Glock 19 Gen 3 Recoil Spring Assembly Questions

[minderasr]

A. Is there a frequency/round count for replacement? Any armorer tricks to determine if replacement is warranted?

2. Learn me about the steel/titanium replacement guide rods. Are they worth it? Upsides? Downsides?

TIA

 

[Bananabandit]

Are you having problems?
I havent changed any mine out but I don't have an extreme amount of rounds down mine.

My buddy messes with his glock alot. He put a titanium one in and loves it. I prefer the OEM parts myself.

 

[218bee]

Was told by an armorer that there's a reason the Glock factory guide rods are plastic. In case of a catastrophic failure (double-charge, squib, etc..) the Guide rod is the weak link, and will collapse and fail, hopefully saving the barrel and slide from any bad damage. A solid (much less Titanium) guide rod negates that and the pistol has the capability to sustain some real bad damage with a solid guide rod in there. I run the stock plastic guide rod in my G19 and have many thousands of rounds through it without a hiccup.

To answer your first question....As per the armorer, when the slide, when slowly closed, WON'T go fully forward into battery , (stops just short of fully closing) then change the factory spring assembly for a whopping $10 with free shipping (EBay)..If it works, why change it?

 

[Clipazine]

Don't change any parts. ever. If is stops running after THOUSANDS of rounds, buy a new one.

 

[JaguarJaguarGolf]

I've had a Glock 19 since they first came out. I've never changed a part and it still runs without a hiccup. I tried a non Glock barrel and a heavier recoil spring in my Glock 20 and it became a jammomatic. I went back to stock and stay that way with my 19, 20,27,29 and 40. I put tritium night sights on the 20 and 29.

 

[MoMan]

I run my Glock 19, Gen 4 stock, except for tritium sights. I do have an ATI barrel that I use at the range so I can run my lead reloads. When I'm done, my OEM barrel goes back in with my defense rounds. I run Glock OEM mags as well. I haven't had any problems, and don't plan on messing with it. I'm not a real Glock-Head, but I do know they work. This is the only Glock I own, and I don't see me owning any others. I'm more of a steel and hammer kind of guy.

 

[Bob]

A. Is there a frequency/round count for replacement? Any armorer tricks to determine if replacement is warranted?

Double check to make sure it's unloaded. Then check again.
Point the gun straight up in the air.
Depress the trigger.
With the trigger still depressed, pull the slide back.
With the trigger STILL depressed, SLOWLY walk the slide forward. It it goes fully back into battery, the spring is still good. If not, replace it.

Recommended round count is 3k-5k. That doesn't take into account dry fire cycles though. Replace it when it fails the test.

 

[minderasr]

Was told by an armorer that there's a reason the Glock factory guide rods are plastic. In case of a catastrophic failure (double-charge, squib, etc..) the Guide rod is the weak link, and will collapse and fail, hopefully saving the barrel and slide from any bad damage. A solid (much less Titanium) guide rod negates that and the pistol has the capability to sustain some real bad damage with a solid guide rod in there. I run the stock plastic guide rod in my G19 and have many thousands of rounds through it without a hiccup.

To answer your first question....As per the armorer, when the slide, when slowly closed, WON'T go fully forward into battery , (stops just short of fully closing) then change the factory spring assembly for a whopping $10 with free shipping (EBay)..If it works, why change it?

Double check to make sure it's unloaded. Then check again.
Point the gun straight up in the air.
Depress the trigger.
With the trigger still depressed, pull the slide back.
With the trigger STILL depressed, SLOWLY walk the slide forward. It it goes fully back into battery, the spring is still good. If not, replace it.

Recommended round count is 3k-5k. That doesn't take into account dry fire cycles though. Replace it when it fails the test.

Thank you both. This was the information I was looking for. I thought I heard that 3-5k round count before, but couldn't find any documentation to back it up. Perhaps my Google-fu is weak.

The reason I asked is because when shooting, every now and then it seems to struggle to go back into battery. I'm pretty sure it's not for lack of lubrication (Ballistol).

When I searched for OEM recoil spring assembly replacements, I came across a lot of out of stock items and one place that wanted as much to ship as the cost of the item. Also came across a lot of titanium/steel replacement guide rods, which brought up my second question.

Thanks again. I'm off to perform the test.

 

[ICEMAN]

Double check to make sure it's unloaded. Then check again.
Point the gun straight up in the air.
Depress the trigger.
With the trigger still depressed, pull the slide back.
With the trigger STILL depressed, SLOWLY walk the slide forward. It it goes fully back into battery, the spring is still good. If not, replace it.

Recommended round count is 3k-5k. That doesn't take into account dry fire cycles though. Replace it when it fails the test.

That is the way to test that I was taught. If it is an EDC or duty weapon just change every 3000 rounds for gen 3. The gen 4 spring I change every 4-5k. If I depend on it to save my life or that of others , I would prefer not to wait until it fails.

 

[Celt]

To answer your first question....As per the armorer, when the slide, when slowly closed, WON'T go fully forward into battery , (stops just short of fully closing) then change the factory spring assembly for a whopping $10 with free shipping (EBay)..If it works, why change it?

Its quite common, even with a new guide rod, that of you ride the slide and allow it to stop just b4 going into battery that the spring still will not send it home. I thought this was a problem so i bought a brand new one and it did the same thing. I also have a steel guide rod for my gen 3 19, but i just run the factory one.

If the gun is running good dont mess with it. I seem to remember reading that tgey should be changed at 5000 rnds, but dont hold me to that.

 

[GTN]

19 gen4 15,000 rounds and still going strong. All original parts

 

[minderasr]

Just a follow-up. The G19 passed the riding the slide to battery test, but I ordered a replacement recoil spring assembly anyway. I'm pretty sure the original is long past that 3000 round threshold.

Even though it's said that Glocks can run dry, I think lubrication (or lack thereof) may have been the issue (out of battery). I had been using nothing but Ballistol to clean/lubricate. I thoroughly cleaned the gun, then used a light coat of TW25B grease to lube. No more issues.

 

[218bee]

Glad to hear. I switched to 20 weight Mobil 1 synthetic oil for everything I own and have had zero problems, and cleanup is a breeze. 1 quart will last you a very long time..

 

[Frankly]

I've never heard of a Titanium rod. The ideal is a heavier Tungsten rod to help keep the nose of the gun down during recoil.

You can play with spring weights if you are trying to minimize recoil and using consistent ammo, no worries going lighter in a match but it's a marginal benefit in a defense gun. Frankly I'd try to leave my defense guns relatively stock so there is one less thing to argue about in the case of actually having to use it.

 

[David D]

Just buy another pistol Jim.

 

[minderasr]

Just buy another pistol Jim.

If I had your money, I'd burn mine.

 

[Okmaman]

My glock 19 is 21 yrs old and I'm On my third recoil spring. This last time I replaced the OEM part with I think a ZEV stainless steel one. No difference. It works.