18 Nov 03

On Glock maintenance from an armorer in a large PD:

"One of our deputies was qualifying last week (G21). He had four failures t o fire within a single magazine. He, of course, performed a T-R-B drill each time, and managed to get through the magazine, but he ejected four live roun ds onto the ground in the process. All four had dented primers, but the firing pin hits appeared light.

He was directed to one of the department armorer (me). I discovered so much ' gunk' inside the firing pin hole, that the motion of the firing pin was retarded sufficiently to cause misfires. Our department prohibits our deput ies from disassembling their Glocks beyond the frame, slide, barrel, and recoil spring. This deputy said that he thought "someone" had recommended that he ' lubricate' the firing pin often. He had performed this 'maintenance procedure' religiously.

We cleaned the G21 up, and it ran fine. However I am concerned. This deput y should have never been told to oil the firing pin, and there needs to be a system here through which duty weapons are completely broken down al least o nce per year in order to scrutinize and clean those areas that are rarely inspected.

I've offered to perform complete weapons maintenance for my station, but I only work part time, and the department doesn't want to spend the money." .

Comment: Never depend on anyone else to "automatically" maintain your weapons. You must take personal responsibility for your own safety. In eve ry sense of the word, you're on your own!

/John