I had an old beater Glock 22 Cerakoted not long ago, and yesterday had a sobering problem rear its head. I was shooting on an indoor range, and the a/c was turned up so that it was really cold inside. The gun started to have repeated failures to fire - two or three rounds per magazine. The primers were lightly dimpled, and upon rechambering, each round would fire fine. This was Winchester NATO M882 ball.
I disassembled the slide assembly, and when the firing pin assembly came out of the slide, the firing pin channel liner came out with it - it just slid out under light finger traction. Clearly, this is not supposed to happen, as the FPCL is supposed to be a tight friction fit in the firing pin channel. I have been a Glock armorer for 15 years and had never seen this before.
My belief is that the heat curing of the Cerakote (baking at 250F for 4 hours is called for by Cerakote) caused the FPCL to shrink a bit, and the cold a/c might have caused the slide to contract a bit in the cold as well, leading to the loose fit of the FPCL. Apparently, the FPCL sliding back and forth in its channel WITH the firing pin assembly, rather than staying still and giving it resistance, was robbing the firing pin of enough energy that it caused light strikes and clicks instead of bangs. As this is a carry gun, this was a dangerous condition of unreliability. I replaced the FPCL, and this fixed the problem.
Bottom line: if you have had your slide heated (as for Cerakote curing), check your FPCL to make sure it is firmly fixed in its channel. If needed, replace your FPCL with a new unit.
Happy Reliable Glocking!
I disassembled the slide assembly, and when the firing pin assembly came out of the slide, the firing pin channel liner came out with it - it just slid out under light finger traction. Clearly, this is not supposed to happen, as the FPCL is supposed to be a tight friction fit in the firing pin channel. I have been a Glock armorer for 15 years and had never seen this before.
My belief is that the heat curing of the Cerakote (baking at 250F for 4 hours is called for by Cerakote) caused the FPCL to shrink a bit, and the cold a/c might have caused the slide to contract a bit in the cold as well, leading to the loose fit of the FPCL. Apparently, the FPCL sliding back and forth in its channel WITH the firing pin assembly, rather than staying still and giving it resistance, was robbing the firing pin of enough energy that it caused light strikes and clicks instead of bangs. As this is a carry gun, this was a dangerous condition of unreliability. I replaced the FPCL, and this fixed the problem.
Bottom line: if you have had your slide heated (as for Cerakote curing), check your FPCL to make sure it is firmly fixed in its channel. If needed, replace your FPCL with a new unit.
Happy Reliable Glocking!
