Glock Armorer's Course

[rjrivero]

I had the opportunity to attend the Glock Armorer's Class yesterday. My local dealer suggested that if I went ahead and did the paperwork for he and I to attend, he would go ahead and pay my "tuition." Of course, I jumped on the chance.

The class was from 8:00 to 5:00 with lunch served.

They brought a Glock for everyone in the class to "work on." They were ALL pretty well beat up. I'm sure they've been apart and put together thousands and thousands of times.

The things that interested me the most during the day were the polygonal rifling they use are NOT easily identified ballistically. In fact, they offer micro-marking for their barrels in order to be able to identify individual rounds from individual barrels for a fee of $10 per gun. Otherwise, they are almost impossible to identify a round shot from a specific glock.

The barreling itself "shouldn't" be used with lead cast boolits. This is discussed ad nauseum and often debated. Some folks will say they shoot lead just fine, and some will warn you that the leading can be excessive.

The fact is that there is less friction offered by the polygonal rifling, and the soft lead will often "jump" the threads. Thus causing the boolits to allow gas cutting and lead deposition inside the barrel. Accuracy also suffers using lead boolits in these barrels.

I will post up later the recommended cleaning regiment as described in the Armoer's course when I get some time to do so. There were some interesting insights that I'd be happy to share, so stand by.

RJ

[mycar47562]

Any chance for a copy of the course paper work?

and i have never heard of the ballistics's thing before

[rjrivero]

Any chance for a copy of the course paper work?

and i have never heard of the ballistics's thing before

Nope. It's copywrighted. Hommie don't break copywright laws. ;) Barrel micro-marking was requested by the Miami police department. If you google "Miami Barrel" it should give you some interesting reading. This link sums (http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1893&issue_id=92009)up the evolution of the "Miami Barrel."

[HoldHard]

So does this new enlightenment mean you are actually going to start cleaning your weapons before showing up at a carbine shoot or maybe even at a match?

Can I get an Amen?

:D

Good to hear you are now certified.... but we all knew you were certifiable before this.... (ducks for cover). It's a good thing to have a combat tupperware mechanic in the bunch....

As our Aussie friends would say from Down Under "Good on ya, mate!!!"

HH

[rjrivero]

So does this new enlightenment mean you are actually going to start cleaning your weapons before showing up at a carbine shoot or maybe even at a match?
HH

Oh no. I'm even LESS apt to do so. I'll only hose it out when I get caught in the rain with it, or fall in a mud puddle. They did teach us how to "NOT make a GLOCK Full auto." ;)

Otherwise, it's just a waste of time that I could spend re-loading! :rofl:

[Remphoto]

My FFL buddy Bruce showed me how to field-strip a Glock right down to the trigger assembly. He made it look easy, but there sure are a lot of parts. I can see why once you figure it out, it is much easier than what you have to do with a 1911 or most other guns.

[rjrivero]

Any chance for a copy of the course paper work?

and i have never heard of the ballistics's thing before

Hey, Lucas. If you click this page (http://www.stevespages.com/page7b.htm) you might be able to find something of interest.

;)

[mycar47562]

The Miami barrel is very interesting, im going to have to ask my uncle if there is anything new on this. and thanks for the steve page

[mycar47562]

Oh mister armorer is a rubber hammer the correct way for me to adjust my sights?

[rjrivero]

Oh mister armorer is a rubber hammer the correct way for me to adjust my sights?

No. You should use a sight adjustment tool.

[usa1]

They say anything about the 4th generations? Sure am looking at a G26, or anything to look at if one was to go used? or to stay away from?

[rjrivero]

They say anything about the 4th generations? Sure am looking at a G26, or anything to look at if one was to go used? or to stay away from?

The 4th generation has a "Slim Frame" feel. They have 3 backstraps that can add a bit of girth and lower the grip a bit to make them feel like the original. Without the grip inserts, the grip is higher and a touch narrower front to back.
(I like the feel much better than the original Glock.)

They also come with the dual stage springs. They have been noted to cause short stroking with lighter "target" ammo. They do have a lighter recoil spring if you would like to run with lighter ammo.

The gen 4 also comes with an Ambi mag release, if that's important to you.

The "common" failures on abused glocks include the frame rails, especially the front ones. They can take a beating on high power loads with old and weak recoil springs. You want to check the frame at the area of the locking block and around the locking block pins. Don't be afraid to flex the frame to see if there are small cracks. Typically, only abused glocks fail. That is 9mm's that are loaded HOT in order to try to make "Major" in USPSA and similar events.

[HoldHard]

The gen 4 also comes with an Ambi safety, if that's important to you.I think you meant to say it's a reversable magazine release. From the Glock website:

The magazine release catch of the Gen4 is reversible and enlarged. The reversible magazine allows users to switch the catch to the left or right side of the pistol with no additional parts.

I didn't take the class but I'm in the market for a G17 Gen4 so I was scoping out Glock's website.

After I get it, can I bring it over and we can reverse the mag release? I prefer to do that with my trigger finger instead of my thumb.

HH

[rjrivero]

Good point, HoldHard. Edited for my poor verbage.

Changing the mag release will take all of 30 seconds. Easy to do, and I can post a picture tutoral, or just bring it down and we can swap it around.

[HoldHard]

Might be rethinking the mag release swap as once that is done, you have to use the Gen4 magazines. If the release is left in the "standard" side, all the older magazines (and the Gen4) will function.

Also found that the slide is different and has a larger hole for the recoil spring assembly. If you want to use a tungsten guide rod, you also have to purchase an adapter to resize the hole to 3rd generation size.

HH

[rjrivero]

Might be rethinking the mag release swap as once that is done, you have to use the Gen4 magazines. If the release is left in the "standard" side, all the older magazines (and the Gen4) will function.

Also found that the slide is different and has a larger hole for the recoil spring assembly. If you want to use a tungsten guide rod, you also have to purchase an adapter to resize the hole to 3rd generation size.

HH

Correct on both counts.