Practical and Sensible Discussions on Being Prepared for Emergency Situations
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I like those HD sights. Very visible.
It is certainly not contained to a certain batch. I have had the luxury of observing a coupla hundred different G22 and G23 Gen 3's and Gen 4's in action at my department. The frustrating thing is that:
1. Some choke with a WML, some don't. These may even be sequential serial numbered guns.
2. Some don't but, as the gun ages it starts to.
3. Some lights are worse than others.
4. Some ammo causes it worse than others.
5. Some remedies i.e. mag springs, different lights, different tension on light mounts, different ammo ... work for a while and then quit working and some remedies don't work at all.
We were issuing G22 Gen 4's to Uniform and G23 Gen 4's to Non Uniformed deputies. Either way I fought this issue for a coupla years and then decided to ban WML's on .40 GLOCKs at my department. The whole situation was just to whish-washy for me and I refused to gamble with my deputies safety.
The silver lining in the cloud was that was that I was finally able to get the Sheriff to authorize personally purchased GLOCK 9mm's (G17, G19, G45 and G34) and GLOCK .45 ACP (G21, G41 for Uniform, G30, G30S for Non Uniformed). Administrators and Detectives can carry a G26 or G27 also, if they choose.I had been trying to get him to do this anyway for a coupla years.
We are in the process of changing to issued G17 and G19 Gen 5's. But all the above mention GLOCK models will still be authorized for personally purchased authorized carry. Even the G22 and G23 .... but no WML's are allowed on the .40's.
The whole situation just sucks too because I really liked the .40 S&W. Those same .40's that choked with WML's were flawless without WML's attached. But, it is what it is.
I suspect the Gen 5 .40 S&W's will remedy this situation with thier beefier frames and slides. I always felt that 9mm designed guns with .40's shoved in them was never a great idea. The .40 needs a lil more beef. Like the SIG P229, which was designed for .40, and it shows !
But, too little too late for us. We are happy with our 9mm and .45 ACP GLOCKs now. Which BTW, have absolutely zero issues with WML's.
As a side note I wanted to share an interesting experiment I did. I had 2 G23's that were horrible offenders with WMLs. These 2 G23's would not make it through one magazine without choking with a WML (flawless otherwise). I happen to own a Lone Wolf .40-9mm conversion barrel. I left those WML's on those G23's popped in the 9mm conversion barrel and a G19 mag, and I could not get them to malfunction. Both ran perfectly through a coupla hundred rounds of 9mm 115 FMJ and 124 HST's flawlessly.
From 2012 until presently. We traded in our old Gen 2 .40's for Gen 4 .40's in 2012. We weren't aware of the WML problem because Gen 2's did not have light rails. We had just a few Gen 3's that were mixed in with the Gen 2's because of new hires and such, but not enough of them, and hardly any using WML's to catch our attention.
Fast forward to 2012. Everybody got a new Gen 4, either G22 or G23. WML's are becoming commonplace and BAM, the problem becomes noticed. I struggled with solutions for a coupla years. When I could not find a consistant fix, that's when we made the move towards 9mm and .45 acp.
Streamlight has been having a warning on their website for years warning about WML's on GLOCK .40's. I found it a coupla years ago when someone pointed it out to me, but I don't know how long they had it up there already. Of course it's not unique to Streamlight, but being the stand-up company they are they addressed the issue ..... more than I can say for GLOCK!
You can find that warning on Streamlight's web page. Go to TLR1 and on the TLR page you'll see a dropdown on the right that says "Product Specific Issues". I copied and pasted it below for you though:
Issues Using Tactical Lights on Glock® Pistols
Issues Using Tactical Lights on Glock® Pistols Some Glock® .40 caliber pistols, models 22 and 23, exhibit feeding malfunctions, either nose down or nose up (stovepipe), when used with tactical lights. The problems tend to occur with individual guns, with some pistols becoming totally unreliable while other identical, even close in serial number sequence, guns have no problems. Most models 22 and 23 are reliable. A sensitive gun may malfunction with any tactical light - the TLRs, the older M models, and even Glock®’s own brand. There is evidence that the problem sometimes develops with use, and may progress until the pistol is unreliable even with no light attached. On the basis of testing by Streamlight, we believe the problem is magazine related. It appears that the rounds are unable to rise fast enough for proper cycling. We have observed proper feeding for the first few rounds, consistent failures at mid-magazine capacity, and a return to proper feeding of the last few cartridges in the magazine. We have tried both stronger and weaker recoil springs, and compound-action recoil buffers, all without success. Sometimes new magazine springs, either new Glock® or Wolff, will cure the problem. In one case of a pistol which was totally reliable when new but progressed to malfunctioning on every magazine, even with no light installed, we found two solutions which restored reliability, but which might not be acceptable to some users. The first was using 10 round capacity Glock® magazines. The gun will not cycle reliably with 15 round mags with their steeply stacked columns but works flawlessly with 10 round mags. The second solution was a new magazine follower from Brownells®, their part number 069-000-006. When used in a 15 round magazine with a new spring, reliability was restored. However, the follower would not lock the slide open after the last round. Ammunition is also a factor with any weapon. Some brands and weights may be totally reliable while others jam repeatedly. Make sure your gun is thoroughly tested with your duty ammo. Brownells® is a registered trademark of Brownells®, Inc. Glock® is a registered trademark of GLOCK Gesellschaft mbH.
