues"

[Greg]

Well, Just to temp fate after my face shield comment, I picked up a Gen4 19 with the intent of letting my wife run it.

The only areas I think the Gen4 9mm Glocks are an improvement are the grip texture, and for those with small hands, the mag release and smaller grip size (without an added backstrap).

I'm keeping the slide locked back until I can break it in with some of my 124gr & 147gr handloads. The extractor seems to pivot freely in its slot so hopefully that is a good sign.
The slide was drenched in oil while the trigger bar/connector junction was bone dry. Kind of odd.... I cleaned out the striker channel & SLB channel with 99% rubbing alcohol.

An OEM extended slide release and Gen3 G17 (smooth faced) trigger are inbound..... Hope this one doesn't suck!

[Savage Hands]

I keep telling myself that I'm going to write up my experience on this topic since I had an early 2012 Gen 4 G19 (came with the current 30274 ejector) erratic ejection and brass to the eyeball. I was fortunate enough to be one of Apex Tactical's beta testers for their Failure Resistant Extractor and tell only one of 11 testers that had a problem during the test and did not have the erratic ejection 100% corrected. Fortunately it goes high over my head and right shoulder occasionally instead of every direction and into my eyeball. I tried he HRED with no luck before the Apex extractor but it made ejection more forceful and after it made the prototype feel too tight which caused problems feeding.
Needless to say, I'm about 5,000+ rounds with no brass to the face and no malfunctions on the same Gen 4 G19. Out of 15 Glocks so far including a handful of 9mm Gen 4 Glocks, this 19 is the only one that needed the extractor. Eventually I'll add an Apex extractor to all of my Glocks since it is a high quality piece and a crucial part in regards to feeding and extraction.
Here's a few pics of the factory extractor, prototype and production Apex.

The prototype sitting on the slide, Apex FRE installed.


Apex FRE the top two in the pic below , the factory on the bottom.


Factory (L), Prototype (C), Apex FRE (R)

[noguns]

If one wanted to be proactive, at what interval should you replace either the hred assembly or the provided spring that comes with the Apex fre?

[Nephrology]

If one wanted to be proactive, at what interval should you replace either the hred assembly or the provided spring that comes with the Apex fre?

There aren't any official sources for non-RSA preventative maintenance of 9mm guns as far as I am aware, but TLG replaced the RSAs on his G4G17s at 7500 round intervals, and the following parts were replaced at 15000 round intervals:

recoil spring
firing pin block spring
striker spring
mag catch spring
takedown lever spring

He seemed to have few issues when maintaining them this way.

[Mjolnir]

I keep telling myself that I'm going to write up my experience on this topic since I had an early 2012 Gen 4 G19 (came with the current 30274 ejector) erratic ejection and brass to the eyeball. I was fortunate enough to be one of Apex Tactical's beta testers for their Failure Resistant Extractor and tell only one of 11 testers that had a problem during the test and did not have the erratic ejection 100% corrected. Fortunately it goes high over my head and right shoulder occasionally instead of every direction and into my eyeball. I tried he HRED with no luck before the Apex extractor but it made ejection more forceful and after it made the prototype feel too tight which caused problems feeding.
Needless to say, I'm about 5,000+ rounds with no brass to the face and no malfunctions on the same Gen 4 G19. Out of 15 Glocks so far including a handful of 9mm Gen 4 Glocks, this 19 is the only one that needed the extractor. Eventually I'll add an Apex extractor to all of my Glocks since it is a high quality piece and a crucial part in regards to feeding and extraction.
Here's a few pics of the factory extractor, prototype and production Apex.

The prototype sitting on the slide, Apex FRE installed.


Apex FRE the top two in the pic below , the factory on the bottom.


Factory (L), Prototype (C), Apex FRE (R)

Definitely go with the APEX FRE and you should be fine.

White Sound's HRED is also nice but the APEX kit includes the higher power spring and I am not a fan of Glock's MIM extractor. If I had a gun store I would stock APEX Tactical FRE.

I also don't like the RSA. I've replaced mine with this:


I like it a helluva lot better as it does not flex as its a machines stainless steel rod. A side benefit is that it adds mass beneath the barrel which will reduce the minuscule muzzle flip. Not needed but I'll take it.

[Savage Hands]

I noticed in my last post that there are some errors thanks to autocorrect which is auto replace, oh well

[DocSabo40]

Not related to fixing anything, but I have noticed that since mounting the RMR on my G19 that I haven't been hit in the face with brass once. The RMR is an excellent brass deflector! It is tactically amazing as well: occasionally the timing is perfect and a piece of brass will get flung 20-25 feet downrange. If shooting close targets, the cases can actually hit the target turning a potentially annoying BTF issue into one of pure win, as the brass has been redirected to hit someone else in the face. Perfection perfected perfectly.

[ssb]

Perhaps this is a stupid question, but what's the difference between the APEX Gen 4 extractor and the Gen 3 extractor?

Reason I ask is, I'm looking at picking up a Gen 3 G17 this weekend and I have a spare Gen 4 extractor laying around. I'm curious if the two are compatible in the event I get BTF issues.

[NickDrak]

This has been my same exact recipe for success with all of my Gen4 9mm Glocks. One early production G17, one early production G19, and one recent production G17. Any Gen4 Glock I purchase will automatically get the Apex FRE/White Sound HRED treatment.

[M2CattleCo]

My last foray into the realm of perfection left me with a unique set of training scars.

1) I have several burn marks on the back of my neck, the crook of my arm, and one at my lower back where cases have managed to land on me.

2) While shooting, I'm constantly checking to my right to see where the brass is going. I found that one to be just as ridiculous as the first, but more embarrassing when asked "WHAT are you looking for??"