The Glock 22 is one of the most common police pistols in use in the US today, but it is also one of the most controversial among shooters. It has been plagued for years with reports of “unsupported chambers” causing KaBooms! More recently the G22 has been reported by numerous agencies as malfunctioning when a light is attached to the rail. Yet still it either issued or approved by most agencies in our country.
I’ve owned two G22’s in the past, didn’t care for them, but now have a 3rd I recently bought to play with. So after a conversation with a co-worker the other night I though I’d see what people on this forum think.
Do you run a G22?
What are your experiences with the pistol?
I bought a Glock 22 when CDNN had them for around $325 or so last year. So I guess I don’t run it per se, but I shot many hundred rounds through it. I used it for a couple of IDPA shoots and it did just fine.
I put a Storm Lake barrel in which tightened up the groups a little bit, Duracoated it, and our smith tinkered with it replacing some parts.
Overall, its a fun gun. I also have heard of the frames or slides cracking, but have never witnessed it myself. But I didn’t buy it to run it hard, so I doubt mine will ever be a problem.
My old department issued the G22. I was very keen on a lot of the issues of running this specific platform in a 40cal. I replaced the recoil spring every 2000 rounds (about every six weeks with my training schedule). I downloaded all of my mags by one round as well. Not sure if it helped but I had very few malfunctions. I ran mine with a X200A at the time and didn’t have too many issues. I can’t say the same for some of the other officers, though. Many had issues but they didn’t stay up on their maintenance.
I’ve been gone for three years now but still see the guys all the time. The chief recently had all officers remove weapon mounted lights due to the constant malfunctions.
I don’t see a benefit of running the G22 when a G17 will get the job done without the issues.
When I was working as a LE I was issued a G22 and carried a G27 as a BUG.
I had no problems. It was fairly idiot proof, although I saw plenty of idiots try and F’ it up!
At the time pistol mounted lights were just really coming into mainstream use, but our department did not allow them. Therefore I never ran mine with one attached, so I cannot comment on any problems associtated with having a light attached.
I found it to be an accurate and reliable shooter for me. I qualified with it 4 times a year, always without incident. The only time I had a part break it was the guide rod. The end snapped of at some unknow time. When I stripped it to clean the spring sprang loose. Again I do not know when it happened as it continued to run without issue. The department armorer gave me a new one, which I dropped in, and back in my holster it went.
After I left the department I had to return the 22 and I sold the 27 as I decided to standardize on 9mm.
If I was issued one tomorrow to carry for duty, I would do so with no qualms.
I have shot the heck out of the 3 40 cals I have no issues with any of them and none ever blew up in my hand. That being said I now carry a 9mm but have total faith in the 40 cal glocks and the rounds I carry in them.
We use G22’s as the standard issue sidearm with a Surefire X200 (the X300 wasn’t out yet) loaded with Speer GD 155gr. So far the only problems have been directly related to either bad ammo or magazines. I have several thousand rounds through mine with no issues, just the standard parts replacement from wear.
I’m on my second G22. The first one went Kaboom after 10000 rounds. To be fair it was at a time when i was starting out with a single stage press and must have double charged a load. Glock replaced the gun for my current one at a very fair price.
The new one which is now three years old and has 15000 rounds has never had a ftf, fte or any other possible type of hiccup. Atleast 10000 of those rounds were made through a Dillon 550b.
I never became enamored with the concept of an attached light so i can’t really speak to the issues surrounding that topic. Though i owned an X200 for a time that i fired aprox. 1000 rounds through it also w/no problems.
What i did notice immediately after winning a G17 at a GSSF match is that my score shot up significantly when using the G17 with factory fmj even compared to the G22 with my lite reloads.
Recently i aquired an M&P 40 and have put 2200 rounds through it also w/ no problems. Hadn’t used the G22 much (sat in safe) since winning the G17 and buying the M&P. Last week i took both the G22 and the M&P 40 to the range for a comparison of sorts. The result is that the G22 is now at my local gun store awaiting to be purchased on consignment. Its a great gun, i believe. The M&P 40 is just easier to get good hits w/faster. Despite what i believe is a trigger that is well odd (for me).
I have a few Glocks and one is a G22. Haven’t had problems with it, but honestly I don’t shoot it a lot, maybe 2K total. My most used Glock right now is a G34 and is one of my favorite shooters, with zero issues.
At a recent training day, a coworker had two failure to feeds with his Glock 22. The fired rounds ejected okay, but the gun failed to load the next round. The slide would only go forward halfway, and he would have to do a “tap” to get the slide to go all the way forward.
The instructor found two causes for this. First, his magazine springs looked to be about the same size as a Glock 23 mag spring. The officer admitted to unloading his magazines on a regular basis, to relieve the pressure on the springs. It turns out that this is not recemmended.
The second thing that they found was that he had tightened his TLR-1 down on the rail as tightly as he could. We were told that the TLR-1s should only be hand tightened. If you over tighten them, the frame of the Glock won’t be able to flex properly, causing failures to feed.
After the spring changes and loosening the set screw on his light, he completed the day with no additional problems.
With that said, I currently carry a Glock 23. However, when we are issued new Glocks in the near future, I will carry the Glock 22. And, hopefully, I will finally be issued a light to go with it. I like the Glock. But that is only because I have no other experience with any other striker fired pistol. Plus, it is the only handgun we are allowed to carry on duty.
Have had a Glock 22 since 2006, and have run it with a light since 2008. Conservatively, 20,000 rounds.
No glaring issues. I’ve had only a handful of malfunctions, and many of those were ammunition related (ie struck primer with no ignition).
We issue 180 gr ammo for duty and training, and I replace my recoil spring every 3000 rounds or so. I only use new magazines, too.
A couple people on my department have reported issues with the light, but so far I have not had any such issues, and I run my gun harder than pretty much everyone else.
I have carried my issued Glock 22 at work since 2006. The weapon mounted light is always attached. I have several thousand rounds through it and do not remember any malfunctions. I have a magazine with a bad spring in it that I use to induce stoppages during training. I have also taken this pistol to several classes and ran it hard without cleaning. We use Speer Gold Dot 180gr. JHP for duty and Speer Lawman 180gr. TMJ for training.
I use a G22 for my L-10 gun and also for the bedroom gun with a light. Have had one of them for over 10 years (the L-10) and the other for 4+ years. No issues other than normal maintenance and spring replacement.
My dept issues the TLR-1 but I carry the X300. The TLR-1 they gave went on a spare G19 I have. I’d heard about only hand tightening but I shot it loose after three mags. I then tightened it down with a quarter and 5k rounds later it’s still snug and not going anywhere. The problem isn’t the light. It’s making a platform fit a caliber it was not designed to shot.
I ran out and bought my G22 in 2004 after the trigger return spring in my issued gen 2 G17 broke while training.
I have ran well over 5,000 rounds through the G22 with a Glock light (junk) attatched. I’ve yet to have any issues with it.
This is the only Glock I own that I can not warm up to. I can’t stand the way it feels with out the light, or with a TRL/X200 mounted. (Glock lights have batteries stacked, not side by side. Yes, holsters are a pain in the ass.) I shoot it well and have confidence in it. I just don’t like it. I like my G23. I love the G27 that backs the G22 up. I don’t like the G22. There is no justification for this other than I just don’t feel “it” with the gun.
The G17 that broke? I’ve since purchased the gun from my Dept when it was returned to the distributer. PM performed and the pistol is flawless. I love it.
Carried a few G22s, with and without lights. Shot thousands of rounds through them. No “kabooms”, no problems.
Maintain and supervise many more G22s (and G23s) with and without lights, same input.
I’ve seen several Glock 22s, some other calibers, and some other makes, that experienced what might be described as kabooms. Ammo was the cause in all, and most of it was from the same manufacturer. For a time in 40SW, certain brass cases produced all kinds of excitement, too.
The light causes the frame to flex less under recoil, the frame flex is one of the things taking up the energy of the recoil, less flex means more slide velocity, more slide velocity can often mean fails-to-feed or extractor bounce issues.
We issue the Glock 9mms here after having a disaster with trying to transition to the G22 in 2006.
Our G22s were very unreliable, with and without lights, and with ammo from 155gr to 180gr.