What is the "plunger" on a Gen5? Please use correct glock parts terms for proper discussion.

 

Plunger is a nickname for the firing pin safety.

 

So for fun, I put my Glock 17 Gen 5 slide on my Glock 19 Gen 5 grip and was dumbfounded,

You were "dumbfounded" that 2 parts that aren't supposed to work together and have never worked together somehow didn't work together?

 

The G19 slide works fine on the G17 frame. And you can also use the G17 barrel in the G19.

They are supposed to be interchangeable since Gen 5. That's the big change from Gen 4 to Gen 5.

 

It's not the trigger bar that is interfering with the Firing Pin Safety.
When stuck, I can still manually push the trigger and the trigger bar forward.
The elevated part of the trigger bar is the only thing that is supposed to push the Firing Pin Safety up at the right time when pulling the trigger.

For some reason, the Firing Pin Safety gets stuck with parts of the trigger housing block when the slide is all the way back. Then, the firing pin safety is sliding above the trigger housing block and gets stuck with parts of it there. How and why, I have no Idea.

Has this been observed before?

 

It's not the trigger bar that is interfering with the Firing Pin Safety.
When stuck, I can still manually push the trigger and the trigger bar forward.
The elevated part of the trigger bar is the only thing that is supposed to push the Firing Pin Safety up at the right time when pulling the trigger.

For some reason, the Firing Pin Safety gets stuck with parts of the trigger housing block when the slide is all the way back. Then, the firing pin safety is sliding above the trigger housing block and gets stuck with parts of it there. How and why, I have no Idea.

Has this been observed before?

So you're saying the firing pin safety is chewing up the housing and getting clogged with polymer?

 

It's not chewing up. I can not see where exactly it gets stuck. But its some part of the trigger mechanism housing to which the Firing Pin Safety gets stuck. I can only release the slide by pushing up the Firing Safety pin manually.

This should not happen. The Firing Pin Safety should not normally not interfere with anything on the frame. But it does.

 

It's not chewing up. I can not see where exactly it gets stuck. But its some part of the trigger mechanism housing to which the Firing Pin Safety gets stuck.

Then, the firing pin safety is sliding above the trigger housing block and gets stuck with parts of it there.

What are you trying to say?
Parts of what are getting stuck?

This should not happen. The Firing Pin Safety should not normally not interfere with anything on the frame. But it does.

Largely moot because the 17 slide doesn't really belong on the 19 frame and vice versa.

 

So for fun, I put my Glock 17 Gen 5 slide on my Glock 19 Gen 5 grip......

Now trying to work it out so it works permanently? Trying to run a truck body on car wheels.

Just for fun, if you take a gen3-4 Glock 17 slide it may work better on the Gen5 frame, no guarantees.

 

Older Generation Glock 17 uppers will not fit and function on the Gen 5. They are two different types of lockup.

Not worth overthinking, IMO. Suggest put everything back together as it was and leave it alone. Something is obviously not mating properly with the other slide, so why try to force it?

 

Yeah but I'm talking about Gen 5 only. They are supposed have identical mechanisms and are supposed to work together and there are even accessories for running a 17 slide on 19 grip.

I just wonder why it gets stuck. Especially to understand whether something like this can also happen without mixing slide and grip.

Imagine having a single shot glock only...

 

BTW: Here is a "Review" that claims that a Gen 5 G17 Slide runs fine on a Gen5 G19 frame:

Gun Review: Gen5 GLOCK 19 and 17 - The Truth About Guns

GLOCK handguns haven’t changed much since the early 80’s. Then again, they really haven’t had to. Looking more like the original two generations than Gens 3 and 4, I admit I was underwhelmed by what appeared to be minor tweaks GLOCK engineered into the Gen5. After shooting them, though, I...

www.thetruthaboutguns.com

"That means a Gen5 G17 barrel drops right into a Gen5 G19 slide. In fact, the entire 17 slide can be installed on the 19 frame."

How can they claim such things when it is in fact not compatible?

 

You should be able to drop it right on and it will function. Assuming a 100% stock unchanged pistol.

The G19 and G17 generation 5 both use identical lockups. Many people have done this with no problems. Posting pics of the problematic frame might also yield more definitive answers.

Here is a thought, switch the frame internals (trigger control group and housing) between frames and see if that resolves the issue.

 

Here is even a video showing that it should work:

 

Just another video of a hobbyist screwing up Glocks.

 

Ymmv. Just because it works or doesn't, perfectly for another dude, doesn't mean it is universal across the board.

Too much effort and angst being applied.

 

OP username and thread.

 

Ever heard of irony?

 

I did some further digging and replaced the internal parts of the G17 slides and frame with the G19 ones and I can reproduce the problem.

Not surprisingly, because the internal parts are all stock configuration are identical on G17 and G19.

I realized that the Fire Pin Safety gets stuck at the top of the connector.

This is possible because the G17 slide is longer and has a longer recoil spring allowing the slide to be pulled back further than a G19 slide, which has a shorter recoil spring which limits the movement of the slide more than that of the G17 slide.

This is a problem, because this means that you can pull a G17 slide so far back on a G19 frame that the Fire Pin Safety jumps over the connecter and gets stuck at the connector top when the slide is pulled all the way back.

Another way to see it, is that a G19 slide on a G17 frame will not go back as much to activate the slide lock, because the recoil spring is too short despite the notches for the slide lock being on the same location on both G19 and G17.

This happens because the connector top is not designed to interact with the fire pin safety under normal use, unlike the part of the trigger bar which is specifically designed to trip the fire pin safety, the top of the connector is too pointy to allow the firing pin safety to pas sit without much friction.

This problem does not occur when the G17 slide is run on a G17 frame, as the frame and recoil spring are designed to not go past the connector. By running the G17 slide on a G19 frame you bypass this limit and can pull the Slide far more back than intended, leading to the problem described in my first post.

So bottom line, is you can not Run a G17 slide on a G19 frame.

All those wo claim the opposite have not properly tested the firing of a G17 slide on a G19 frame. If you do not pull the slide all the way back you may think that everything works fine, but if you fire a live round the slide will cycle all the way back and the slide will get stuck, turning your Glock into single shot only.

It is possible to make the fire pin safety trip the tip of the connector by brute force or it may happen by itself when fired, but that will damage the connector and it will fail at some point.

It may be possible to avoid this problem with a recoil spring that is long enough to fit in G17 but does not allow it to go back as far as the stock G17 recoil spring does, which would allow the reliable usage of a G17 slide on a G19 frame, but the stock parts do not allow it. But non stock recoil springs open other areas of failure, as the factory recoil springs are balanced to the slides weight and tinkering with it reduces the stock Glock reliability.

I wish those who carelessly put out such "Glock Hacks" without properly testing it would point out these facts. Someone may end up with a one shot Glock only trying to make a G19L following these trick's, which would be a disaster, when you really need your Glock to work.

 

Don't try it, or you will be sorry!!!

So bottom line, is you can not Run a G17 slide on a G19 frame.

@MarkCO, Please add this to the FAQ.

 

It is the different location of the front slide stops that make the difference here. And that's why it is also not advised to run a G19 slide on a G17 frame, even though it may fire.
Glock didn't just cut off parts of the front for the G19, but also moved the front pair of slide stops.
The frames are identical up to the location of the front slide stop and that's what does not allow you switch slides and frames.

On the G19 frame, the front slide stop is moved a bit further to the back allowing the G17 slide to be pulled further back than on the G17 frame, leading to the issue mentioned in my first post. The G19 slide does not have that problem because the slide itself is shorter by that amount and is being stopped by the slide stops just at the right point.

So you can not put a G17 slide on G 19 frame.

But also putting a G19 slide on a G17 frame is problematic, because on the G17 frame, the front slide stops are further away from the back. That means, that the shorter G19 slide will be stopped earlier than designed by Glock, screwing up the whole shooting balance, as not the whole length of the recoil spring will be usable as both the slide is shorter and also the front slide stops are further away, the slide is not able to fully cycle as it would be able on its own slide.

So putting a G17 slide on G19 frame allows the slide to cycle too much because 1. the slide and recoils spring is longer and 2. the slide stop is closer to the rear.
And putting a G19 slide on a G17 frame allows the slide to cycle too little, because 1. the slide and recoil spring are shorter and 2. the slide stop is farther away from the rear than on a G19 frame.

In both cases it messes up the space for the slide to travel, ruining the factory designed balance of the slide and frame. It will either not allow the recoil spring to fully engage, or pull the spring further than it is designed to do and will impact how much force instead of the recoil spring the other parts of the frame have to take up. In any case you are putting different kind of pressure on the gun parts than designed by Glock impacting the recoil of the gun and wear of the parts.

So switching slides and frames is not as trivial as many wannabe "reviewers" make it look.

So despite what the internet says, you can not mix G17 and G19 slides.


This realization kind of shocks me. I bought my G17 and G19 Gen5 believing these "reviews" and "hacks" and was under the impressions, that mixing Glock slides and frames is as trivial as mixing their mags. I was wrong.
These gun "reviewers" are doing a dog**** job. I realized upon the first cycling of the slide that this does not work. How can these reviewers have missed it? They should research more before putting such bull**** hacks out there for everyone else to fall into the trap and potentially damaging their guns or make them fail when it counts.

It is irresponsible to put such information out there without doing proper research.

 

It is the different location of the front slide stops that make the difference here.

Are you talking about the contact points in the frame where the slide impacts before returning?


It would help if you posted pics of both frames side by side for comparison.

 

But its the same concept on Gen 5 frames. I just don't have a picture of Gen 5 frames side by side handy.

The point is that these rails are on different locations on G17 and G19 frames on all generations. Which does not allow the slides to properly work on different frames the way they are supposed to work on their own sized frames.

Do you have Gen 5 G19 and G17? Then try it yourself.

I only have Gen5 Glocks and the rails are on different locations as shown on the picture, which causes all this issues.

 

But its the same concept on Gen 5 slides.

No it isn't.

The Gen 5 17 and Gen 5 19 both use the same lockup belonging to the G19. Barrel lugs are identical and they even use the same locking blocks.

 

I tried it last night.

Gen5 17 slide. Tried to put it on my Gen5 19 frame.

No bueno, fail, would not hand cycle, got stuck, exactly as described by OP.

So if it works for you, good for you, be aware it doesn't work for everyone.

 

I agree that because it works with one doesn't mean it will work on all. But it was never intended or designed to.

Some seem to have the capability to run it as is with Gen 5. Others may want to use the adapter.

Parts - Slide Parts - Slide Adapters - Lone Wolf Arms

www.lonewolfdist.com

 

Intended or not, many things not originally "intended" are done with Glocks all the time. Switching guide rods, springs, ejectors, grinding nubs off, caliber conversions, are all considered "normal" Glock owner behaviors.... But also the source for many malfunction topic threads on GT.

 

Glock's answer to putting a long slide on a G19 frame is the Glock 47:

FIRST LOOK: Glock Just Very Quietly Unveiled the New Glock 47 Pistol

Tuesday afternoon we broke news that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection selected three Glock 9mm pistols as its new standard

www.tactical-life.com

The G 47 is a G45 with a longer slide. And the slides and frames for G19, G45 and G47 are interchangeable, as they take into consideration the different slide rail spacing of the G19 vs G17.
But G47 is for Official use only and is not sold to the public.

 

IMHO, this seems like a GREAT way to have spontaneous discharges, or other issues.

Just don't do it unless the factory condones it IN WRITING.