Why are Glocks so reliable?

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The only issue I've had with my gen 4 G17 was a couple fail to feed caused by limp wristing when my girlfriend was shooting it. After I explained to her why it was doing that she didn't have any more problems.
I have no complaints so far with any of my Glock's
 
Canuck44 said:
The same can be said for Glocks. LEO's get issued them because they cost next to nothing relative to steel framed guns to produce and sell to Departments well under $500. per pop and the guns do take a lot of abuse. Too, the fact they are light on the hip is an attraction for most I would think.

The biggest deterrent to the CZ line for years was the fact former Czechoslovakia lie on the wrong side of the iron curtain. The design is one of most copied. Here is a partial list:

CZ Pattern Pistol Makers

Chile

www.famae.cl/

www.famae.cl/sala_pistolas.php

Czech Republic

www.czub.cz

www.czstrakonice.cz

Israel

www.imi-israel.com

www.bultransmark.com/index2.htm

Italy

www.renatogamba.it/catalogue/index.html

www.tanfoglio.it

Peoples Republic of China

www.norinco.com

Philippines

www.armscor.com.ph

Romania

www.romarm.ro

Switzerland

www.sphinxarms.com

www.asai-ag.ch/default.html

Turkey

www.canik55.com

www.sarsilmaz.com

Ukraine

www.fort.vn.ua

For most shooters a CZ/Tanfoglio will provide a lifetime of shooting, is just as reliable as any well built pistol, including a Glock. If somebody would like to tell us what relevance a Glock going 1,000 rounds without cleaning has in the real world of LEO/Sports shooting I would like to hear it. Great guns to be sure but there is more than a little hype to all of this.

Take Care

Bob
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I definitely agree that for most shooters, a CZ is plenty. I do not agree that it is just as reliable but I do think that the margins probably don't matter to anyone who isn't betting their life on the performance.

The Glock is relatively cheap...but to call it the lowball bid option is probably not correct, simply because lots of the high-speed units that could have other stuff, don't. The CZ is LITERALLY the third world option. Third world armies often issue it. Western units that demand higher performance typically do not.

The high-speed Czech units, incidentally, use Glocks. They work well and require less maintenance than most other options. Does that matter to the average Canadian handgunner? I would say no. But "good enough for my purposes" and "as good as" are two different things.

I have always said (usually in reference to the XCR but I apply it to all guns, holsters, cars, guitars, hats, women, and everything else) that I am 100% cool with anyone who says, "screw it, this is good enough for me."

I have a serious problem with anyone, however, who says that it is good enough for ME.

I can absolutely appreciate the argument that for most Canadians, an Acura RSX is as good on the track as a Porsche 911. That's probably true; most people don't have a hope in hell of out-driving a decent sporty car these days.

But does that mean that objectively, we can't rank cars in terms of track performance? No.

The advantages of the Glock are probably lost on 99% of Glock fans. But that doesn't mean they are illusory.
 
Are we talking stoppages or parts breakages?

In any case, loose tolerances, and a simple and robust design featuring few moving parts. Exactly the same as an SKS :)

CZs can break their slide stop and Berettas need their locking lugs replaced periodically. These are rare and only occur at higher round counts, but they are existing and acknowledged points of failure.
 
marcham said:
Strange, I though FBI and US military tests had proven Sig and Beretta are the most reliable firearms available ...

Glocks are relatively cheap, light and easy to maintain, which makes them ideal for police use.
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I have been on service ranges with glocks and sigs being shot side by side. I have never seen a glock jam up for any reason other than limp wristing with factory ammo. The sigs on the other hand did jam up - not frequently, but it did happen.

My glocks go bang, every time, and they are super easy to maintain. There are guns out there that I can shoot a bit better, but they are pickier about things.

For target practice, there may be better pistols than glocks. For real life situations, it is hard to beat the reliability and ease of maintenance of the glock pistol.
 
lonesalamander said:
Are we talking stoppages or parts breakages?
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They are talking stoppages. They are saying that it is impossible for a glock to ever have a stoppage. If there ever is a stoppage it is due to ammunition or user error because a glock never ever has a stoppage as that is completely impossible for a glock to have a stoppage.
 
They are talking stoppages. They are saying that it is impossible for a glock to ever have a stoppage. If there ever is a stoppage it is due to ammunition or user error because a glock never ever has a stoppage as that is completely impossible for a glock to have a stoppage.
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Yeah, Glocks never have stoppages. Except for all of the stoppages that all of us have seen.
But those don't count as stoppages, because Glocks don't have stoppages.
 
4n2t0 said:
This is getting ridiculous...

Do bullets fired out of a Glock go around corners too?
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Well yes they do ;)

cornershot-s.jpg
 
Dexter Morgan said:
Every cop in Germany carries a CZ.
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Funny, the ones I occasionally work with carry something else that looks surprisingly like a Glock.

Google also shows some results that differ from your claim.

GunGuy34 said:
Nope. They wont. Factory ammo, and no limp wristing, they just dont jam. Gen3s anyhow.
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So what you're really saying is in your experience, with your limited sample of Gen3 Glocks, you've never had a stoppage with those specific guns.
 
wicked_police said:
Funny, the ones I occasionally work with carry something else that looks surprisingly like a Glock.

Google also shows some results that differ from your claim.



So what you're really saying is in your experience, with your limited sample of Gen3 Glocks, you've never had a stoppage with those specific guns.
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Ya thats what im saying. How many glocks does one need to own and shoot for their opinion to be valid?
 
GunGuy34 said:
Ya thats what im saying.
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Then you should say it that way, instead of saying Gen3 Glocks 'just don't jam'.

My G34 has never had a stoppage in 2000rds. But I'd never say 'Gen3.5 G34 Glocks just don't malfunction.'

I would say, in the limited amount of rounds I've put through my G34, it's never had a stoppage.

GunGuy34 said:
How many glocks does one need to own and shoot for their opinion to be valid?
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A person could own a thousand and their opinion would still be worthless.

Conversely, a different person could only own a few and their opinion would be extremely credible and valid.
 
I think one facet of Glocks that is overlooked is their magazines are extremely reliable. Writers and shooters state that the weakness of 1911s is the magazine yet the Glock magazines seem to work better the more you abuse them.
 
As for documented Glock malfunctions, I busted a firing pin in a Glock just last week. It's an easy enough fix but I was admittedly a little confused at first about the sudden silence.
 
wicked_police said:
Then you should say it that way, instead of saying Gen3 Glocks 'just don't jam'.

My G34 has never had a stoppage in 2000rds. But I'd never say 'Gen3.5 G34 Glocks just don't malfunction.'

I would say, in the limited amount of rounds I've put through my G34, it's never had a stoppage.



A person could own a thousand and their opinion would still be worthless.

Conversely, a different person could only own a few and their opinion would be extremely credible and valid.
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I did say it that way, I corrected myself in my very next post responding to someone else.

How many you have owned does make a difference, it is possible to get a lemon, but if you have owned more then two or three and still have the same issues then its probably user error.
 
**shrugs** it's not a question of design but a question of the quality of manufacture more then anything else. Firearms design is more or less understood and mastered over the last century, but quality production methods are ever changing as technology advances.

Glocks are good because for the most part their QC is good. It slipped up with the GEN4's, seems to have gotten better lately.
 
AlexF said:
Even better argument, maybe Glock are not as reliable as 1911 or P226 in real-life.
That would explain why no Tier 1 NATO special forces use Glocks...
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In the "Black Rifles" forum I had a thread going about the English translation of this magazine from Germany (see below), which goes through the "Small Arms of German Special Ops Units, and Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg." Great mag. Tons of pictures of actual special ops guys (faces blurred) and their gear.

kom1.jpg


I guess it depends on what the definition of "Tier 1 NATO special forces" is, but in the GLOCK section of the mag, it pretty clearly shows that the following Special ops units use GLOCK pistols:
- GSG9 (counter-terrorism and special operations unit of the German Federal Police);
- various SEK (Spezialeinsatzkommandos, basically "SWAT teams") of German state police forces;
- Jagdkommando (special forces) of the Austrian Army;
- EKO Cobra (Einsatzkommando) of the Austrian Federal Ministry for the Interior;

Whether these units are "NATO" or not, I think one would have to conceed that this list includes some of the best known and most highly respected special ops units in the world - and they all primarily use the GLOCK 17 (although its seems that they can, and sometimes do, use whatever they want -particularly in the case of GSG9 and EKO Cobra). The standard GSG9 pistol (famously) was the HK P7 (my favorite gun :() but it seems they have transitioned almost entirely over to the GLOCK 17 now.

- of the countries featured in that mag, only Germany and Luxembourg are in NATO. Switzerland and Austria are so-called "neutral" countries (in Cold War terminology).

- the German (military) special forces (KSK - Kommando Spezialkräfte; Fernspählehrkompanie 200; Kampfschwimmer, etc.) are using either the HK P8 (9mm USP variant) or HK P12 (.45ACP USP Tactical variant).

- as best I can tell, the tier 1 unit from Luxembourg is called USP ("Unité Spéciale de la Police"). They issue the SIG P226.

I wanted to say something about the idea that "every cop in Germany carries a CZ". To be honest I am having some difficulty confirming that ANY police agency in the Federal Republic of Germany currently or formerly issued a CZ 75-type pistol. The information I have confirms that the following pistols are/were issued by German police:

Historically: (and maybe still in some places)
Walther P1 (P38-type)
Walther P5
P6 (SIG-Sauer P225)
P7 (HK PSP) (Feldjäger (military police). Was previously used by the Federal Police (Bundespolizei), including GSG9, and many state police forces (Landespolizei). Many of the surplus ones we got here in Canada were from North Rhine-Westphalia or Lower Saxony state police forces);
HK4
HK P9S (GSG9 and State police of Saarland)

Currently:
HK P30 (Federal Police, Federal Customs Administration, Hesse State Police, etc.)
Walther P99 (North Rhine-Westphalia State Police, Rhineland-Palatinate State Police, Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein, etc.)
P10 (USP Compact in 9mm) - some State Police forces (Landespolizei);
GLOCK 17 (special units only: GSG9, some SEKs)
SIG-Sauer P226/229 (some SEKs and the Federal Criminal Police Office)

CZ 75 and clones seem to be used by police and military in the following countries: Czech Republic, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Thailand, Turkey, and also some places in the U.S. I remember reading somewhere that back in the Cold War days numerous CIA-types were known to carry the CZ 75 before it was commonly available in the West.
 
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