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G23 Gen 3 Failure to Feed

3K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  Grouse 
#1 · (Edited)
Greetings all,

I've got a G23 that has had failures to feed since I got it in 2013. It seems to be getting somewhat more frequent. As you will see in the pics below, the failures seem very consistent. If I remove the cartridge that fails to feed, the gun puts a burr on the the left side of the rim - the side opposite the extractor. Slight tap on mag brings it to battery.

I sent it back to Glock in January complete with pictures like below, but more - including side views. They appear to have replaced nearly everything in the gun including the barrel. They also replaced the three mags I sent back with it.

The problem continues after receiving it back. Multiple ammo - Win, Fed, CCI, etc. I have only been using one of the replacement mags, which probably has a couple of hundred rounds through it. This happens so frequently with range ammo, I currently don't consider the weapon reliable enough to carry.

I'm thinking that the hang-up point is sharper than what it should be. Anyone else seen this and have any ideas? There was a prior thread about persistent F2F. http://www.glocktalk.com/threads/glock-23-gen-3-failure-to-feed-again.1609062/

BTW... I may have had issues with inserting the pix, so I left the URLs visible.
Prior to sending to Glock:



https://1drv.ms/f/s!Al2OT6PFWa6IlBPqIeMzAfb4Ibz5
Two failures after getting it back from Glock:


https://1drv.ms/f/s!Al2OT6PFWa6IlBLVFrPucBKBsX2i
 
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#2 ·
It looks to me the cartridge is not aligning on the extractor depressor plunger side. Have you stripped the upper removing the striker and plunger and cleaned everything well? I would imagine Glock would have done that if you already sent it to them.
Almost seems the magazine isn't aligning the cartridge properly. Have you tried folding some paper and inserting it on one side of teh mag to see if that aligns the round better? I would try it on the extractor side of the magazine.
 
#3 ·
It looks to me the cartridge is not aligning on the extractor depressor plunger side. Have you stripped the upper removing the striker and plunger and cleaned everything well? I would imagine Glock would have done that if you already sent it to them.
Almost seems the magazine isn't aligning the cartridge properly. Have you tried folding some paper and inserting it on one side of teh mag to see if that aligns the round better? I would try it on the extractor side of the magazine.
That's the thing. It came back from Glock looking like a new gun. It was scrubbed, and had lube in all the right places. I think they stripped it, and pull all new parts in it. I know the extractor, extractor spring, firing pin safety, etc. Were replaced. Even the mag release was swapped. I still go back the the thought that cartridge is getting hung up on the left side due to the burr put in cartridges that fail to feed. Those that feed and fire do not have that.
 
#5 ·
If you lock the slide open, put a loaded mag in and close the slide with the slide release, does a cartridge go into battery?
If the slide slams into battery OK, try slowing closing the slide and see if the round gets hung up.

Seems the feed ramp might be catching the round so it doesn't chamber. Check for places on the chamber and feed ramp where it could get hung up.
 
#6 · (Edited)
The first Glock I owned was a Model 23. It was many years ago, and my nephew the cop bragged on it and talked me into buying a new one, and my first ever. Like most cops, he swore to me that Glocks are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, that friggin gun had a failure to feed about once in every 25 rounds, no matter what cartridge it was getting fed. The slide would not close all the way. My nephew insisted that I must have been limp wristing that gun, because a "Glock can't possibly malfunction". Well, isn't it funny when years later I decided to give Glock a try again, I have never had a single malfunction with my Glock 27, or 33!!! Not one malfunction. GET RID OF THAT GUN. I'm 62 and have owned about 15 revolvers and 20 pistols in my life. I have learned the hard way not to waste time, money, shipping, and test ammo on a semi-auto that doesn't work. If you want to piddle around with the gun and try to play with it and fix it some more, then knock yourself out! But, my experience has been, that I could NEVER get a problem gun to work reliably enough to be able to carry it with the confidence I needed in a life or death defense situation. I'd send my problem pistols to well known pistolsmiths, or back to the factory, and they were sending the gun back to me with a new polished ramp, a new magazine, or a new spring, and it did the same damn thing still. Dump it. A GLOCK especially, should work right out of the box!! I've even put an aftermarket barrel, trigger, and recoil rod/spring in my 33, and it worked 100% at the first trip to the range! Your 23 and my 23 is not the first time I have heard of problems with that particular model. Maybe the next 23 you get will work, but I wouldn't screw with the bad one you have.
 
#7 ·
Almost every new Glock I've had has a problem returning to battery after firing and requires a tap on the slide to close. I took it to a Glock armourer and he ends up replacing the recoil spring. This is on new guns. I don't understand it. I will be picking up my 23 in 30 days after I get my 929 out of DOJ jail. I will check to see if this one does the same thing.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Almost every new Glock I've had has a problem returning to battery after firing and requires a tap on the slide to close. I took it to a Glock armourer and he ends up replacing the recoil spring. This is on new guns. I don't understand it. I will be picking up my 23 in 30 days after I get my 929 out of DOJ jail. I will check to see if this one does the same thing.
My problem G23 had required a slight push on the back of the slide to get it to fully lock up into battery.Your post is the first instance ever that I've heard of the same Glock owner having more then one Glock with the same problem. After a couple of hundred rounds of "breaking in" my G23, the problem was the same and didn't go away for me. As mentioned; my new G27 3rd Gen, and G33 4th Gen have worked 100% from day one......as did many other make pistols that I've owned. I mostly use my own reloads for practice, and I will settle for any kind of malfunction once in about every 200 rounds with any pistol I own, not one in 50. The G23 did it one in 25 rounds with factory rounds. And with my G27 and G23, I haven't experienced a single malfunction yet. I prefer 100% reliability, but I'm comfortable owning a defense pistol that is a favorite pet but malfunctions once in every 200 rounds or less. My P-14 is like that, and averages about 1 malfunction in every 13 magazines fired (or better!) with the 15 round magazines filled to capacity. (ie; 13mags x 15 rounds = 195 rounds fired) That is good odds in a defense gunfight when statistics show that the fight usually doesn't go beyond firing the first couple of rounds. I figure if the first or 2nd shot in a gunfight malfunctions out of my P-14, then the Lord is calling me home. LOL But a malfunction with my G23 in every other magazine is like playing Russian Roulette with my life. No thanks....goodbye G23!
 
#16 ·
This happened with a least two of my new Glocks. Fortunately they were at GSSF matches so the parts were there and free. I believe it was the G26, G17, and maybe one other but I don't know which. I mentioned it to the armourer and he said something about springs in storage for a long period of time which doesn't make sense, but now they operate okay so I'm kind of oaky. My BIG concern is a slide returning, but far enough to fire but not far enough to fully contain the cartridge. I've heard stories about it but nothing confirmed.
 
#10 · (Edited)
If you lock the slide open, put a loaded mag in and close the slide with the slide release, does a cartridge go into battery?
If the slide slams into battery OK, try slowing closing the slide and see if the round gets hung up.

Seems the feed ramp might be catching the round so it doesn't chamber. Check for places on the chamber and feed ramp where it could get hung up.
Loaded mag, and slide release... Goes into battery. Slowly and carefully cycling it by hand, nothing felt that seems anything like friction, etc.

This has happened occasionally since I bought it in 2013. Multiple ammo, and the two mags that came with it, and a third bought later. During the trip to Glock, it looks like they replaced all but the slide and frame. Got a new barrel, so we are talking new chamber / feed ramp.

More pics... (maybe someone could explain how to get them to show, or maybe they can't with the OneDrive links I'm using) These are not iPhone pics like the prior.

On the cartridge shots, these are the same two rounds in the "after back from Glock" pics. You'll notice the divot at about the 11 o'clock position that were put there during the failure to feed. I checked them before putting them in the mag, and that wasn't there. I show pics of the "catch point" on the slide. I wonder if that's too sharp or something. I am NOT going to try to "adjust" it beyond what a bronze brush might do.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Al2OT6PFWa6IlBr8PM51VVZif07V
Serial is STZxxx so don't strain your eyes :cop:
 
#11 ·
When troubleshooting my poor ejection issue, I went after the bright spots on the extractor and polished them. That's only a $20 part if I mess it up.

See the bright spot on the under side of your slide in the photo? I would go over that with a little Flitz polish if you don't mind messing with the more expensive slide.

 
#12 ·
Looks to be quite clear - the protuberance on the trigger bar that actuates the Firing Pin Safety appears to be misaligned, displacing the case. This causes the rim to contact the slide where Barry suggested Flitz polish. Very apparent in the mag well view. Primer is not aligned with strip rail, rim contacts underside of slide. Notice disturbed residue on the slide (enlarged photo above) where Barry suggested polish - demonstrates the extent of misalignment.

Also note the asymmetric gap along the length of the trigger bar parallel to frame. Check for junk between bar and frame. Underside of slide is A1? Have you done a detail strip job?

I'd skip the polishing and try another trigger bar...or get a new gun to fast track 100% confidence.
 
#13 ·
I see the case being off center. Glock should be able to figure this out easily. If the gun was mine I would polish the breech face with flitz and the barrel feed ramp . It that does not solve the problem I would return it to glock. Or sell it and buy something else.
 
#15 ·
It looks like a trigger bar issue
 
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#17 ·
... Like most cops, he swore to me that Glocks are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, that friggin gun had a failure to feed about once in every 25 rounds, no matter what cartridge it was getting fed ...
I had the same experience with a LEO rangemaster who was such a fanboi he would be in total denial whenever anyone had a problem with a G23. The G17 and G19s ran perfect so his thinking is the 40s are perfect too.

Good luck everybody with your G23. I love my G19 Gen 3.
 
#18 ·
I see the case being off center. Glock should be able to figure this out easily. If the gun was mine I would polish the breech face with flitz and the barrel feed ramp . It that does not solve the problem I would return it to glock. Or sell it and buy something else.
Yeah. I wish Glock would have been able to figure it out. I sent it back the beginning of Jan. Got it back with 3 new mags, and what looks like lots of new parts. Second mag after getting it back, it screwed up. When I sent it, I sent lots of pics of feed failures - from tthe mag well up, and side pics. Maybe needs to go again. I guess I'll call.

On another note, despite what I heard on some forums about horror stories shipping firearms at FedEx.... Where I live it was "firearm going back to Glock". FedEx lady... "No ammo"? Me: Nope. FedEx lady.... "Is it broken down"? Me: "Yes" (I know there's no requirement for it, but it was) Her: "Here's your receipt. Painless!
 
#19 ·
It looks like a trigger bar issue
+1.

I've got two Glocks that had bad trigger bars, a G32 gen 3 and a G23 gen 3.

The mother ship replaced the trigger bar in the G32 and I replaced the trigger bar in the G23.

Both are ok now.
 
#20 ·
My 23 is a second gen and is older than some people that post here. That being said it works every time. I love the 2nd gen glocks. They just worked. I have s couple 3rd gen glocks, they seem to be fine and they are early third gen. I also liked the older tennifer process and the older glock finish.
 
#21 ·
After some delay......
The saga continues. I called Glock support and explained that the F2F is still occurring. I also discussed some of the observations and suggestions raised here. One interesting response was regarding the suggestions about polishing various parts with Flitz polish - I actually found a place that sells it near here (Wilmington, NC). I was told that if I were to polish ANYTHING internal to that gun with Flitz, it voids any warranty, and that Glock will not work on it after. Whether they can actually take that position, I'm not sure, but I'm not going to play with fire at this point.

I ended up emailing several of the pictures I posted here. The response I got back was "It does sound like it could possibly be a grip issue".
Went to the range today, and videoed me shooting it with a "death grip" to eliminate any possibility of "a grip issue". As you can see, I did my best imitation of a workbench vise. In two videos, I have multiple occurrences in each of the failure to feed.
https://1drv.ms/f/s!Al2OT6PFWa6IlD4Z0zIfNO19zvZR

After I got done making the videos, I went out and talked to the gunsmith at the store. He took it back out to the range, and had several failures. He used Magtech ammo. Said "maybe mag issue" even though it was a new mag from Glock. He went back out with one of their mags. Still had failures to feed. So, not the mag, and not "a grip issue". The dude's got lots of experience, and I've seen him do incredible groupings.

I'll either email, or be on the phone with Glock tomorrow.
 
#26 ·
Yup. White box was on sale at Dicks a couple of weeks ago. Went though a couple boxes of that after getting it back from Glock. Have used Federal, UMC, and a few others. Haven't gone through a bunch of gold dot or anything, though. Gunsmith at shop today used magtech, and had same failures. Proves it's not operator error as Glock tried to say.

Is your recoil assembly stock ?? It looks like your pistol is not opening up fully when cycling for each shot. That could be just the speed of the frame rate with the video as well. Maybe I can't see it well enough.
Everything is stock. Sent it back to Glock in January. They replaced a bunch of stuff including the barrel. Recoil spring was replaced. It's cycling the same on a good cycle as a bad cycle if how it throws brass if that's any indication.

Is your recoil assembly on the correct notch on the barrel, if it was rubbing the problem you are having could occur.
After video, and before gunsmith took it out on range, he had it apart to look at it, so it went back together correctly.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Oh, so now they try to tell you that your grip is not firm and you are limp wristing it..... just like they tried to tell me? Refer back to my post #6 where all this already happened to me, and I said it would happen to you! I'm not an amazing prophet with clairvoyance as much as I'm just old and experienced.
Ask Glock to send you another pistol. Explain that they've already worked on it once already and that should have been enough to make it right.....because overnight shipping and wasted ammo is expensive and you're tired of it! They will likely refuse, but possibly compromise if you are willing to kick in an additional $100-$200 for a trade up to another new Glock. (some companies will do that for you) Or, just trade the gun to a local dealer. Better to blow $150-$250 in a trade up to another pistol, then have a $500 fishing line weight that doesn't work.

EDIT:
I see since I composed this post, another member posted some additional possible remedies. Perhaps you can go back and forth to the firing range with your new pistol, pay some more range time, blow through some more ammo, and then report back here for some more remedies. Repeat process. Good Luck.
 
#27 ·
Sent the video I linked to here showing me "vise gripping" the gun - not the way I normally shoot at all - to prevent anything that would possibly be considered "limp wristing" it.

Explained that, as well as the fact that the guy at the gun store who has far more shooting experience with a wide variety of Glocks and a bunch of other stuff had exactly the same problem with the gun as I do. This guy is really a good shot. I've seen him carve the black dot out of the center of a target at like 30 feet without even trying. He knows Glocks and Guns.

Anyways... Glock's response:

Bob,
Have you tried gripping the gun like shown in this video?

With kind regards,
<Glock Guy's Name>

So I and the Gunsmith aren't gripping it right. Doesn't explain why it's gotten progressively worse, and it's only this gun that I have a problem with. I'd like to insert a few choice four letter words, but.....
 
#28 ·
I had very persistent failures to feed in my G23.3. This was a range gun so I didn't stress over working the problem out over time. I tried changing the RSA and also tried different magazines all to no avail. When this occurred, it wouldn't go completely into battery and a light tap to the bottom of the magazine loaded the round. I ended up changing the Trigger housing, connector and trigger/trigger bar... The gun was flawless ever since...... The only thing I found on close inspection was a burr on the inside surface of the connector...... clearly out of place. While I don't know if that could have been the issue, those parts changes fixed the gun. If you have changed out the internals and still have problems then perhaps the frame has an issue.
 
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