Overwatch precision triggers in Gen 5 Glocks

[fatdog]

In my Glock Armorer course today (my 4th time through) one example of the problems with non factory parts he cited was an example where he had personally inspected a gun at the request of an LE agency in the SW U.S.

A swat officer had been injured by a dropped gun that discharged and hit him in the lower leg, thankfully without breaking bones or any life threatening consequences.

The pistol in question had an overwatch precision trigger in place, one that used the factory trigger bar.

However when he performed a test on the gun in question, he was able to get the lower (without any upper in place) to allow the trigger bar to push off the ledge of the trigger housing with the trigger fully cocked by just depressing the "cross" area of the trigger bar with the trigger set fully forward. What he pointed out is that the geometry of the trigger shoe itself had changed the position of the factory trigger bar enough to make this possible.

Having a few Overwatch triggers myself on gamer guns, I came home tonight and was able to replicate the test he described myself on a Gen 5 with their Polydat trigger on their polished factory trigger bar. A second nearly identical gun with the same trigger bar would not fail the test.

This is probably not a huge issue on a gamer gun but one of these things will not go in any of my guns deployed for self defense.

The only thing I am taking from this is that just because some aftermarket trigger maker for Glocks used the factory trigger bar, that does not mean you have a gun that engages all the normal safeties....or is there something I missed in this?

[Wake27]

Interesting. All of my Glocks have complete Overwatch trigger kits.


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[LukeNCMX]

Tolerance stacking that happens on a case by case basis. Any aftermarket Glock trigger that reduces pre-travel has the potential for this to happen. There are numerous examples of triggers (including overwatch) that don't have this problem. I have two Overwatch Tac triggers in Glocks: a gen 4 19 and a gen 5 17. Both were full drop-ins (including housing) and both don't have this issue.

[GJM]

Isn't the test to look up the magwell, press the face of the trigger (but not the tab safety), and see if the FSB is being depressed?

[dontshakepandas]

I just double checked the 5 PolyDAT triggers I have in gen 5 Glocks (2 45s, 2 19s, and a 26) and none of the trigger bars will drop with the trigger forward and none of the safety plungers are depressed moving the trigger rearwards when viewing through the magwell.

[GearFondler]

Isn't the test to look up the magwell, press the face of the trigger (but not the tab safety), and see if the FSB is being depressed?

I have (4) Gen3's with OP triggers and this is the one check I had not done.
3 of them passed the test but my Roland Special did not. Pulling the trigger until the tab stops the movement starts to depress the safety plunger and I can hear the striker move freely when I shake it. The cruciform can't be pushed off the ledge but one of the passive drop safeties is definitely no longer effective.

[Mark D]

Good to know. Overwatch Precision is my preferred aftermarket trigger shoe. I have two Tac Triggers but only one is currently installed (Gen 3, G19).

I checked it, and it won't push off the push off the ledge of the trigger housing. Looking up the magwell, using GJM's test, it does depress the safety plunger by about 1/32nd of an inch, but the striker remains captured.

[HTM]

Removing pretravel usually is a dance with the devil. You may not defeat the safeties but you most likely are compromising some if not all. is the perceived benefit worth the price?

[LukeNCMX]

is the perceived benefit worth the price?

I think it can be for someone with trigger reach issues. If the drop safety is engaging to where the trigger bar can't fall in the rest position then I'm good with it. In a world of fully tensioned striker duty guns with relatively light oem trigger weights I'm not seeing what is particularly unsafe about a glock with a reduced pre-travel trigger that's working correctly.

[LittleLebowski]

Removing pretravel usually is a dance with the devil. You may not defeat the safeties but you most likely are compromising some if not all. is the perceived benefit worth the price?

This and prolly not.