[Mr Meeseeks]

https://www.lonewolfdist.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=921751

LWD seems to suggest that early pencil barreled G17L’s has a ‘long minus’ connector with a different feel than current OEM connectors. Could someone with a nice gen 1 collection confirm this? I’m very interested in evolution of Glock’s stamped parts over the years. Is this earlier iteration of the Minus connector a real thing?

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Unfortunately, Glock Inc. chose to redesign this icon in the early 90's. The long minus connector was short lived and supply dried up years ago."

Uhh, I'm not sure about the LWD statement above. Pencil barrels were only on early (Gen 1) 17's. I'm not certain there were ever any 17L pencil barrels????

If this statement is true, I will buy a new LWD to try out. But after a lot of digging on google, I can’t find any evidence.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

https://us.glock.com/documents/FRM-72-26.xls

The current minus connector part number is ‘721’. I really want there to be a mythic version of this connector with less poundage and a smoother rolling break. If anybody has a confirmed early serial number (-) marked connector, could you post it side by side with a normal modern minus connector?

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

It's true. The original ones had a longer minus stamp (known as the 'long minus') than the ones that have been out since late 1992 or so (some time after the 92 armorer's manual came out). The originals are 3.5lb and the current ones are the 4.5lb. The newer ones are often referred to as 'short minus' by those in-the-know. They also seem to have a slightly different finish on them. Interesting to note that back in the day, if you bought a Glock with a long minus connector in it, the owner's manual had a red ink hand stamp on the front that said something like 'this pistol contains a 3.5# connector' (I'm too lazy to go down 2 flights of stairs and back up just to get the exact verbiage).

The big problem is a lot of third party parts shops will sell the current short minus as a 3.5lb, which is actually a 4.5lb connector. I get into more arguments about that.

What's worse is that Glock still sells pistols with the short minus in it, but the replacement part is a restricted part from them, and requires LE letterhead. When I was in Smyrna last year for my Advanced Armorer recert, I asked about it, and was told there was some legal issue that caused Glock to do that. Same with the marine spring cups.

If I can, I'll try and do some pics for comparison.

Yes please, that’s awesome info!

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

On the left is a 'long minus' taken from a Gen 1 17LP. It's a 3.5lb connector. On the right is the current 'short minus' 4.5lb connector that's stock on guns like the 34 and 35. Only the short minus is available these days.
View attachment 373230

Any chance of getting a trigger pull gauge reading comparing long and short? I assume long is more of a rolling break with less ‘wall’?

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

I’d drop a hundred bucks on a verified original OEM long minus connector without hesitation.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Here you go....

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/737160610

Thank you sir. Think it’s legit? The position of the minus looks slightly different than the one 58sniper posted, but I assume this could be a common variation.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

So, first round of testing is done. I think I'm going to redo it, but some interesting notes. Tested the following:

1. Glock 'short' minus (current production)
2. Glock 'long' minus (taken from a Gen 1 17LP)
3. Glock standard (Gen 3)
   
4. Glock dot (Gen 4/5)
   
5. Glock plus
6. Ghost Blue Lives
7. Ghost 3.5
8. Ghost Edge

Each was tested 10 times on a Gen 4 G19 that has ZERO rounds through it. Pull was measured by Lyman digital gauge.

Current Glock minus connector came in at the lightest with an average 4.08125#. Glock long minus came in with 4.578125# average. That was VERY surprising - as I expected the long minus to be less than the short minus - even if by a very small amount). Not surprisingly was that the Glock Plus came in as the heaviest at 6.91875#. Most consistent was the Ghost 3.5, with a difference of 0.275# between lightest and heaviest reading.

I'll likely do these again as I noticed the gun was a bit dry (albeit consistent through the tests). After that, I'll do a detailed blog post with the findings.

Thank you sir. This is useful info.