Pistol Light on Glocks Causing FTEs

Gizmo98 · Jun 7, 2016

Has anyone ever heard of lights causing stovepipes and other failures to eject on Glocks (or other polymer guns)? Before today, I've had ~4000 rounds through my G19 with only 2 stovepipes. Both were induced my my limp wrist. Today I had at least a dozen over the course of 800 rounds. We used different mags, broke down the gun, cleaned and oiled it, but nothing seemed to work. When we were done, one of the instructors told me he heard of lights causing the frame to be too rigid and soaking up too much energy to allow the slide to fully cycle. I loosened the screw on my APL, but I didn't have a chance to shoot after I did that.
Has anyone heard of this? I really don't want to get rid of my light, partly because all of my holsters are kydex and formed to my gun/light combo.

Name Taken · Jun 7, 2016

Yes it has been rumored to cause problems.

PapiBarcelona · Jun 7, 2016

Glock 23 is the most common followed by the Glock 22.

As soon as I put a light on a Glock 23, every mag had failure to feed. Take the light off, and we're back to normal. I read the theory was the .40 cal Glocks when something was mounted on the front of the frame it caused it not to flex too much, increasing the slide speed and creating fail to feed issues (what I had). I put the fullsize mag springs in the compact size mags, but I never tried it with the light again. To Solve this problem:

I didn't wan to get rid of my light either, so I started buying 9mm Glocks :shrug:

bitterkenny · Jun 7, 2016

If you still have problems after shooting without the light, try a new recoil spring?

slsc98 · Jun 7, 2016

Not "just" Glocks. Hang hardware on most Benelli semi-autos for similar consequence(s)

pop-gunner · Jun 7, 2016

Common problem especially with the mid sized GLOCKs ie. 19&23.

mopar92 · Jun 7, 2016

Try loosening the APL but put a witness mark on the light and frame so you can see at a glance if it loosens up. Then try a new recoil spring and downloading the magazine by 1.

Boom Boom · Jun 7, 2016

On a polymer frame like a Glock, tightening down a weapon light can distort the frame area above the light, causing the slide to bind and slow down. If not that, are you holding the pistol differently because of the light?

-Mil-Surp-Phreak- · Jun 7, 2016

Never noticed any difference with my M3 and M6 from Streamlight and I have almost 4000 rounds on my Glock 19 with only a minimal cleaning every 1000 rounds.

Jaybeez · Jun 7, 2016

Glock's remedy was a stiffer mag spring and a new follower

Gizmo98 · Jun 7, 2016

Boom Boom said:
On a polymer frame like a Glock, tightening down a weapon light can distort the frame area above the light, causing the slide to bind and slow down. If not that, are you holding the pistol differently because of the light?

I don't think I was, but my head wasn't 100% in the game today. Guess I need to go back and try again.

-Mil-Surp-Phreak- said:
Never noticed any difference with my M3 and M6 from Streamlight and I have almost 4000 rounds on my Glock 19 with only a minimal cleaning every 1000 rounds.

I cleaned it after I shot last time, including taking off the light. I guess I tightened it down too much when I put it back on. Hopefully backing it off a bit took care of it.

kgain673 · Jun 7, 2016

Never had or saw a problem on the range with my agency. But I do see streamlights.flying off frequently

RoadDawg · Jun 7, 2016

Adding additional weight and stiffening the front of the weapon with a tight locking bolt on the rail will likely result in the need for adjustment to the pistol. As others have pointed out. Consider a different recoil spring and loosen the locking bolt on the rail mount.

BigT5g · Jun 8, 2016

I've heard of this but have never seen an example in person. I've shot 10s of thousands of rounds combined through G19, 17, and 21 with no issues that weren't ammo related or fixed by replacing a worn recoil spring. Lights used were streamlight tlr1 and the Glock light.

swinokur · Jun 8, 2016

There werer some problems with Gen 3 40 caliber Glocks. Streamlight had it in their FAQ.

Supposedly fixed by Glock with a stronger RSA.

Gizmo98 · Jun 8, 2016

BigT5g said:
I've heard of this but have never seen an example in person. I've shot 10s of thousands of rounds combined through G19, 17, and 21 with no issues that weren't ammo related or fixed by replacing a worn recoil spring. Lights used were streamlight tlr1 and the Glock light.

I really think it was a combination of my light being a bit too tight any my grip being a bit too loose. A couple of instructors tried to replicate the problem, but they didn't have any issues.

Pistol Light on Glocks Causing FTEs

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