Ironically, I replaced striker and recoil springs just last week as a preventative measure - both are OEM standard weight springs, so at least this is out of question unless springs are defective. Gun has 3.5 OEM connector - had it for last 200 rounds of which 130 were from old lot of Blazer, of which 2 gave me light primer strikes tonight. Looking at my log, I’ve had light strikes with Wolf and Blazer about 4000 rounds ago which were cured with spring replacement then.
Questions:
Can 3.5 connector cause light strikes?
Is there anything I don’t know about Blazer primers?
Thanks for all help in advance.
Possibly accunulated gunk in the striker channel from lubrication and cleaning products that dripped in. This caused it in one of my Glock 19s years ago.
Sounds like a good call… If the firing pin channel is even slightly clogged with grit and gunk, it can be enough to slow down the striker and cause light hits. Sounds like at least this avenue should be explored…
BTW, where are the light hits? Dead center on the primers or high center…?
The strikes are dead center. I didn’t save empty casings, but the depths of indentations appeared to be the same; don’t remember that for sure. I understand the theory behind the gunk inside striker channel, but wouldn’t you expect every one of those strikes to be light in such case? Unless 53 out of 55 were marginal, and other two were below the threshold…Will clean that channel.
I gunked up my firing pin channel by being careless in cleaning the Glock and spraying things on the breachface before cleaning it. This allowed the stuff to drip in.
I would disassemble the slide and make sure that everything is clean. It also may be an ammo issue as GotM4 pointed out. I have a G19 and G22 and have never had light strikes in either.
I’ve had one light strike(well it was probably a normal strike but too light for the primer,) with “Monarch” steel cased 9mm with my G19.
The steel cased Monarch is imported from Russia and branded for Academy…you can draw your own conclusions from that. The brass cased Monarch is imported from Serbia.
when you clean the firing pin channel also remove the firing pin safety, extractor and everything. That will allow you the most access and will allow you to clean the area around the firing pin safety.
I would be very careful with wolf 9mm, we are using it and we are having light strikes all the time. our students are shooting S&W sigmas, we carry G17’s. when we practice with our 17’s we also get a lot of light strikes and so far about 5 Squid’s out of about 6000 rounds, I had one happen to me. we only use it because that is all we have to practice with. our carry ammo regular Standard Issue 9mm ball.
Looey, I stopped using my snap caps for ball and dumy drills when I was shooting Wolf - literally every box of Wolf I shot had so many hard primers that it effectively changed all my practice into ball and dummy drills. Many of those primers wouldn’t ignite even with multiple strikes. Interestingly, one of members here ran a case of 45 ACP
Wolf in Todd’s class through his Springer Pro and had no issues, go figure.
I wonder if there is any way to measure a strength of striker/hammer hit? Say, with 1911 one can shoot pencil from the barrel and see how far it flew…
Duty type handguns with hammers on them usually hit the primers harder than striker fired guns. Glocks and many other striker-fired auto pistols are often a little light in the primer strike department. You may want to try a heavier weight after-market striker spring like the 6 # spring offered by Wolf
You probably have this covered but…I would also make sure the spring cups are installed at a 90 degree angle to the end of the spring when you reassemble after cleaning the channel. This can cause drag on the striker as well.
Glock connector weight has no relevance to light primer strikes. Typically we see light primer strikes where the owner has changed out the standard striker spring for a “reduced” one to gain a lighter trigger pull for competition. As others have already stated, debris in the firing pin channel is a common cause.
Also, if you are using reloads, make sure the primers are seated all the way. If not, the firing pin striking the primer tends to push it into the primer pocket more resulting in what appears to be a light strike.
I shoot more photos than bullets. I took this photo not long ago for a thread I couldn’t find again. I’ve never experienced a light strike with a centerfire gun, but this is what a normal strike looks like from my G17. Federal American Eagle 115 grain FMJ.
Nope, I cannot explain it. I think the OP should call Glock for a return tag or go pay a gunsmith who knows Glocks.
For what its worth, the 3.5# connector supposedly should not cause light strikes unless it is somehow affecting the distance the striker is pulled to the rear before the striker is released. But the OP has reportedly had a couple of light strikes since changing over to the 3.5 about 200 rounds ago. If it worked ok before being modified then maybe the mod is the culprit.
Gents, thanks to all for help. I am going to pay attention to striker channel, make sure spring cups are installed correctly, and shoot other brands of ammo. I have another fresh fp spring; maybe I’ll install it in unlikely case the one I put in last week is defective. I have another upper assembly coming in 4 days from a red dot installation, and then I’ll shoot whatever I have left of that Blazer through that slide/barrel. Between all of the above, I am sure I’ll be able to isolate the problem.
