Wow, thank God that officer didn't need that gun to save his life.

Sent from my Motorola Atrix

 

Start giving them S&W model 64's and a quart of Ballistol?

I've never seen anything like that. Granted, there is no salt water spray in North Central Texas, but, we've had Glocks go through floodwater past the waist and alot of sweat.

Thats unreal. Does Wolf or anybody make a stainless spring? Send them all out to be E-nickled?

 

It certainly underscores the need for periodic inspection of your magazine, follower, springs, baseplate...all of it! It is part of the shooting platform. Neglect them and you may wind up having them let you down when you need them the most....


This should be a HUGE teaching tool for all your officers, not just the water-logged variety.

 

IMHO, some routine maintenance would have discovered/prevented that damage.

 

Razdog, I agree that this could have been discovered/prevented through routine maintenance. Unfortunately we also know that most cops aren't gun guys. I am wondering if anyone has seen a similar problem and if the salt water environment is a common denominator.

 

We have a fish and game section of my agency. They are on the salt water alot and I have not seen or heard of this type of issue with their Glocks. One patrol guy got a 1911 (Dan Wesson) that lasted 2 weeks prior to rust starting though.

 

No issues to date with our Marine Bureau guys. They carry the issued Sig 228.

I would suggest contacting Glock. Perhaps those springs were from a lot where the specs were slightly changed? Either way, Glock needs to know what happens to their springs in a salt water / air environment.

 

In a wet environment you really have to keep up on the maintenance. Not just your weapon but all your equipment.

Looks like ya'll need to have a monthly inspection/cleaning of your magazine bodies and springs.

At a minimum a weekly wipedown, relube, and boresnake the barrel with a light coat of oil on the sidearms.

I do not work within 250miles of the nearest ocean, but I field strip my weapon weekly for a wipedown/relube and inspection/function test before returning to work each week.

I would have all of the guys inspect their mags and at a minimum replace the springs if there is any sign on corrosion. The springs are significantly cheaper tha a new mag. Use a flashlight to ensure the metal mag body liner has no corrosion also.

A can of Remoil or CLP, a boresnake, and a few Q-tips should prevent future problems.

 

Yeah, I'm thinking replacing the magazine springs on an annual basis would solve the problem for the Marine Bureau guys.

 

Thanks for sharing, I just sat here looking at the pics with my mouth open like a dumbass.

I may go ahead and buy replacement springs for my magazines.

 

Razdog, I agree that this could have been discovered/prevented through routine maintenance. Unfortunately we also know that most cops aren't gun guys. I am wondering if anyone has seen a similar problem and if the salt water environment is a common denominator.

Well, arguably I am not a mechanic, but I still find myself checking my cruiser's oil on occasion, and inspect the equipment on my belt.

I understand what you are saying, but still there has to be a modicum of responsibility to inspect your equipment.

 

I started in a beach town departmemt and currently work in a county that borders the ocean.

I never had an issue with my glock/mags but a couple of our officers did. Chalk it up to routine inspection and maintenance.

Chief in my first department went to qualify with his hk and the firing pin had rusted in place and his duty weapon was nothing more than a club. It took me a few hours to make it serviceable.

Not being a "gun guy" is no excuse for not maintaining your tools. If your department issues weapons/mags, I would make officers financially responsible for negligent damage.

 

Are old H&K's were treated with some type of finish for our marine bureau guys. I believe it was Teflon, back in those days, but I could be wrong. It least the firing pin on the P7M8 was easily removeable for routine maintenance.

 

Well, arguably I am not a mechanic, but I still find myself checking my cruiser's oil on occasion, and inspect the equipment on my belt.

I understand what you are saying, but still there has to be a modicum of responsibility to inspect your equipment.

Yeah, I don't know the answer to his question either.

Maybe I should lecture him about his diet.

 

Monthly Inspection and Cleaning... we teach how to break down and reassemble mags in the academy... THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED... our boat guys clean and maintain their G17's monthly and we have had NO PROBLEMS that I have seen...

 

USCG here. We carry Sigs not Glocks, but never seen that happen either. We have a pretty serious maintenance program though...

 

USCG here. We carry Sigs not Glocks, but never seen that happen either. We have a pretty serious maintenance program though...

Just curious, what do ya'll lube your Sigs with?

 

Breakfree CLP


I'm off Active Duty now and a civilian with DHS. I've switched to Gunzilla and love it. I'm not in a maritime environment anymore so I could not attest to Gunzilla's performance on the water.

 

USCG here. We carry Sigs not Glocks, but never seen that happen either. We have a pretty serious maintenance program though...

Prior Coastie also, I have never seen that either. I carried an M9 and Mk-18 that were dripping with CLP. We only had issues with the 240B and ice...

 

The obvious questions to me would be:

1) When did he last unload the magazines?
2) When were the magazines last disassembled and cleaned?

 

Yeah, I'm thinking replacing the magazine springs on an annual basis would solve the problem for the Marine Bureau guys.

I agree with this. Annual replacement of the springs, and maybe checking the mags each month.

 

The obvious questions to me would be:

1) When did he last unload the magazines?
2) When were the magazines last disassembled and cleaned?

:agree:

 

With all due respect to those who have responded with comments like "proper inspection and maintenance would have prevented this." No, it really would not have. I previously thought so as well, but the more that I thought about it, it might have lead to an earlier discovery, but when metal fails, it fails usually without warning and no amount of inspection would have prevented it.

I did have some face to face communication today with the armorer from the local Sheriff's Office which has about 500 of the same model fielded and was advised that they have recently seen about a half-dozen or so magazine do the same thing and it has been found that exposure to a marine/salt water environment is not a common denominator.

FYI, psitol in question is a G22 within a serial range beginning with NPT.

I spoke with Kevin in customer service at Glock today. Initially I was not please with his response of "They are over 1 year old, out of warranty, just buy some new ones." WTF? I have magazines from personal collection much older that have seen much harder use and no issues like this. I told him that my concern and that of others that have looked at these is that there may have been a bad run of mags.....it happens....and my agency simply buying some new ones will not benefit anyone, except Glock, Inc of course.

I have emailed him with photos and asked for a course of action, agreeing to retun the mags to him only if they intend to replace them. If they are not going to replace them, I plan to retain them for future reference.

I will advise on what course of action Glock has decided on when they respond.

 

:agree:

About 6 months ago....both questions.

 

With all due respect to those who have responded with comments like "proper inspection and maintenance would have prevented this." No, it really would not have. I previously thought so as well, but the more that I thought about it, it might have lead to an earlier discovery, but when metal fails, it fails usually without warning and no amount of inspection would have prevented it.

A spring with normal failure from wear may have, but when I made my response it was after inspecting the pics. The photo of where the spring broke is rotted out with corrosion; moreover, did not fail at the shortest point, or at a bend.

While the actual metal fatigue may be an anomaly, the fact that there is corrosion all over three magazine springs points to a lack of maintenance. My point was simply that if the corrosion was stopped at en earlier time, then they either would not have failed completely, or the pitting would be noticed allowing for them to be changed out. Everyone makes mistakes, that is normal.

Bodyarmorguy, I appreciate the pics, for a failure that I have never seen before living far inland. I wonder if at some point the mags were submerged in salt water, and the remaining salt sat on the metal for an extended time.