Glock 42 Reliability

[parishioner]

As much as I usually like Lawman. the 380 ACP load has had spotty reliability in several pistols that have been through my safe. Pre-shortage, I avoided it when possible.

Good to know, thank you. I only bought it due to lawman having a good reputation on this site as I have never used it before.

[Totem Polar]

@parishioner, one more consideration, since others have covered grip and ammo. Once in a while, one of the original slimline Glocks will exhibit this behavior when taken straight from the shop to the range. My recent G43 was just like your G42 on day one. Digging around the internet reveals a good number of anecdotes where fully loading the magazines and letting them sit overnight/a week/whatever effects a fix. The 6-round mags seem to need to take an initial spring set before they stop overdriving the slide velocity. Sure enough, I had a couple of early FTE and stove pipes on outing one, that thus far seem to have gone away in subsequent outings after stuffing all my mags with 6 rounds and leaving them until outing #2, however long that was (a week or two, in my case).

I mean, FWIW.

[parishioner]

@parishionerDigging around the internet reveals a good number of anecdotes where fully loading the magazines and letting them sit overnight/a week/whatever effects a fix. The 6-round mags seem to need to take an initial spring set before they stop overdriving the slide velocity. Sure enough, I had a couple of early FTE and stove pipes on outing one, that thus far seem to have gone away in subsequent outings after stuffing all my mags with 6 rounds and leaving them until outing #2, however long that was (a week or two, in my case).

I’ll give that a try.

What ammo have you had success with?

[Navin Johnson]

@parishioner, one more consideration, since others have covered grip and ammo. Once in a while, one of the original slimline Glocks will exhibit this behavior when taken straight from the shop to the range. My recent G43 was just like your G42 on day one. Digging around the internet reveals a good number of anecdotes where fully loading the magazines and letting them sit overnight/a week/whatever effects a fix. The 6-round mags seem to need to take an initial spring set before they stop overdriving the slide velocity. Sure enough, I had a couple of early FTE and stove pipes on outing one, that thus far seem to have gone away in subsequent outings after stuffing all my mags with 6 rounds and leaving them until outing #2, however long that was (a week or two, in my case).

I mean, FWIW.

How does a magazine over run the slide? With my 300 round gun with a late 23 build date the shell is not getting up fast enough (nose up against barrel hood)

[zaitcev]

How does a magazine over run the slide? With my 300 round gun with a late 23 build date the shell is not getting up fast enough (nose up against barrel hood)

Like this?



I swapped out OEM magazine springs for Wolf +10% and it seemed to help. That said eventually I got tired of tinkering and swapped G42 for P365. They are the same size (e.g. smaller than G43), so the only penalty is the weight. My G42 was about 12 oz and P365 is 16 oz. But it always works, so I decided to eat the extra weight. I'm still a little sad about my G42s (I had two, just in case). But they always were on the edge of reliability.

[Wonder9]

So I picked up a Glock 42 to replace my 442 because my accuracy suffers too bad past 15 yards. My friendly LGS had one and it had the latest -3 magazines, so I picked it up. I had a box of pre-2020 Fiocchi 380AP FMJ and bought a new box of Fiocchi Range Dynamics FMJ. I put some light grease on the rails and barrel locking area and went to town. I started with the Fiocchi Range Dynamics. I had 48 malfunctions. Half were where the G42 fired, but did not eject the empty cartridge. The rest were a combo of brass getting caught in the ejection port and getting jammed at an angle. The angled jams were either against the empty brass in the chamber, or it ejected and got wedged against the barrel.

On the last two rounds, they fed and fired normally which I made an audible "Woo-Hoo". I went back up to the shop and bought a box of S&B .380FMJ. Went back down to the range, and the G42 ran like a normal Glock for the whole box. I then shot 25 rounds of the older Fiocchi 380 FMJ and it functioned like normal. I really like the recoil characteristics, but I pull to the left bad with the G42. I have to move my trigger finger up higher on the trigger and use the joint instead of my finger pad. I do think part of it is I've been ignoring my Glocks as of late and I hate the ball&bucket sights. I think I'll end up ordering a case of S&B .380, some Ameriglo sights, and see if the G42 continues to perform.

So 75-48 is the current good to bad count. This is going to be a dedicated pocket BUG, so the dimensions are why I didn't go with other options. Plus, it is such a pussycat to shoot. Not a good review, but all malfunctions were the first box and with one type of ammo. I'm cautiously optimistic that it continue to act like a normal Glock.

[Duelist]

So I picked up a Glock 42 to replace my 442 because my accuracy suffers too bad past 15 yards. My friendly LGS had one and it had the latest -3 magazines, so I picked it up. I had a box of pre-2020 Fiocchi 380AP FMJ and bought a new box of Fiocchi Range Dynamics FMJ. I put some light grease on the rails and barrel locking area and went to town. I started with the Fiocchi Range Dynamics. I had 48 malfunctions. Half were where the G42 fired, but did not eject the empty cartridge. The rest were a combo of brass getting caught in the ejection port and getting jammed at an angle. The angled jams were either against the empty brass in the chamber, or it ejected and got wedged against the barrel.

On the last two rounds, they fed and fired normally which I made an audible "Woo-Hoo". I went back up to the shop and bought a box of S&B .380FMJ. Went back down to the range, and the G42 ran like a normal Glock for the whole box. I then shot 25 rounds of the older Fiocchi 380 FMJ and it functioned like normal. I really like the recoil characteristics, but I pull to the left bad with the G42. I have to move my trigger finger up higher on the trigger and use the joint instead of my finger pad. I do think part of it is I've been ignoring my Glocks as of late and I hate the ball&bucket sights. I think I'll end up ordering a case of S&B .380, some Ameriglo sights, and see if the G42 continues to perform.

So 75-48 is the current good to bad count. This is going to be a dedicated pocket BUG, so the dimensions are why I didn't go with other options. Plus, it is such a pussycat to shoot. Not a good review, but all malfunctions were the first box and with one type of ammo. I'm cautiously optimistic that it continue to act like a normal Glock.

If it likes your ammunition, it should run like a sewing machine. One of mine will do about what you described with flat nose WWB FMJ, the other will do it less, but both run like corn through a goose on regular RN FMJ and Hornady XTP.

I got them due to form and weight, but I still use an airweight Centennial for a pocket gun most of the time.

[Navin Johnson]

So I picked up a Glock 42 to replace my 442 because my accuracy suffers too bad past 15 yards. My friendly LGS had one and it had the latest -3 magazines, so I picked it up. I had a box of pre-2020 Fiocchi 380AP FMJ and bought a new box of Fiocchi Range Dynamics FMJ. I put some light grease on the rails and barrel locking area and went to town. I started with the Fiocchi Range Dynamics. I had 48 malfunctions. Half were where the G42 fired, but did not eject the empty cartridge. The rest were a combo of brass getting caught in the ejection port and getting jammed at an angle. The angled jams were either against the empty brass in the chamber, or it ejected and got wedged against the barrel.

On the last two rounds, they fed and fired normally which I made an audible "Woo-Hoo". I went back up to the shop and bought a box of S&B .380FMJ. Went back down to the range, and the G42 ran like a normal Glock for the whole box. I then shot 25 rounds of the older Fiocchi 380 FMJ and it functioned like normal. I really like the recoil characteristics, but I pull to the left bad with the G42. I have to move my trigger finger up higher on the trigger and use the joint instead of my finger pad. I do think part of it is I've been ignoring my Glocks as of late and I hate the ball&bucket sights. I think I'll end up ordering a case of S&B .380, some Ameriglo sights, and see if the G42 continues to perform.

So 75-48 is the current good to bad count. This is going to be a dedicated pocket BUG, so the dimensions are why I didn't go with other options. Plus, it is such a pussycat to shoot. Not a good review, but all malfunctions were the first box and with one type of ammo. I'm cautiously optimistic that it continue to act like a normal Glock.

What kind of range are you expecting to engage with a pocket pistol as a civilian?

J frames are very accurate

If you anticipate engaging tangos at 15 to 45 yards, I’d highly recommend a full-size carry gun

I have a brand new 42 with around 500 g through it and I get random malfunctions so if it runs with certain ammo, but not with others, or if it works with some people, but not with others it makes me think it’s on the very edge of reliability….. doesn’t seem like a good defensive tool. It’s too bad because it’s very shootable.

The 42 is not a pocket pistol it’s a holster pistol. And for those of you who say the 42 is just fine get your buddy to get a set of boxing gloves and on go have them start punching you in the face as fast as they can and see which gun you can get out easier. (Vs a J frame)

[echo5charlie]

What kind of range are you expecting to engage with a pocket pistol as a civilian?

J frames are very accurate

If you anticipate engaging tangos at 15 to 45 yards, I’d highly recommend a full-size carry gun

I have a brand new 42 with around 500 g through it and I get random malfunctions so if it runs with certain ammo, but not with others, or if it works with some people, but not with others it makes me think it’s on the very edge of reliability….. doesn’t seem like a good defensive tool. It’s too bad because it’s very shootable.

The 42 is not a pocket pistol it’s a holster pistol. And for those of you who say the 42 is just fine get your buddy to get a set of boxing gloves and on go have them start punching you in the face as fast as they can and see which gun you can get out easier. (Vs a J frame)

Do you seriously propose that as actual consideration criteria for pocket carry?

[Navin Johnson]

Do you seriously propose that as actual consideration criteria for pocket carry?

No

Some friends and I used to run some drills on SA in a martial arts environment. This was one of many things we did. Hammerless revolvers are vastly superior drawing from the pocket under duress was our conclusion. YMMV