Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Glock 43 Interesting Factoids

In another thread I mentioned that my Glock 43 did not like feeding from slide lock using the slide lock lever. It works fine using the sling shot. When cleaning the gun I noticed that the copper jacketing was transferring to the ramp mostly on the left side. When I shot the gun today, I noticed that the ejector was depressing the top cartridge and causing a reorientation of the nose of the top round to the left. The orientation of the top cartridge of the flat base magazine was more pronounced. (Both magazines have the same part number on the back (33388), so the floor plate appears to be the only difference.)

Here is a picture of the back of the barrel. It is a bad cell phone picture, but you can see that the transfer is trending mostly to the left.



Here are pictures with the flat base magazine, one with the slide on and one with the slide off.





Here are the pictures with the extended base magazine, one with the slide on and one with the slide off. There is a very slight canting of the nose to the left.






I took some videos showing the action of the rounds when seating both magazines, but I did not upload them.

By the end of my session the orientation of the top round of the flat base magazine had improved to about like the magazine with the extension most of the time.

I also had another instance when the magazine unseated itself after chambering the first round. This time it happened with the extended base magazine, while using the sling shot method from slide lock. It happened once before with the flat base magazine after feeding from slide lock using the slide lock lever. One other time it happened with the extended base magazine in the middle of a string, but I cannot remember the shot number. This bothers me more than having to use the sling shot.

I will keep shooting the gun, but I figured some of you folks could check yours as well to see if this is a "feature" of the firearm.

Good photographs, and an interesting find. I'll be interested to see if other have pistols with the same affliction.

I've got a Gen4 Glock34 hats been giving me fits. Lots of failures to feed, the rounds are jamming halfway into the chamber. I traded for another factory 34 barrel and its run fine for about 200 rounds. I've had the feedrampnpolished on my barrel but haven't tried it yet.

I'll have to check out the ejector in mine.

Are you talking about the same gun?



As far a Gen 4 guns go, I think they need a break in with the dual recoil springs. And I know of issues with guys who tried to shoot frangible ammo with "fresh from the box" G35s. They had to use Gen 3s with old recoil springs.

My Gen2 G22 ran flawlessly for the first 2K+ rounds until someone in my outfit discovered that the front of the magazines were being pushed over slightly as the top round fed from the magazine. It wasn't a big deal at all, since the front lip bent out of the way ever so slightly as the first few rounds passed over it, and then stopped. But someone was afeared that the front of the magazines might split open, so we were issued new mags. My pistol immediately went from 100% reliable to a train wreck that would FTF several times per mag with the round part way in the chamber, lying on the feed ramp and the slide resting on it. Long story short, I took matters into my own hands and discretely altered my new magazines' top coils and the problem immediately went away. I can't recall now which way I bent them (down slightly I think), but the pistol went right back to running like a top for the next 15yrs. Ironically new magazines and/or springs later on never caused the same problems that those back in '96 did.

No, mine is the 34. It was just odd that two newish Glocks were puking. Might be a similar cause.

Hmmmm...my 4th gen G34 has been perfectly reliable. Not especially accurate, but reliable.

All of the problems I mentioned in my first post resolved themselves. But, that did not end it. I bought three more flush base magazines and one extended base magazine and started experiencing the magazine insertion problems about which I have read about. Some of those magazines hang up badly when inserting them. I figured out the work around when I feel resistance so I do not consider it a huge problem, but is it a quirk.

Yesterday, I loaded up all 6 magazines with Blazer 124 and let a police firearms instructor shoot my gun. He has large hands and has a hard time getting all of his fingers in the grip while using the magazine with the extended base. He experienced an issue that has never occurred with me. At least four out of six times, the gun failed to lock the slide back after the last round because the magazine had unseated itself. One time definitely was not a problem and I just cannot recall the other magazine. This occurred with flush base and extension base magazines. It freaked me out, but it never happened to me. The gun has about 400 rounds through it now. Testing will continue!

I believe the further from the original design, the more reliability is compromised.

Glock 17, 1911 5" steel, AR 20" rifle, are some well proven original designs.

A little modification is not usually a problem, but when it gets too extreme, things can get a little too far from the original design spec. Slide weights, spring weights, feed angles, gas system pressures, dwell times....yada yada.

He's hitting the mag release during recoil.

Dink

Let's see new gen 4 may not be as reliable as older models , but the intertnet gurus bitched abou "kabooms" and glock tightened up chamber and now not as reliable in gen 4's , ??? Is this right ?? At times the "net" is it's own worst enemy

My glock 19 Gen 4 fed 225 rounds of miscellaneous 9mm FMJ ammo of various bullet weights from 115 to 147 yesterday without hiccup

On rethinking this, I believe he was riding the slide stop lever and preventing it from working. He is a 1911 guy and the combination of big hands, a lot of muscle memory riding a 1911 safety, and a small gun was the problem. I am thinking he was hitting the magazine release button reflexively after getting a click on the empty chamber. I didn't ask what had happened. My earlier post was based on what I thought I was observing.

I'm a 1911 guy with large mitts, and manage to pull that stunt with regularity on Glocks and sometimes M&Ps too. I know it's me and not the pistols/magazines. If I'm having a good day and can remember, I'll keep rough mental track of my round count and then start redirecting a little brain power to getting my thumb off the slide release before the gun runs dry.

Speaking of large hands, I had the chance to fondle a 43 last week for several minutes with both magazines. I then asked to see a G19 just for a quick all-angles comparison, and was distracted when my hand immediately noticed the superior hand filling feel of the 19. Long story short, I talked myself out of a 43. I've got a couple Milt Sparks IWBs coming one of these weeks for my 19 which will meet my deep concealment needs. I can see the appeal of the 42/43 though.

I too suffer large hands. The G43 is right at the edge of near perfect sizing for tiny little guns. I actually like the size of the Ruger SR9c as the perfect size for a compact (I don't own one). The G19 G4 is my companion.

I have since learned that this issue probably is user error. The magazines will partially seat, feed the first round or jam it straight on the ramp, and allow the magazine to drop slightly when the first round feeds or jams. I think it partially has to do with stiff new magazines and also the fact that the grip is really short and the strong hand can interfere with magazine seating. Just something to watch for during reloads.

Also, the gun now feeds everything from slide lock using the slide stop lever when the magazine is properly seated.