Tenifer, Glock, and “Toughness” - One season’s guiding & bushpiloting on a G40

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Tenifer, Glock, and “Toughness” - One season’s guiding & bushpiloting on a G40

Carry a Glock 40 10mm ATC at work, and it has a hard life, portably the hardest you can ask of a sidearm environmentally. Salt spray, rarely gets to dry out. I give it the freshwater creek rinse whenever possible and then hose it with WD. Long story short she’s showing her age... one season. I took it to my requalification ATC shoot and ran her as is just oiled, and did have one light strike and failure to fire mid timed shoot. It’s a good wake up call Glocks aren’t invincible either.

Still happy with the Glock and shoot it very naturally, it’s just going to need more babying than I anticipated. Rather ignorantly I’d cling to the “It’s a Glock.” mantra that they’re damn near invincible. Probably should be treated as a consumable and replaced every season or two. Or, may yet switch to a Ruger or Smith SS .44. Figured might be interesting here.

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Interesting. I wonder if your light primary strike was due to lubricant in the strike channel. I had one light primary strike in a match and tore the gun down between stages to see if there was carbon build up in the striker area. There was none to speak of, but the striker had lots (too much) lube on it and I guess this helped to slow down the action of the striker a bit, enough to cause a light strike. After i wiped off the oil and re-assembled, no more problems. I put a new striker spring in when I got home as well.

Glock showed some pics of their guns that had been submerged for some time in Gulfport MS PD I think after Hurricane Katrina and they looked like yours. After cleaning and lubing, they ran OK.

Also not sure if newer Glock models like yours actually have Tenifer, they may have switched to some other metal treatment in recent years. The Tenifer would be under the surface coating. I think stainless steel may also rust when exposed to salt water.
 
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My long gun is a .375 H&H stainless Winchester Model 70, it has endured much more than the Glock and not a spec on it aside from the blued steel sights. Tore down and the firing pin is near dry, agreed on too much lube especially heavier oils. I’m just happy my on the job Glock learning occurred on the range.
 
Is that the only rust?

Looks like it is just the aftermarket sights and the MOS cover, which probably is not coating with anything special to save cost

Shawn
 
shawn said:
Is that the only rust?

Looks like it is just the aftermarket sights and the MOS cover, which probably is not coating with anything special to save cost

Shawn
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Unfortunately the internals, especially springs, get it first. And the bore of the barrel, especially at the muzzle.

Mik123 said:
Any thoughts on having it cerakoted?
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The cosmetic aspects / exterior are all that would help with I’m afraid, I’m most concerned with the springs and finer workings.
 
Interesting

Barrel I get and there is no way around that, except maybe carry an un-fired barrel. The internals are an issue, either more cleaning needed, better protective products or the parts are themselves. Or a combination of them.

Or just do what the army does, clean it obsessively

Shawn
 
Not sure anything would fare better given the conditions you describe... tons of little springs in a revolver too.

As discussed, your FTF was probably due to lube. IME you need to be fairly stingy with lube on the Glock.
 
I wonder if lightly wiping it down with royal purple oil frequently would help with outside corrosion instead of WD. The finish on my Gen 3's is by far stronger then the Gen 4's I own. I should add that I don't think you could find a better sidearm than a Glock for what you use it for and put it though.
 
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FreedomIsn'tFree said:
I wonder if lightly wiping it down with royal purple oil frequently would help with outside corrosion instead of WD. The finish on my Gen 3's is buy far stronger then the Gen 4's I own.
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IIRC Austrian made Gen 3 were still Tenifered, and it is a more robust finish. Looking at photos most of his rust is on the MOS screws and his aftermarket sights.
 
Neat post, thanks for sharing, some more photos would be nice! What kind of holster are you running? Do you require night sights? Stock plastic ones may fare better for your conditions. Not sure any other pistol would be a better choice given your environment, revolver even if stainless would be a bear to get to the internals, which having salt water in them and being unable to dry would most likely seize up and fail before your 3rd week of the season. I would just try a little more TLC when time permits, and stay away from the wd40.
 
i find this super interesting as i have a G40 myself!
while i dont have to worry about salt water spray on mine i do run mine in extreme cold and so far its run flawless.
i use G96 which i have found better for the cold.
not sure if it would help you with your issues (rust) but i would mirror what others have said and that is WD40 seems like its not doing you any favors.

upon sitting here and reading and looking at your picks and thinking some more im thinking that for what you do and the conditions you work in your probably gonna have to get into the regime of getting a good coating oil and cleaning your gun more frequently to stop corrosion but ulimatlly your probably going to have to replace - or it would be safest to replace a lot of the internal parts on your off season.
springs and small pins and such.
just to be on the safe side.

super insetting topic and pics!
ya know, i wonder if an aftermarket barrel would do better than the OEM, i ask because i have a Lone Wolf that i just put on my G40 and its coated and treated.
web site states the following about the Lone Wolf barrels:
Industry recognized SBN premium coating (SBN is Salt Bath Nitride, similar to Tennifer)
Heat treated to RC 40-42, then SBN coating increases surface hardness to RC 60
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keep us updated with what you decide to do and what if anything you do to your G40.
or just PM me, cause like i said i have one and im super interested in what yours is doing.
 
Knowing nothing more about the conditions you mentioned, you might want to consider a product called Eezox, I would not be using WD40 as a protectant/CLP.
 
I have Eezox, but WD40 is actually better in many ways, even in testing. Eezox is VERY thick and turns gooey. Common knowledge on the coast to use WD amongst the commercial fishermen, but I see it routinely slagged in gun circles misguidedly. Not a great lubricant, excellent water displacer and rust / corrosion preventative. Especially as you can afford to use it in volume.

https://www.brownells.com/aspx/learn/learndetail.aspx?lid=10700
 
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Or possibly try Fluid Film on the exterior wipe down.

You certainly have interesting real life experiences with your tools!
 
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