cmshoot
Senior Member
As an Armorer for about a dozen different weapon systems, I have been following these developments for a few years now. Thought I'd share.
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Glock e-toolUpdated 6 March 2004...
Glock's Gravest Problem
A potentially ruinous event strikes the popular police pistol in 2003
First it was the April 1992 Product Upgrade, public disclosure of which was spurred by the AD Heard 'Round The World <http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/upgrade-faq.html#ad> , but which had its origins in Glock's 1991 failure in the DEA "frisbee test."
Then it was the contentious issue of the Glock kB! <http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html> s which the Smyrna, Georgia importer of the immensely popular Austrian-manufactured handgun has yet, more than 11 years after the catastrophic failures started happening on a regular basis, to properly address.
Next up were the defective guide rods <http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/guiderods.html> of the Models 26 and 27 built between mid-September and late-October, 1999.
Glock Model 19 - third generation Then came the mysterious "Phase 3 Malfunctions <http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/phase3.html> " for which Glock, Inc. staunchly denied responsibility for almost six years before sucking it up and sending a mini-machine shop to City Island, NY to retro-machine over 26,000 of NYPD's Models 19.
Now things look grim indeed for the company which, in just 16 years, has not only captured a lion's share of the United States law enforcement market, but revolutionized the handgun industry.
First word reached public notice the week of 7 October 2002 with the story out of the Bernalillo County (New Mexico) that the Sheriff's Department had discovered a problem in some newer .40-caliber Glock pistols that could lead to breakages after prolonged use.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department has discovered a problem with its new Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic handguns.
Deputy Robert Ray, the armorer who runs the department's shooting range, he says the department scrambled to inspect all of its Glocks on Monday after two weapons broke.
The inspection turned up two more broken guns. Ray says that on some newer versions of the gun, two pieces of steel in the lower portion of the weapon were improperly machined. Those pieces may be prone to breaking under the stress of repeated firing. (see sidebar for complete text <http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/problems.html#bernalillo> )
Another view The days after this news broke, a tip from a source in the 703 area code reached TGZ that "Glock has a big problem:"
Glock has recently discovered a serious structual problem with their guns. They redesigned their rear slide rails many years ago to make them longer, but for some reason shortened them again in the last couple of years¹ <http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/problems.html#fn1> . This shorter rail, coupled with some bad steel and a machine that stamped the rails incorrectly, is now causing some rear rails to break off the guns² <http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/problems.html#fn2> . When the rail breaks, it can lock up the gun. Not a good thing in a gunfight.
Glock recently went to the FBI and told them about this problem and quietly replaced over 700 frames. They apparently have no intention to tell their other customers about this problem. This problem affects ALL models of Glocks and TENS OF THOUSANDS OF GUNS. What about the DC Police with 4000 guns, NYPD with 35000 guns.
They have a major recall situation on their hands, but like their infamous "upgrade," this will never be called a recall. This needs to be investigated and publicized to make Glock take care of their other customers and not give preference to the big FBI.
The Glock Slide Rail ProblemAnd investigated it is, first with the FBI's Firearms Training Unit in Quantico, Virginia, and then with Glock, Inc. which has been telling its 9mm-issuing agencies that it was only the .40 S&W pistols, due to the higher pressure, which are at risk. Although the same defect is present on all the polymer pistols, the company doesn't think the 9 x 19mm cartridge "is powerful enough" to break the rail.
Glock Inc.'s initial solution, curiously published on the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation <http://www.gssfonline.com/index_page2.htm> site as opposed to the official Glock site, offered the following:
(W)e have made the decision that in the interest of customer service, replacement frames will be offered to anyone who has a firearm in this range ("a very small percentage of GLOCK pistols produced between September of 2001 and May of 2002") and decides to take advantage of this offer. The replacement frames will have identical serial numbers to our customer's original firearm except the numeral 1 will be added as a prefix.
Not unreasonable, right? Depends on where one lives, it seems. Within weeks of this news, TGZ received a distressed message from a well-known California gun rights activist who takes a dim view of the "Glock Solution:"
I recently obtained a California CCW (rare to be sure but some counties are better than others) and some of those I met at the CCW class and other CCWs I know from other locales are just finding out that the Glocks that they carry are in the affected group. They were not happy to learn from me (about the slide rail vulnerability) since they had all filled out Glock Warranty Cards but were never notified of the problem from the company. I also mentioned the turn-around time is now said to be eight (8!) weeks and that the new frame does not have the same serial number³ <http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/problems.html#fn3> , thus requiring another trip through the Dealer's Record of Sale <http://caag.state.ca.us/firearms/dipfaq.html> (DROS) system. The air around some of these people must have turned blue. The responses were similar to that of "Shark" of GlockTalk <http://glocktalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=126706&perpage=25&pagenumber=3> , irate:
I've got G26 and G19 subject to the "upgrade." I am NOT happy with Glock right now. Because a "1" will be added to the serial number, Glock confirmed that a California Resident will have to re-register the frame. I would assume this means that the new frame would have to be shipped back to an FFL and be subject to the 10 day waiting period. They said that it will take about 10 weeks to get the frame back. This is a total hassel because on January 1, 2003, in California, you need to pay a fee (50 or 60 dollars) and take a test to get a handgun safety card (the old one is no longer valid). So total cost out the door for me is $150 plus shipping to "upgrade" my defective pistols. The kicker is Glock will not pay for it! They recommended that I keep the gun until it breaks. Great, I'll send my medical bills and the gun to them.
A friend told me that his wife has a Glock Model 36 falls in the affected range. He was fuming when he realized he wife was walking around the city with a gun that is potentially unreliable. When I told him about the problems with the serial number he stated that her Glock is now officially out of the CCW rotation and is henceforth a range-only gun until it breaks... or not, as the case may be.
News of the Glock frame problems has begun reaching the press, my father alerted me to the problem when he read an article in a local newspaper back East. This has caused a small uproar due to the number of local cops who have switched to Glock over the last 5 years. Criticism of Glock Public Relations and Customer Service, plus the numerous and varied response from the staff of Glock in Smyrna is giving the company a black eye.
I feel sorry for the poor CCW Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ---- who has to deploy his Glock and it only goes "Bang!" once. I hope that that guy/gal only needs that one round and that it hits the mark. Also the people on GlockTalk are talking about 300,000 guns as the likely range of guns effected by the rail problem.
Actually, Glock is telling its own people that it's a lot less:
At Glock's annual sales meeting at Branson, Missouri in early November 2002, the "official" number of guns in the serial number range for those rails breaking off was placed at 169,782.
Meanwhile, Glock, Inc. made a major new product launch, a .45 caliber cartridge (the .45 G.A.P. for "Glock Automatic Pistol") and attendant Model 37 pistol at SHOT Show in Orlando in February, not long after the company's guns were excluded from the Immigration and Naturalization Service's procurement tests due to persistant slide rail failures. (The final four contenders are said to be S&W, Beretta, SigArms and, surprise, Springfield with its Model XD (nee HD).
Post-SHOT Show Item from Yahoo News, 21 February 2003:
"Paul Jannuzzo, a senior executive with the gun maker's U.S. unit, confirmed he stepped down Monday as chief operating officer and general counsel at Glock Inc. He has stirred controversy within gun circles because of his support for greater use of computer systems that can match bullets and shell casings to the guns that fired them."
At the end of the 2003 SHOT Show, Gaston Glock had either dismissed Vice-President and long-time Corporate Counsel Paul Jannuzzo and Jannuzzo's fiancée Monika Berecky, Glock, Inc.'s Human Resources Manager, or the couple had exited under their own power, depending on to who's version one gives greater credence. (On the opening day of SHOT, a seemingly exasperated Jannuzzo, when asked about his comments on CBS the previous Sunday evening, responded:
Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----, he (Gaston Glock) can do me a real favor and fire me, if he wants. I wish he would!
The only thing not contested is that:
1. Neither person's exit had anything to do with Jannuzzo's comments regarding "ballistic DNA" on the 9 February 2003 edition of CBS' 60 Minutes;
2. There had been a mildly physical confrontation during SHOT between Jannuzzo and Herr Glock's off-again/on-again son-in-law and company marketing director, Herbert Weikinger.
Different sources close to the company provided interesting, and juicy, details of the dust-up, which included rejected suitor Weikinger winding up with a face full of shredded tobacco, and a Glock pistol being displayed.
The most interesting aspect of that latter tidbit is that apparently the putative inventor of the world's most popular handgun with the three, count'em, 3!, passive safeties, keeps his own Glock in Condition Three!
Update:
Paul and Monika were married Summer 2003 in her native Transylvania, and are reportedly working on setting up an antiques importation (from Eastern Europe) enterprise to the Atlanta area.
1.- One source suggested that Glock redesigned the rear rails circa 1998 after failing an INS abuse test. Apparently the longer rails were prone to excessive "torque" when the pistols got hot, causing the slides to crack in that area.
2.- The biggest part of Glock's problem, according to since-departed Vice-President and Corporate Counsel Paul Jannuzzo in an interview with the author in November 2002, is that only one out of four slide frame rails within the nine month range of manufacture, is affected. "The CNC machines produce four rails at a time, and one of those stations was bending its rails at a sharp 90° angle when a slight radius is required. I don't know if we have any way of telling which one of those four rails is at risk."
3.- Glock's solution of identifying the "upgraded" pistols by adding the number "1" as a hyphenated prefix to the original serial number, will require the filing of additional state paperwork in California (costing the Glock owner approximately $150 additional, plus the 15 day wait), New York, New Jersey and other jurisdictions.
by Dean Speir <mailto:deanspeir@thegunzone.com> , Formerly Famous Gunwriter
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