Scary thing happened to my Glock

[Sobered]

I own a Glock 27 and have installed the Pearce grip extenders. It's my daily carry piece and honestly, my only gun. It's run perfectly since day one and I've never had any issues with it at all. Until last night.

As I was gathering everything up and preparing to go upstairs to hit the sack, I managed to drop the gun (in it's holster, a Blackhawk CQC) onto my desk. I didn't think anything of it as I only dropped it about 12-18 inches, and my desk is one of those cheap particle board ones. I picked up the gun, turned out the lights, and started climbing the stairs.

When I'd made it about 3/4's of the way up, the Pearce grip extender flew off the handle of my gun, followed of course by the spring, and all 10 rounds rolled out onto the stairs. I have to admit I stood there staring at my now (mostly, I keep it +1) unloaded gun trying to figure out what had happened for a good 5-10 seconds before it clicked.

Has anyone run into this issue before? I've never had a second thought about the reliability of my Glock until now. What if that were a SHTF situation and in the heat of the moment, I dropped the gun or bumped it against a wall or car while struggling with a bad guy? I'm sorry to say I'm a bit spooked. I would never have expected such a short fall to cause that problem.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[OldVet]

With any aftermarket items, you take your chances, especially after dropping it. There's a chance the end cap was never locked in to begin with and the drop was the final straw.

[MattInFla]

Yet another in the long, distinguished lists of reasons to carry a spare magazine when carrying the pistol.

[QKShooter]

Ditto MattInFla

Stuff can and will happen at the worst possible time. Always carry a quickly accessible spare mag for that reason alone.

[roalho]

Yet another in the long, distinguished lists of reasons to carry a spare magazine when carrying the pistol.

Yes to this! I love it every time I hear people not carrying spare mags because "gunfights only last 3-5 rounds", "If I can't get it done in X number of shots, a spare mag isn't going to help much", etc...we've all heard these things.

This experience shows us that carrying a spare mag isn't as much about having more bullets to put downrange, in fact it's more to deal with mechanical problems of the mags themselves.

Can anyoneimagine drawing to save your life, and your bullets all spill to the ground? NOw you have to get it done in 1! (unless you have a spare mag on you, that is)

[Sobered]

Thankfully, I already heed the advice you all have given, and would be able to swap mags and recover..... after the initial "what the heck just happened" phase wore off.

I'd already been mulling over trading/selling the Glock for a full sized Beretta PX4, and this might have been the final push I needed. My hands are too meaty to get a good grip on the Glock without the grip extender, and after this I don't believe that I will be adding any after market parts that stick off the end of the magazines to any guns I might own in the future.

[Varmiter]

Something else to think about. You mentioned you carry +1 and that got me to thinking.

When you consider how a mag is designed to be used, the +1 may be exceeding it’s limits.

The way to test a particular mag is to fill it one round short of it’s capacity. With the slide forward, insert the mag and feel the additional force needed to lock it into place, paying special attention to when the top round contacts the slide. Insert the mag and release it a number of times until you are sure of the additional effort needed. Then put the last round in and insert the mag and note if additional force is needed. If additional effort is needed, it means the spring, follower and bottom plate are under a pressure that exceeds their design limits. If this is the case, it could easily account for the mag self dismantling.

If no real additional force is needed to insert the full mag, then you should be good to go with +1. If additional force is needed, +1 will just ultimately lead to a premature mag failure.

Lastly, two identical mags may differ in their ability to handle +1.

Chris

[Sobered]

It actually is significantly harder putting the magazine in with 10 rounds (filled to capacity) than it is with 9. With 10, I actually have to squeeze the bottom of the magazine and the top of the slide to get it into place. With 9 it slides right in and clicks into place with minimal force.

[Varmiter]

Well then, you really should reconsider the +1 idea.

Chris

[ctsketch]

Something else to think about. You mentioned you carry +1 and that got me to thinking.

When you consider how a mag is designed to be used, the +1 may be exceeding it’s limits.

The way to test a particular mag is to fill it one round short of it’s capacity. With the slide forward, insert the mag and feel the additional force needed to lock it into place, paying special attention to when the top round contacts the slide. Insert the mag and release it a number of times until you are sure of the additional effort needed. Then put the last round in and insert the mag and note if additional force is needed. If additional effort is needed, it means the spring, follower and bottom plate are under a pressure that exceeds their design limits. If this is the case, it could easily account for the mag self dismantling.

If no real additional force is needed to insert the full mag, then you should be good to go with +1. If additional force is needed, +1 will just ultimately lead to a premature mag failure.

Lastly, two identical mags may differ in their ability to handle +1.

Chris

Where did you read about this? mag springs are already preset to avoid their "design limits" and also this myth of full mags being a cause for failure has simply never been proven.

[azchevy]

How does this have to do with reliability of a Glock when you installed aftermarket parts on it and they are what failed?

[Sobered]

Honestly, by +1, I simply meant that there was one in the chamber.

[tacman605]

Sobered do not panic, lose faith or sell your Glock. As has been mentioned it is possible the the floorplate was not fully locked in place to begin with. It is also possible that even though a short drop it hit at just the right angle to disengage the floorplate.
With the floorplate on now can you push it off while loaded or unloaded? This situation has nothing to do with the reliability of the gun itself. Instead of the grip extension get a model 19 mag and there is a "filler" that can be placed on to fill in the gap of the longer mag
If all else fails trade for a model 19, just a bit bigger and a full size grip.

Just some ideas.

[archer51]

While I am not a Glock person, I don't see how this is a problem with the gun. It is a problem with an after market product you added to it. If you want the Berretta PX4 then get it, but don't blame Glock for Pearces product failure.

[Sobered]

I haven't lost faith in the Glock itself at all. But as stated, my hands do not fit on the Glock without the extender, which I have lost some faith in. Please don't take what I'm saying as a knock on Glock in the least.

I re-read my first post and see where the confusion lies. When I said I lost some faith in the Glock, I really should have said that I'd lost some faith in package as a whole, not the Glock itself.