Recommended follow-up for Glock 19 Gen4 firing pin failure

[LeeC]

Well, the honeymoon is over. I pulled the trigger on FAST drill shot # 5 today, but got no bang. This happened only once before, several thousand rounds ago, on a bad primer. But after waiting 30 seconds, I ejected the round and found the primer had not been struck. So I moved the table into the box and field stripped to inspect the slide. The firing pin end was not visible, and depressing the firing pin safety and manually working the pin would not free it up. So, I switched out to my AA kit and shot 22's for the rest of the hour.

I've taken down the slide, and didn't find the level of gunk I was expecting to explain the firing pin failure. This is my first Glock and I have not tracked the number of rounds run through it. Best guess is that it has been fired less than 10,000 times. Think I'll be putting the bullet-odometer on in the future.

I've cleaned all the slide parts thoroughly with 99% isopropyl alcohol and thoroughly dried with patches and Q-tips. Read some of the posts here about maintenance schedules for Glocks, including replacing all slide springs together instead of piecemeal. This is my EDC and while I realize that no machine is infallible, knowing it in theory and experiencing it in practice have different impacts. Moving forward, I have a new level of interest in carrying a backup gun every day, and being more conscious of maintenance schedules. It is fun to joke about not cleaning your gun, but reality is that if I was in a gunfight today and this happened, I might not be writing about it, as I was not carrying a BUG. Odds are that since I'm practicing a whole lot more than fighting, the next failure will also be during practice, but it still makes me pause for reflection.

In hindsight, I'm now wondering if I should have tried dry firing a few times to see if that would free up the firing pin.

Question 1: What is recommended field tactical response for this kind of failure?

Question 2: What is recommended follow-up for putting this gun back into EDC service?

[LOKNLOD]

I've taken down the slide, and didn't find the level of gunk I was expecting to explain the firing pin failure.
.......
I've cleaned all the slide parts thoroughly with 99% isopropyl alcohol and thoroughly dried with patches and Q-tips.

So you didn't find any gunk or debris to blame for seizing it up, and I assume it moves and dry fires now after cleaning? I'm not clear on this point: did you replace the spring? I don't think you did, but if so did you check for any shortening or deformation from the new spring?

Question 1: What is recommended field tactical response for this kind of failure?

If you got a click-no-bang during an urgent lead dispersion event, I'd suspect you'd tap-rack-bang just like you would if it had been a hard primer or empty chamber due to unseated magazine. If it continued to not fire (tap-rack-click-ohshit), then you'd be doing some mixture of seeking cover, transitioning to a backup, running like your head is on fire, etc. This is where the answer to your question about whether a few more dry fires would have dislodged it would be nice to know.

Question 2: What is recommended follow-up for putting this gun back into EDC service?

Personally after cleaning, I'd continue with the spring replacement, and put a few hundred rounds down range to verify function. I might go ahead and replace the striker and parts it's interacting with as well, given that the cost is not exorbitant to do so.


*For what it's worth, I'd point out that I am neither a Glock armorer nor a tactics expert so take my questions/suggestion for what they're worth.

[LeeC]

So you didn't find any gunk or debris to blame for seizing it up, and I assume it moves and dry fires now after cleaning? I'm not clear on this point: did you replace the spring? I don't think you did, but if so did you check for any shortening or deformation from the new spring?

There was some gunk but it didn't seem to be enough that it should cause the striker not to be able to move.

I don't have any replacement parts on hand, so I have reassembled the cleaned stock parts and dry fire seems OK. I have Laserlyte LT-9 trainer and the firing pin is making contact with the switch.

There are some pricy titanium parts referenced here, including a titanium striker that will supposedly improve your accuracy, although I can't imagine how. Guess I'll do some further research on maintenance parts. I see this forum has a thread on Glock maintenance that covers some of the issues.

[JV_]

There are some pricy titanium parts referenced here, including a titanium striker that will supposedly improve your accuracy

Stick with Glock parts.

Can you post a picture of your striker tip?

[LeeC]

Stick with Glock parts.

Can you post a picture of your striker tip?

I could, but after I cleaned it all up, it looks good as new. I just got back from the range. Ran 300 rounds with no problems, so gunk must have been the root cause. When I first got the gun, before I watched an instructional video on how to clean it, I was probably not careful enough with avoiding getting CLP into the striker channel. But now I know better.

I do have a new problem now though. About half the time that I smacked a fresh, topped off mag into the gun, the slide released automatically. But I didn't do anything with the slide stop lever. I just tried reproducing the problem here at home. Can't make it release with an empty mag, but if I smack a loaded mag in, the slide automatically releases and chambers a round. But the slide did not once fail to lock back on an empty mag at the range.

Did some more tests and while I was able to reproduce the problem several times, now it has stopped. I can't get the slide to automatically release when I smack a mag into the gun. Thought maybe the process that sets the slide release lever on ejection of the last casing was leaving the slide stop lever only partially set, but since I can't reproduce the problem now, I don't know what was going on. Think it is time to swap out springs and start counting rounds fired better. But at least I know the gun fires now.

[JV_]

About half the time that I smacked a fresh, topped off mag into the gun, the slide released automatically

Many pistols exhibit this behavior, including the M&P, but I'm not able to do this with my Glock.

I was able to do this with my M&P; it was most consistent if I put most of the insertion force on the back of the base plate.

[LittleLebowski]

Don't worry about "auto forwarding" when inserting a fresh mag and for Buddha's sake, do NOT rely upon it.

[Chuck Haggard]

NO NO NO NO NO titanium strikers/firing pins.

Just NO!

[LeeC]

Don't worry about "auto forwarding" when inserting a fresh mag and for Buddha's sake, do NOT rely upon it.

Funny that I was thinking that "auto forwarding" is a feature that makes perfect sense, but I haven't spent enough time learning about how semi-autos operate to know why it isn't engineered into the gun. I was surprised to have it happen to me for the first time, and several times thereafter, and it did throw off my drill rhythm because I wasn't expecting it. I'm fine with the chore of "slingshoting" the slide manually so that I don't depend on the fine muscle control that won't be around in a fight, but wasn't ready for the auto-forwarding.

[LittleLebowski]

I wouldn't worry about all of a sudden losing the ability to remember your training and move your thumb less than an inch, Lee.