Recoil Spring

Recoil Spring

glock 17 slide and recoil spring?

I'm looking at getting a glock 17. I checked it out the other day and one thing I noticed was that there is a noticeable gap between the slide and the frame. On the left side you can actually see the recoil spring through the gap. Is this normal? And if so wouldn't this allow dirt to work its way into the gun?

In order for a polymer frame Glock pistol to function properly - without the slide binding to the frame during recoil - that gap between the bottom of the slide and the top of the frame MUST be there. Glock pistols DO HAVE a dust cover. It's the very front of the frame just as on any other semi-auto.

Some of the dust covers point up at the end; some are almost completely perpendicular to the bottom of the slide. Neither will adversely affect the pistol's operation. Some Glock owners are fanatics and think all dust covers should be straight; the one's that aren't are referred to as, 'pig-nosed'. (An expression started by one of the young nitwits in the peanut gallery over at Glock Talk.)

If you look closely you'll see that, 'clearance slot' on BOTH sides of a Glock - not just the left. When a Glock fires the whole frame vibrates violently. If that slot weren't there the gun would jam. Personally, I like it when the very front of the dust cover reaches up and touches the bottom of the front of the slide. I think it helps to line up the barrel and return the slide more smoothly to battery; but, not everyone agrees with me.

I suppose it's possible for this clearance groove to allow, 'dirt' to enter the internal lock mechanism. However, there is so much room inside a Glock that it would take a very great deal of dirt in order to actually stop a Glock from firing. (Glocks have fired after being immersed in a bucket of mud!)

Just so you know the Glock Model 17 is, without question, the most trouble-free of all the various Glock models. (No, Glocks aren't perfect!) The original Glock pistol was designed around the 9 x 19mm cartridge. 9mm always seems to be the most consistently trouble-free cartridge for any polymer frame pistol to use.

Recoil spring test Glock