Two years with G43; six months with a G48...

[ST911]

Anyone know the factory recommended RSA replacement schedule?

I seem to recall it is 2500 rounds?

5000

[HCM]

5000

For the 43 ?

[M2CattleCo]

I asked Glock about recoil spring replacement interval on the 43 a few years ago.

They didn’t have a specific number and said it should be good for at least 10K rounds.

I changed one at 3K just for the hellofit but I couldn’t tell that it had degraded any.

[ST911]

For the 43 ?

Yep.

[ViniVidivici]

Yes, 3,000 for single-spring gen 1-3, 5,000 for gen4-5 dual-spring types.

[js475]

I bought a G48 a few months ago and finally decided to put a box of 147gr Federal HST through it today. I noticed the cycling had a sluggish feel to it when compared to ball ammo. This was especially noticeable when I would hold the trigger back and not reset it until the gun cycled. Whenever I did that, the slide would be a fraction of an inch out of battery and then fully return once I reset the trigger.

I haven't had any malfunctions with this gun using the HSTs or with the 500 or so ball rounds I've fired, but this gives me a bit of hesitation to carry it. Should I be worried about carrying with 147gr HSTs? Unfortunately that's all I have, and with the current ammo situation I'm not going to be buying other carry ammo.

Do you guys think a stronger aftermarket recoil spring could help?

[HCM]

Yes, 3,000 for single-spring gen 1-3, 5,000 for gen4-5 dual-spring types.

That makes sense.

[evi1joe]

I had issues with the TTI +2 extensions that were using the same spring as the +1...then they came out with a MUCH stronger spring. You'd have to slam the base of the mag into something hard a few times to get the last round in. That fixed issues for about 500-1000rds, but then I started having issues again, so I went back to the +1 Pearce mag extensions with a +15% mag spring.

I am happy SHIELD is coming out with an 8rd or 9rd (??) mag. I've had no issues with their S15 in my 43X.

[RJ]

I bought a G48 a few months ago and finally decided to put a box of 147gr Federal HST through it today. I noticed the cycling had a sluggish feel to it when compared to ball ammo. This was especially noticeable when I would hold the trigger back and not reset it until the gun cycled. Whenever I did that, the slide would be a fraction of an inch out of battery and then fully return once I reset the trigger.

I haven't had any malfunctions with this gun using the HSTs or with the 500 or so ball rounds I've fired, but this gives me a bit of hesitation to carry it. Should I be worried about carrying with 147gr HSTs? Unfortunately that's all I have, and with the current ammo situation I'm not going to be buying other carry ammo.

Do you guys think a stronger aftermarket recoil spring could help?

Yeah, this is a bit of a conundrum. Getting access to reasonably priced SD ammo is not a thing, these days, so you have what have.

I'm in the final stages of vetting a new G48 for carry. I'll give you a non-expert/user view and an opinion.

My G48 was bought new last September. To date I have 936 rounds, mostly AE115, but a few dozen each of AE124, BB124, SB115, Federal HST 147, Speer Gold Dot 124+p and Speer Gold Dot 115. I've had three fail to feed malfunctions. One was with once-chambered Speer Gold Dot 115. Two were with Speer Gold Dot 124+p. This is over eleven magazines. The "fail" magazines all shot ok previously.

The 115 failure came when the gun was stock, the two 124 GD malfunctions were just after the gun returned from Primary Machine for milling for a 507k. These two came at round 3 and round 10 of the respective magazines.

Things I've checked/would check are:

- The Extractor Depressor Plunger spring is fully seated on the plunger
- The top of the "bird beak" on the trigger bar is not interfering with the inside top of the slide
- The inside of the rails on both side are clean, free of swarf or coating, and lubed
- The breechface is clean and any carbon build up under the extractor hook is removed
- I'm not sure a polished feedramp would help, but it looks cool. I've never polished mine, but I know some do. Personally, I know my limitations, and try to stay well away from a pistol innards when I am holding a Dremel.
- The gun is racked enthusiastically to load a cartridge
- Verifying the slide is fully in battery by smacking the back of it with your palm after loading a carry round
- All non-Glock parts are removed (with the possible exception of an SCD, which I find essential to carrying a Glock AIWB).
- Verify "your" gun with "your" carry ammo.
- Lastly, I've decided to order a new RSA to further isolate the problem, and will likely just replace them at 1K intervals (at $17 for a RSA, I'm ok with that).

My opinion after going through this process is that my G48 seems to prefer standard pressure loads like the HST 147 over +p. In my case, yes, I will carry it with the Federal ammo.

I don't make a habit of holding the trigger down after a shot; I prep for the next shot, so I can't comment on the slide not going into battery by 1/8". I would suspect that the slide/RSA is weaker than it needs to be to "pop" the slide back into battery. This may or may not be due to Glock selecting the same part for the G48 RSA as for the G43X as for the G43. (Others have opined a longer RSA, that does not require the forward "filler" design, would have been a better choice. But Glock didn't do that.)

Since I would like to have at least two vetted ammo types available, I will be looking to replace the GD 124+p with something else on Doc's list, probably a 124 standard pressure. This might be HST 124, or Speer GD 124, or something else (subject to availability, and my credit card balance.) I have enough 147 HST to last me a while, but options are good.

I plan to do one more test of the 147 when my new RSA gets here. Probably a short version of a test I've seen referenced elsewhere; where you load 3 rounds in a number of magazines (the point being this is the critical point where the mag spring is at it's most relaxed). If this test passes (and I don't know how many rounds I'll dedicate to this; this is getting expensive) then I think I have a reasonable expectation of hearing a bang instead of a click when I need it to. Oh, and I am going to stop fiddling with the gun as well.

The reason I'm willing to go through this is that the G48 is the 14th gun I've owned since starting shooting in 2013, and it checks so many boxes for me that if I can get it to run reliably, I really would like to. I will say however that if it doesn't, I will sell it without a moments hesitation and move on to something else.

Hope this helps.

[Chuck Haggard]

5000

Glock didn't used to have any schedule for swapping the RSA.

My experience with the debacle at my old job in 2006 with gen 3 G22s led me to favor a very aggressive schedule of changing these out. Glock may say 5000 on the double spring RSAs, but on the .40s, and the micro guns, I do 2000. It's cheap insurance.


Also, in my experience the 115gr Gold Dot doesn't expand from G43 length barrels, so there's that.

I run the standard pressure 124gr HSTs in my G43. As noted, I have an aggressive spring replacement schedule.