Glock 17 light Primer Strikes 2

[Yoder]

This is a reloading/gunsmith question. I just made a new batch of 9mm reloads. My old loads were 4.2 gr of Titegroup with 115 gr FMJ. I kept the OAL the same at 1.150 for 115gr fmj bullet. Now I'm using 4.6 gr of Titegroup powder. I also reduced the amount of crimp on the new load. Max load is 4.8 gr.

I had an 11lb recoil spring in my gun and it cycled fine with the light loads but looked slow to lock up sometimes. Glock original spring is 16lbs. I switched to a 13lb spring figuring the new hotter load should cycle the gun no problem. Now I'm having problems with light primer strikes, looks like the slide is not locking up completely. If I hold the gun tighter it runs good, but I never had to do this before. Also if I hit the back of the slide each time I fire there's no problem. All the primers had a defined firing pin strike, also when I tried them a second time they all fired. Any ideas? I'm thinking:

1. Maybe not enough crimp on the case causing it to feed harder.

2. Load is too light to cycle the slide properly. (This is close to max powder charge so I don't think this is it.)

3. Got used to shooting light spring and I am limp wristing the gun.

4. Remington primers. (Good/bad?)

5. Problem with the gun?

[Arcana71]

5. Problem with the gun?

My first thought is that the slide is not fully returning into battery. You have visual clues ("looks like the slide is not locking up completely") and physical evidence ("if I hit the back of the slide each time I fire there's no problem") to support this. If you go back to the 16-pound spring, does the problem go away? I have a nagging suspicion that it very-well might.

4. Remington primers. (Good/bad?)

This would be my second guess. Over twelve years, the only problems I ever had with any Glock all came back to Remington ammunition. They all came in the form of hard primers. I could never duplicate the problem with Federal, PMC, Winchester, Speer or CCI. I think Remington makes great hardware but consider their ammunition components suspect.

[JayBell]

check primer depth.

the glock FP is not like others, and protrudes very little.

I had a hell of a time with some Magtech reloads in my g17, before i discovered the primers were set a little too deep for the FP to get a good hit.

tey worked fine oin the hi-power, as that had MUCH more FP protrusion, but the glock pin stopped short of making sure the pin hit deep enough.

[RobW]

You mentioned reducing the crimp and failure to return to battery, with a heavier load and spring. My guess is that you are under crimped or over-sized, your preference ;->

[idpasharpshooter]

first off i would put the stock spring in and see if that helps. i load 115 grain lead bullets with 3.8 grains of tightgroup and they cycle my glock 19 fine with the stock spring.

other things you should do: check the case length to make sure they are not too long. try using a lee factory crimp die to make sure they are the right size after seating the bullet. (i like the taper crimp apposed to a roll crimp) also take you gun apart and clean it really well focusing on the firing pin channel making sure it is clean and free of debris. use light oil a little goes a long way on a glock.

[gunfixer199]

Check the primers first if that is not the cause try a 14lb to16lb spring

[pstew]

Take off the backplate from the slide and check/ clean the striker tube. If you have oil in there, you can gum it up.

[maz2331]

If your recoil spring is too light on a Glock, it is possible for the gun to start to go OOB during the trigger squeeze. In the design of the gun, the recoil spring has to hold the slide closed while the striker is tensioned and the two forces are in opposite directions.

I'd try actually a reduced strength striker spring with the light recoil spring, or just run stock spring weights. They should still cycle properly.

I went with extra-strength springs (19# recoil + 6# striker, instead of 17# and 5.5#) in my G20 (10mm). My primer strikes are much improved now.

[Yoder]

I put my stock spring back in and with factory loads it's 100% reliable. Reloads about 80-90%. FF and it just barely ejects the shells also light off center primer strikes. 3.6gr of Titegroup with 115gr fmj. I'm thinking of loading max at 4.8 and shortening my OAL to 1.130. Either that or trying reduced striker and recoil springs so I can shoot lighter loads.

[pstew]

... Either that or trying reduced striker and recoil springs so I can shoot lighter loads.

The reduced power striker spring will only make matters worse for the light hits. A reduced power main spring is for reduced power ammo loads.


Seriously though, did you clean out the striker channel? You should not be having these problems if the primers are set to the correct depth.