The half of the L shaped spring that's straight goes into the slot in the frame right at the rear of the front frame rails, the other part of the spring faces away from the muzzle and ends up sitting right below the slide lock. It may be hard to see the narrow little space in the frame that the straight end of the spring fits into but if you place the spring in there it should slide down with some gentle nudging. It would be at the muzzle end of the ramp.

If it won't go in it's possible a previous owner had a slide lock spring break leaving the broken off piece in the frame. If that happened it's basically impossible to remove without destroying the frame. If you see a little shiny sliver of metal at the muzzle end of that inset ramp under the slide lock slot then that's probably what happened.

I'll see if I can find a good video showing installation.

Not the best but here's one:

Another:

This one's hard to see:

 

Also this would be the correct spring for a Gen2 G17 frame: Glock OEM Slide Lock Spring GEN1-4 Fullsize | Lone Wolf Arms
This is for Gen1-3 compact models(G19,23): Glock OEM Slide Lock Spring GEN1-3 Compact | Lone Wolf Arms
This one would be for Gen4 compact models(G19,23): Glock OEM Slide Lock Spring GEN4 Compact | Lone Wolf Arms
And this one for Gen2.5,3,4 subcompact(G26,27): Glock OEM Slide Lock Spring GEN1-4 Subcompact | Lone Wolf Arms

 

thanks for the quick responses and the help. i will try digging into it again today after work. at least i know there is supposed to be a slot. i was going crazy trying to figure out what i was doing wrong. i have a feeling the previous spring may very well be stuck in the frame that does unfortunately make sense. thanks again. i will try and update my findings later on.

 

voyeger4520 you were spot on. after really looking in the frame I did see something shinny. I knew then exactly what you were talking about. I did get it extracted and it wasn't a total waste. I measured the depth of the frame and the length of the "L" section to get a rough idea about how deep it was. I drilled a tiny hole in the trigger guard. Squeezed a 90 degree pick inside and was able to pry it up enough to grab with needle nose pliers. just cosmetic damage only. I will get some epoxy and fill in the hole later on. My next issue believe it or not is the damn barrel is causing fitment issues. when I try to put the slide on the frame it slides down nicely 3/4 of the way down then the block section of the barrel hits the lock block and won't go any further. if I remove the barrel everything fits together fine. I was skeptical with all the parts kits etc I was buying. I am not a fan of how they say fits gen 1-3 because my gen 2 is pre 2002 so it is a 2 pin. seems to be the rt of my problems. I ordered another barrel from another company. based off the pic it looked slightly different than my first one. I have put a lot of guns together in the past and enjoy it, but this glock is kicking my ass. lol

 

Some aftermarket barrels are made to be ever so slightly bigger in certain dimensions for tighter lockup and supposedly better accuracy. I've heard of some being even more oversized and meant to be hand fitted with stoning. In either case that can cause things to be too tight to work properly.

 

finally had some more time to mess with this nightmare Glock. I'm still having issues with barrel fitment. I was found that by installing the barrel into the slide without the recoil spring allowed me to get the slide back a bit further and allow me to see inside the ejection window. I found the lower section of the feed ramp on the barrel is hitting the lock block. now if I fit the barrel into position without the slide I noticed that even if the feed ramp cleared the lock block that rear section of the barrel where the recoil spring sits up against would be blocked by the slide lock. so where would that end of the recoil spring end up going? I'm completely stumped how this is supposed to go. It just doesn't make sense. I had even bought a second barrel from a different company and it is the same design. I have to be missing something.

 

finally had some more time to mess with this nightmare Glock.

Sell it. Get a new one.

 

The base of the guide rod only seats against the barrel for reassembly and disassembly. When the pistol is assembled the base of the guide rod sits against a little wall of plastic just forward of the slide lock. That wall of plastic is part of the slot in the frame that the slide lock sits in.

When you put the upper assembly back on the frame the front(muzzle end) lug of the barrel that the guide rod base sits against will push the slide lock down until the barrel moves far enough back that the slide lock pops up again. And the slide lock has a little groove cut into it that catches a lip on that same barrel lug. The side of the slide lock that has the groove faces away from the muzzle.

The best I can tell from looking at your pictures you have the correct locking block for that frame. Besides the barrel and locking block the only other thing I can think of that would cause that issue is if you're using an aftermarket slide. Just as with barrels many aftermarket slides have a tighter fit.

 

now that makes more sense with the recoil spring. this time I took a couple of pics to help see what I mean. now this pic was taken with the recoil spring removed so that the internals could be seen. I also took a pic of the barrel to show where the feed ramp hits the lock block. As far as the slide it is aftermarket. With the barrel installed you can see a little daylight down the sides which I read somewhere is a good thing so you know its not too tight of a fit. Again I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge on this. I have learned and understood a lot more. Thanks again.

 

I have no idea how the feed ramp could be hitting that low. That's not even in the ballpark for hand fitting. Something somewhere is very wrong. The slide and barrels are both for a Gen2/3 G17? The barrels can be for Gen1-4 17 and should still work but the slide needs to be Gen1-3.

Does the feed ramp hit the locking block when you have the recoil spring assembly set into the barrel and slide? Without the guide rod gravity can cause the barrel to slip down from the slide.

 

Hello, finally got the latest issue figured out. I had taken a break from it for awhile, but last night I was looking over again and happen to notice what ended up being the issue. I spent so much time focusing on the under or inside area of the slide that I never gave the top of the slide too much attention. when I finally did I noticed the top of the barrel (block area) that inter locks with the ejection port of the slide was not sitting flush. it was a snug fit and took a gentle tap of a nylon hammer to get it flush. that made all the difference and it slid together with ease. Thanks again for all the help and advice. What a relief. now I need to get to a range.