Failure to go “bang” when you need it is a frustrating experience that could produce a sinking feeling in your stomach if the situation is desperate enough. For the Glock pistol, this failure is rare, but it does happen. If you keep your Glock clean, then debris won’t be the problem. With a clean Glock, failure to fire is because of the failure of one (or both) of two different springs: the Trigger Spring or the Firing Pin Spring.
Original Equipment Manufactured (OEM) Glock parts seldom fail. Such failure usually has one of several antecedents: (1) someone has replaced the OEM parts with other parts of lighter “competition” tolerances, or (2) someone has disassembled the Glock and reassembled the OEM parts incorrectly, or (3) someone has reassembled the Glock minus a critical part.
Glock pistols are popular among IDPA and USPSA competitors. Many of them have internally modified their handguns to some extent. Months or years later, if the gun is sold or traded, the modified parts usually stay with it. There are, also, many home “gunsmiths” – and even a few commercial ones – who do work on Glocks. Sometimes, a mistake will be made and failures to fire will happen on down the line.
If you are the original owner of your Glock pistol and have never had it modified for competitive shooting, you probably have little to worry about. But if you are a subsequent owner and are not certain of its history, you may want to change these two springs and assure yourself that they are OEM compliant. By the end of this article, you will be able to change those two springs.
Parts Needed:
1. OEM Firing Pin Spring
2. OEM Trigger Spring
Each of these are currently selling on the Internet for as little as $2.49 each. Both springs fit all Glocks. [JWR Adds: I recommend that all Glock owners buy two or three spares of each, in addition to the generically advised “spare firing pin and extractor.”]
Tools Needed:
1. One 3/32″ pin punch
Necessary Terminology:
The left side of the handgun is the side which in on your left as the weapon’s muzzle points toward the target.
Disassembly (General):
1. Remove the magazine and ensure that the weapon is empty.
2. Following the Owner’s Manual instructions, remove the slide and barrel from the grip/frame.
3. Set the barrel and the recoil spring assembly aside. You won’t be needing to deal with them.
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Replacing the Trigger Spring
Disassembly of the Receiver Group:
Look at the left side of the receiver. Are there two pins above the trigger? Or is there one pin above the trigger? If there are two pins, remove the top pin first (this is the Locking Block Pin), the Locking Block Pin is the first pin out and the first pin in when you reassemble). If there is only one pin above the trigger, skip to step #2.
1. Place the receiver group in it’s right side and, using your 3/32nd pin punch, drift-out the Locking Block Pin from left to right. If your weapon has never been disassembled before, this may take some strong pressure on your part, but do not use a hammer to assist your pin punch. Keep pushing it and it will eventually start to come out. Push it all the way through the right side of the receiver and set the pin aside.
2. Remove the Trigger Pin. Hold the receiver in your left hand with the muscle end toward your body. With your left thumb, jiggle the Slide Stop Lever up, down forward and back while (using the pin punch held in your right hand) you begin pushing the Trigger Pin from left-to-right through the receiver. Do not use a hammer to assist the pin punch.
If the Trigger Pin gets stuck only part of the way out of the right side, Stop! With the pin punch, gently push it back in from the right side of the receiver and begin Step #2 over. Keep doing this over until you learn your Trigger Pin’s “sweet spot”.
When the Trigger Pin has been pushed through, remove it and set it aside.
3. Grasp the Slide Stop Lever with your fingers and lift it out of the receiver. Set it aside.
4. Remove the Locking Block: From the left side of the receiver, place the tip of your pin punch under the rear edge of the Locking Block and rest the shank of your pin punch on the left side of the receiver. Using the receiver as a fulcrum, lift the Locking Block out of the receiver and set it aside.
5. Remove the Trigger Mechanism Housing: Using the pin punch, push the Trigger Mechanism Housing Pin out of the rear part of the grip. Then, place the tip of the pin punch under the Ejector and rest the shank of the pin punch on the left side of the receiver and pry out the Trigger Mechanism Housing
6. Remove the Trigger Spring: Hold the Trigger Assembly with its right side facing you. Pull forward on the Trigger Bar while rotating the Trigger Bar counter-clockwise. Now, pull the Trigger Bar free of its housing. The little spring that connects the Trigger Bar to the Trigger Housing is the Trigger Spring. Remove the Trigger Spring by working the hooked end of the spring out of its hole in the Trigger Bar. Work the Trigger Spring out of the Housing Mechanism by removing the lower spring hook from the hole.
Replacing the Trigger Spring:
Place the Housing Mechanism so that you are looking at its right side. Position your new Trigger Spring in your hand so that its two hooks form an “S” as you look at it. Hook the lower end of the “S” into the hole in the Housing Mechanism. Hook the upper end of the
“ S” into the hole in the Trigger Bar.
Reassembly of the Receiver Group:
This is accomplished in reverse order of disassembly
If you have a Locking Block Pin, remember that if it was the first pin that comes out, then it’s the first pin you put back in.
When you get to the re-installation of the Slide Stop Lever, remember the wiggling and jiggling you did to get it out. As you are inserting the Trigger Pin, move the Slide Stop Lever forward and backward while giving pressure to the Trigger Pin. The Trigger Pin should be inserted from right to left.
Replacing the Firing Pin Spring
Removing the Firing Pin and Firing Pin Spring:
Place the Slide, muzzle end down, of a flat surface with the Slide’s underside facing you. You will see a silver protrusion toward the back end of the Slide on the side that’s facing you; this is the tang of the Firing Pin. The Spacer Sleeve is just under that tang.
1. Grip the Slide in your left hand. Hold the pin punch in your right hand. With the tip of the pin punch, press downward on the Spacer Sleeve. At the same time, use your left thumb to slide the Slide Cover Plate off of the Slide. (Note: If your weapon has never been disassembled before, you may need a thin-bladed screwdriver to get the Slide Cover Plate started) As the Slide Cover Plate slides off, keep your left thumb over the vacant area … or else springs will go flying.
2. Remove the Firing Pin by grasping the Spacer Sleeve and pulling it out of the Slide. Clean off any lubrication that someone may have squirted in there.
3. Take the Spacer Sleeve off of the Firing Pin (but, before you do, look at how one fits into the other for purposes of reassembly). Place the Firing Pin in reverse position in its hole in the Slide to that its tang is resting either to the right or left of the Firing Pin hole.
4. Pull down on the Firing Pin Spring and remove the Spring Cups. Set the Spring Cups aside.
5. Remove the Firing Pin Spring and replace it with your new one.
Note #1: there is a black plastic part inside the Firing Pin channel called the Channel Liner. If this falls out during your work, simply put it back in.
Note #2: When reassembling the Firing Pin and Firing Pin Spring, be very careful with the Spring Cups, if you make a mistake, they can go flying. You may want to do the Spring Cup reassembly part inside of a 1 gallon plastic bag. Also, be certain that the small end of the Spring Cups are inside the Firing Pin Spring.
Reassembly of the Slide Group: This is done in reverse order.