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The Glock 17 is a striker fired single-action pistol developed in the 1980's for the Austrian military. The Glock has become one of the most produced pistols for civilian, law enforcement and military use. The Glock 17 is a semi-automatic pistol that uses the short recoil mechanism, similar to the Browning High Power. The original Glock 17 is the most common model that fires the 9x19mm round from a 17 round magazine. The barrel of this pistol is 4.49” long and its overall weight is 24.87-oz. Although it belongs to full-sized pistols, this model can also be used as a backup or concealed carry pistol, especially when paired up with a well-fitting, custom Glock 17 holster.
Although it is a very comfortable gun that boasts many great features, it's not perfect and some minor issues may occur when using this pistol. So, if you want to find out more about the problems your new Glock 17 might give you, keep on reading.
Problem No.1 - Glock 17 extractor issue
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The first issue that some of the Glock 17 owners might encounter is a problem with the extractor. The Glock extractor is a small, spring-loaded part. Its role is to help remove spent cartridges from the handgun’s chamber. The failures seem to be centered around the loss of the extractor and potential damage to the extractor depressor channel. If the bearing is worn out, there will be an extra friction between the extractor depressor spring and the extractor, slowing things down, and maybe causing the problems.
Some Glock extractors wobble or chatter more, and some Glock extractors wobble or chatter less, which is screwing up both how the extractor works as well as how the brass finally ejects. Another problem that can be experienced is a broken extractor while shooting a batch of hot 165 grain commercial loads. Perhaps there is not enough extractor tension or something else is not giving the bullet a good route into the chamber. If you are experiencing extraction issues and aren’t sure why, a factory Glock extractor plunger assembly might be the simple solution to your problems.
Problem No.2 - Glock 17 feeding problems
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Another frequently encountered Glock 17 problem is connecting with feeding. Failures to feed are when a bullet doesn’t seat in the chamber correctly as the slide goes into battery. If it happens to you, you’ll notice the nose of the bullet is either pointing up or pointing down.Something is either pushing the nose of the bullet up or pushing the rim of the case down. This causes the bullet to enter the throat of the chamber at the wrong angle. If you pull the slide back and release it, whereupon the slide stops due to the nose-up jam.
Failures to feed are almost always caused by magazines, feed ramps and bad recoil springs. Too much tension can cause it to return too fast, on the other hand too little tension causes excessive dwell time during the recoil cycle, and the slide doesn’t return fast enough to fully chamber the round. Finally, when you are troubleshooting a problem you need to consider everything. Maybe it is the gun, maybe it is the ammo or maybe it's how you're holding the gun. Also it could be a limp writing. Your hands or thumbs might be riding the slide stop and so on. So it is always good to identify the exact issue and contact the Glock company to fix it for you, in case you’re not able to fix it on your own.
Problem No.3 - Glock 17 trigger issues
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Another issue that can cross your way while using the Glock 17 pistol is a problematic trigger or broken trigger spring. The Glock 17 trigger spring pulls the trigger away from reset and acts as a trigger anti-reset spring. But it is needed to raise the trigger bar cruciform and won't do that if it’s broken. The only trigger reset spring in a Glock is the firing pin spring.
In case the trigger spring is broken, holding the trigger depressed forces the rear of the dog-leg in the trigger bar up against the frame polymer which raises the rear of the cruciform and puts it in the path to engage to firing pin lug. Then the firing pin spring resets the trigger. This problem is most frequently found with the Generation 4 version of this pistol.
Problem No.4 - Finding the best Glock 17 holster
While you certainly won't experience all of the issues above at once (and I hope you won't have to deal with any of them at all), there's one problem you'll most definitely run into - finding the right holster for your Glock. And as these days the market is full of different holsters and carry styles, it might be prove difficult to choose something that works really well.
When picking the right holster for your pistol, it's important to keep its main features and specs in mind. The G17 is a relatively big gun, which means it's most comfortably carried in an open carry holster. And nothing works better when it comes to Glock 17 open carry than OWB and shoulder holsters. On the other hand, if you get a well-fitting holster, built on the replica of your pistol, the Glock 17 inside the waistband carry also becomes an option.
The easiest way how to deal with the last problem on our list is to make sure your Glock 17 holster is a well-made one, built to fit all of the pistol's specs like a glove. Once you find holsters like that, it's really up to what style fits you best. But if you have trouble deciding which one to get, don't worry, just have a quick look at our list of the best Glock 17 holsters, available here.
Conclusion - should I buy Glock 17 despite its problems?
Each gun is a machine and machines can fail. However, it is not a rule to experience failures within using your Glock 17. It belongs to the category of striker-fired guns, meaning it has less parts which decreases the possibility of issues occured. Especially when compared to hammer fired guns. Although there are some issues that may occur when using this pistol, overall the Glock 17’s benefits still outweigh its problems. So you don’t have to worry about it that much. In case you experience some problem, I’m sure the Glock company will be more than happy to help you solve it.
Sure, you may meet a few negative feedbacks to Glock 17 by some folks, but as I said the failure is not a rule. And at the end it’s up to your preference whether you decide to buy it or not. But if you do so, remember one more important thing to make your G17 secured and pair it with a well-made holster.
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