MAINTENANCE
An Effective Weapon Maintenance Plan In 5 Steps
A delineated process for weapon maintenance keeps officer sidearms as squared away as other agency gear .
By Officer Brian Havican . Courtesy PoliceMag . com
Malfunctions with the firing pin or firing-pin channel on an officer ' s Glock duty weapon are usually a result of dirt , debris , solvent or other material getting lodged in the channel .
I ' ve been a Glock armorer for over 10 years , and we ' ve seen our share of normal " wear and tear " on our duty weapons . I ' ve even seen a few broken firing pins , steel rails snapped off from the frame ( twice ), worn magazine springs and broken or chipped extractors .
However , I can ' t recall any specific " failure to fire " incident caused by the firing-pin channel being blocked by oil and debris , which slows the action of the firing pin and prevents a primer strike . That said , I don ' t doubt officers can experience a firing-pin channel blockage .
What I ' ve learned over the years is many officers will typically use way too much oil and solvent when cleaning their duty weapons . I ' ve seen officers use lithium grease , brake cleaner and PB Blaster in their Glocks , but the main issues causing problems were from too much oil , or failure to remove all of the solvents .
The Gen4 G22 , as seen in this disassembled image , incorporates a double spring to reduce felt recoil . Photo courtesy of Glock .
We ' ve taken these five steps to remedy this issue in our agency :
12 VOL 1 ISSUE 2