biggest reliability issue with glocks is with “recycling” ammo, with chambering, unchambering, chambering, unchambering.. most autos don’t have a heavy crimp, so the bullet can seat itself deeper (eventually causing KB) or pull itself out (causing FTF).
also issues of reloads, if no done properly, they can also FTF.
Absolutely, bullet setback upon repeated chambering is a significant risk factor that is difficult to diagnose after the gun explodes.
Gotta keep an eye on that seating depth, critical for an LEO that loads and unloads daily.
Thanks for that. Key info that I was unaware of.
So, is it best to cycle the carry ammo?
This is caused by differences in tolerance in factory production at the time the barrel locking lug is molded into the plastic receiver. If it's too low, there will be a lot of sloppiness in the action. If the block is molded in too high, the reliability of cycling will be affected;
1. If the locking lug is molded in too low, that means that the 'loose' barrel will not always be returning to zero after each shot and you might notice a pretty wide variance in vertical stringing of shots downrange.
2. If the locking lug is too high, the 'tight' barrel may fail to reliably feed round and extract cases and cause 'stoveipe' jams.
This was a problem that afflicted a lot of 1st and 2nd generation Glocks and all first-production manufacturers who delivered plastic receivered handguns. The problem is still out there in all synthetic pistols. One shooter may have a problematic Glock/S&W/Hk compared to his friend's otherwise identical model and the inaccuracy or finicky cycling of the 'bad' pistol may cause the shooter to go crazy trying to determine what's wrong.
The issue is easy to check for: Before buying a plastic pistol, make a safe gun and press down with your thumb on top of the barrel breech. It should depress a bit, but only by about the thickness of a new playing card. A coated fresh business card ought to do the trick if you lay the card on top of the barrel breech and press down hoping that the surface of the card and the rear of the slide will be flush when depressed. Any more or less than that, ask your dealer for another pistol until you find one that's flush.
I've seen Glocks where three business cards would fit before the top of the barrel breech was flush with the slide, and other where there was barely enough room for the card to sit on the barrel breech without feeling a 'lip' on the card brushing my thumb across the top of the slide.
A super high quality gunsmithed barrel like the ones available from KKM Precision will eliminate these problem, but cost you about half the purchase price of your Glock to make it shoot through donut holes at 50 feet. They sure don't typically shoot like that out of the box, but can definitely be made to do so with some investment.