Deep breath...."A Tale of Two Subcompacts" ….SOLVED!!

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One Ping Only

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So good to be back here...missed y'all. So I took some courage and brought-out the two project pieces we discussed months ago, after hitting a brick wall with the squirt gun trigger phenomena in BOTH builds. Both had the identical parts procured from the same suppliers, and set-aside until I was ready to move fwd in these. You recall the squirt gun trigger that was the result in both. Adjusted the connectors. Nada. So I put them way... welp, today I dove back in, and we came across something that I'd suspected for months, chewing on this situation never encountered before with any of the build I've done (about 8). And these new builds mirror the exact build spec of my G26's we built last year (and both worked so well and scarily accurate)...down to every last part. Here are the basics for a refresher:

Alpha Shooting Sports "completed" G26 slides
Glock OEM LPK's (hand-polished with flitz)
Ranger Proof VexF3 triggers
Rook Stainless Steel Dimpled Pins
ROOK Smooth Operator DLC Safety Plungers

(again) Proper connector 'adjustment' angle is there.

1. First thing I caught was, these trigger bars, though appearing to be identical to my own in my other G26's (stamped with a little DOT topside by the cruciform), are marked with a "plus" stamped topside by the cruciform, instead of a DOT. Hmmm.

2. The Firing pins for these new builds should be identical to my others in the same exact "completed slides" I used last year in two builds.....but they came with TiN coating...not a deal breaker ok, that's fine but...while they appear to be identical in spec, I took one of the new slides, stripped it, and installed my firing pin (non TiN coated) from my slide that I built with last year.....then installed the new slide on my proven G26 frame I build last year.. Click. Trigger worked wonderful. NO squirt-gun trigger here. Then I reinstalled the TiN coated FP that shipped with this slide, nada. Squirt gun.

I then reinstalled my older alpha firing pin in said new slide, installed that slide (that worked fine on my other G26 build with the "dot" trigger bar) on one of the new lowers with the "+" trigger bar....and got the squirt gun trigger.

Me thinks I have both a wrong trigger bar AND the wrong firing pin that came in my parts orders for this DUO project. The slides both came from Alpha in the same order, and the LPK's I procured from Granger Tactical. I was hoping we had the Glock Parts Identification list here from PGB as a sticky but I couldn't find it.

My sincere apologies for the verbosity here. I'm trying to be brief. lol So what are those "+" trigger bars for?

I'm planning to contact both Alpha and Granger and see if they will ship me replacement firing pins and trigger bars, respectively.
 
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Screenshot_20221208_230705_Chrome.jpg
Plus marked trigger bar is Glock OEM Pre-Eh bar. This is use to fix bad engagement. Sounds like you have too much engagement where it is not breaking on Tin firing pin.

Do you armor backplate to check sear engagement? I would check that first
 
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Mooner said:
Plus marked trigger bar is Glock OEM Pre-Eh bar. This is use to fix bad engagement. Sounds like you have too much engagement where it is not breaking on Tin firing pin.

Do you armor backplate to check sear engagement? I would check that first
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@Mooner Beat me to it!😁 Started reading through, saw the "+" stamp mentioned and said, "Aha!" But, I also saw you posted-up first, so I finished reading the OP before responding... Nice catch, credit where it is due...
@One Ping Only , if the Sear engagement is beyond 100%, plan on swapping the Trigger Bar out. Put your "+" TB in a spare-parts bin for a future need. They can be invaluable. Thankfully, Glock has continued to release the "Pre-EH" Trigger Bars, they are currently in stock at Midway and Glockmeister, in case anyone else reads this and thinks, "Wait, I NEED one of those!". But they were gone for quite a while, once Builders started figuring out what these can do for an insufficiently engaged Sear...
 
Yes I had that inspection cover on before I put them away for 5 months....we have 100%+ sear coverage which definitely alarmed me...but considering the post-medical event thought-process at the time it was too much for my brain and I put them away.. Thanks, gents. I'll get the right ones coming as out of 7 other builds they have always been spot-on with the right trigger bars. Funny though, my other Alpha-slide wearing SC with the correct TB still won't work right with that new firing pin from the new completed Alpha slide. Swap in the other Alpha pin from last years' build, and Voila! with my frame (as indicated in the OP) it works as it should. Definitely a symbiotic relationship there with those two parts.

Thanks again.
 
GSW10 said:
@Mooner Beat me to it!😁 Started reading through, saw the "+" stamp mentioned and said, "Aha!" But, I also saw you posted-up first, so I finished reading the OP before responding... Nice catch, credit where it is due...
@One Ping Only , if the Sear engagement is beyond 100%, plan on swapping the Trigger Bar out. Put your "+" TB in a spare-parts bin for a future need. They can be invaluable. Thankfully, Glock has continued to release the "Pre-EH" Trigger Bars, they are currently in stock at Midway and Glockmeister, in case anyone else reads this and thinks, "Wait, I NEED one of those!". But they were gone for quite a while, once Builders started figuring out what these can do for an insufficiently engaged Sear...
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Aha! I'll take those EH trigger bars @One Ping Only . Ignore @GSW10 . He's a rookie and you don't want to save that obsolete Glock trash. You can see with your own two eyes that those trigger bars have really wasted your time. So, you can pay me to take them off your hands. I have a needy G17 living with me and she has edge case sear coverage and has been begging me to put her in a vice and tweak her sear.
 
My dad always used to say "when you build something ya gotta work the bugs outta it". I came home on leave and his pickup wasn't running right. So I took a look and figured it was the carb. Found an actual bug blocking one of the 2 jets. I really gave dad a hard time about that.

So I guess you just gotta work the bugs out!

Good luck!

Rick
 
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Michele said:
Good to see ya !! Just in time for the challenge coin
Looky

Product Review - Challenge Coin. All Patriots get your Vote In. You could be the winner of one.

Very cool project! Just stumbled into this forum for the first time today. Which ones do u like I’ll count em
www.patriotgunbuilders.com www.patriotgunbuilders.com
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Good to BE seen (from the visual safety of a keyboard! Lol) and thank you for the invitation, Michele! Bless you and your husband. I did resubmit above my pics (from) earlier in the year. Great stuff!
 
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Like vultures on roadkill I tell ya!

Snort. :ROFLMAO:
 
The only over engagement I have ever observed in all kinds of parts kits, was with a Lone Wolf kit for my PF45 build.
Very simply I bent the crucform sear down until it would release the striker.
10 minute job. I guess the old EH bars are worthwhile, but I've bent so many sears by now that I'm getting pretty good at it.
 
I’ve some minty-fresh Gen 3 trigger bars awaiting a proper polish aka Johnny Glocks’ tips online, and then I’ll replace those EH units and we should be good. Granger was real good about replacing them for me no questions asked when I contacted them, and Alpha comped me two strikers in the same fashion. Now THAT’s excellent C/S!!
 
New, highly-polished and worked (Ala Johnny Glocks online advice) Gen 3 trigger bars. Dremel, wool wheel and Dialux polishing compound.

New DLC coated strikers.

Squirt gun triggers, Both of them, still.

Meanwhile something about the safety plungers have been nagging me. Same exact size as OEM.

But the plungers in the offending slides were a bit more proud than the other plungers in my other SC slides that function fine in the new frames. Disassemble.

Eureka!! Rook had sent me some replacement DLC coated springs along with the DLC Smooth Operator safety plungers…and they were longer than OEM sized G26 plunger springs.

Reinstalled the original ( and shorter) plunger springs, reassemble, and VOILA!! Trggger works wonderful. Praise God. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll complete unit 2 of the pair.

So we had a collective of things working against success…all, cue Clouseau, “sol-ved”.

Thank for bearing with me, and for all your advice, during this project.
 
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Woo-Hoo, glad it worked-out for ya! :D Nice job diagnosing that too. Feels good, doesn't it? :sneaky: Every time...
 
GSW10 said:
Woo-Hoo, glad it worked-out for ya! :D Nice job diagnosing that too. Feels good, doesn't it? :sneaky: Every time...
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It does, as it was a big millstone in my mind for the last 6 months. SO thankful.

I also took extra care in polishing the trigger bars and connectors. Edges broken, etc. It's always the little things that add up. But that safety plunger spring issue took the cake.
 
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I'd like to encourage those polishing their parts...Flitz just doesn't "cut it" for these applications. Been there, tried it, was superficially better than OEM dirty Glock parts, but Flitz is really for parts/surfaces that have already been polished, and have lost their lustre.

Do it right....get some polishing compound (I'm using the Dialux Grey and White bars, like JG's uses in their shop) and a Dremel wheel (or if you have a stationery buffer setup) and take the time. Feed/prep your wheel correctly. First Break the hard edges on those points that Johnny Glocks directs, with some very fine sandpaper AND HOW he directs; then polish the parts. You won't believe the difference, just in handling them, let alone once assembled. Silky smooth. Almost norty.

Here's the YT Video (about 45 mins) from Johnny himself...he gets "The Glock Whisperer" title from doing what he and his crew does, so well. I used this as a reference to prep trigger bars & connectors. Here is the link:

FUNCTIONAL FRIDAY "POLISHING GLOCK PARTS"

All our others are getting disassembled and getting the same exact process. It's THAT noticeable of an improvement.

We also acquired those nifty little polishing bits from Amazon he shows. Works SO well, and is well under $20 for the set.
 
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