Serialized P80 PFC9 - EDC Build Diary

UPDATE:​


This gun has been running like a champ. 6,500 rounds through it!

I used it for all 8 of my private 1-hour coaching sessions. A big part of those private sessions was working on speed (strings of rapid fire). I noticed on several occasions that the slide failed to lock back on an empty mag. It only happened with rapid fire.

I suspect that the culprit may be the Ghost Inc "Bullet Slide Release." More specifically, I think my grip in combination with this slide stop / release may be the culprit. I think my grip is interfering / hitting it during rapid fire.
1689986615560.png

1689987372456.png

So, I ordered a new OEM Glock slide stop and installed it tonight. I may test it out tomorrow or Sunday.
1689986889889.png


We'll see if that makes a difference!
 
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Racer88- have you tried the Vickers/TangoDown slide release? If not you might want to give one a try. So far, I really like them for these builds, FWIW.
 
Racer88 said:

UPDATE:​


This gun has been running like a champ. 6,500 rounds through it!

I used it for all 8 of my private 1-hour coaching sessions. A big part of those private sessions was working on speed (strings of rapid fire). I noticed on several occasions that the slide failed to lock back on an empty mag. It only happened with rapid fire.

I suspect that the culprit may be the Ghost Inc "Bullet Slide Release." More specifically, I think my grip in combination with this slide stop / release may be the culprit. I think my grip is interfering / hitting it during rapid fire.
View attachment 12562

So, I ordered a new OEM Glock slide stop and installed it tonight. I may test it out tomorrow or Sunday.
View attachment 12563

We'll see if that makes a difference!
Click to expand...
Put your phone on a tripod and shoot video, or ask someone at the range to hold the phone for a couple of mag dumps. If your video editing can slow the frame rate in slow mo, then that will probably tell you what you need to know if it's you creating the issue. Cheaper than swapping parts.

Side note: I loathe the factor Glock slide release.
 
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One Ping Only said:
have you tried the Vickers/TangoDown slide release?
Click to expand...
No. I'll have to check it out.

USApat said:
Put your phone on a tripod and shoot video, or ask someone at the range to hold the phone for a couple of mag dumps.
Click to expand...
When it happened during my lessons, my instructor (who was watching) mentioned that he believed it's not a problem with the gun, but that I was probably interfering with it with my grip. But he did not feel it was something that needed to be resolved. However, I do want to see if I can resolve it. I like the slide lock back as an indication of an empty mag. Not so much visually... I can feel it when it locks back. When it didn't lock back I pulled the trigger expecting a bang. Me no likey.

USApat said:
Cheaper than swapping parts.
Click to expand...
The Glock slide lock was $7. I'll gamble it! :)

USApat said:
Side note: I loathe the factor Glock slide release.
Click to expand...
It's very low-profile, which makes it a bit harder to manipulate... but not bad. The low profile may help with my issue. So I want to try it.
 
For a bit of perspective, the US Army's service life requirement for the 1911 was 5000 rounds back in those days. Better metallurgy and heat treatment today makes that figure amusing.
One wonders how the Army Board testing submitted samples from various manufacturers would have responded to a plastic 45 that could go more than double that figure.
Waiting for that DeLorean that runs on banana peels and coffee grounds to answer that, among other burning questions from the past... o_O
 
I had close to 10,000 rounds through an HK USP. My thumb kept the slide release down probably 90% of the time. There was no option to change the slide release so I learned to never count on it. Everyone had the same gun, no changes allowed. I don't think it slowed me down much to rack the slide on the way up to get back on target. It's all in the training. For most people, the slide lock works 99% of the time normally. Racking the slide works 100% of the time. When it happened to someone who was not used to it, they timed out before getting their last rounds off, I didn't.

Most parts kits come with an extended slide release. They are, no doubt, easier to manipulate. My thumb is too close for my liking and I swapped them for OEM. I have the option of changing the slide release on my 80%, I just don't want to pay for a maybe to find out it is no better. The OEM works when I need it.
 
bkbrno said:
I don't think it slowed me down much to rack the slide on the way up to get back on target. It's all in the training.
Click to expand...

To be clear... the issue isn't whether I can thumb the slide stop vs manually racking the slide to chamber the next round (after a reload). I practice both methods.

The issue is the tactile (and visual) indication that the gun is out of ammo. When the last round is fired and the slide locks back, I can FEEL it. I instantly know that the gun is empty. Without that lockback, I didn't know until I pulled the trigger again.

That's why I want to try to rectify it. If it is just a range gun... no biggie. But for a defensive EDC... that's a biggie for me.
 
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I hear you. I had no choice but to deal with it. I would prefer the lock back but the click no bang was my signal. I complained about it for 15 years.

We did a lot of training for out of the normal situations. Expect the unexpected.
 
The slide stop on the HK is a long lever and very easy to manipulate. In real world, high stress situations, it was too easy to move. My thumb barely brushed it but it was enough.
 
We have these on our G builds, FWIW. I did in fact replace a few OEM Glock extended slide releases with these as well. Hope it works for you.
 
Ran 185 rounds through the PFC9 EDC today with mostly rapid fire drills. Zero failures to lock back on empty mag! Problem solved!

Again, for whatever reason, the failure to lock back on an empty mag happened only during rapid fire (very rapid fire) drills. I suspect my grip was tighter to control recoil, and somehow that buggered up the ability for the empty mag follower to push up on the slide stop.

Here are some photos comparing the two slide stop profiles.
Slide-Stop-comparison.jpg
 
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Racer88 said:
Ran 185 rounds through the PFC9 EDC today with mostly rapid fire drills. Zero failures to lock back on empty mag! Problem solved!

Here are some photos comparing the two slide stop profiles.
View attachment 12608
Click to expand...
I've had some flaky non OEM slide stops too. Dunno why, but I have run into similar issues as you that have always been fixed with an OEM one. In all fairness I have some non OEM ones that work great too -- literally two from the same company and one works and the other doesn't so confused on what to think. All using OEM mags as well, not Magpul or ?
 
brian said:
All using OEM mags as well, not Magpul or ?
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I will ONLY use OEM Glock mags. I bought five of the Magpul G19 mags when they first came out. They turned my otherwise flawless factory Glock 19 into a consistent jam-o-matic with multiple failures to feed in each full mag fired. Never again. They're all sitting in the closet. Can't bring myself to throw them in the trash. But I'll never use them again... except maybe if I want to train on malfunction clearance drills!
 
Racer88 said:
I will ONLY use OEM Glock mags. I bought five of the Magpul G19 mags when they first came out. They turned my otherwise flawless factory Glock 19 into a consistent jam-o-matic with multiple failures to feed in each full mag fired. Never again. They're all sitting in the closet. Can't bring myself to throw them in the trash. But I'll never use them again... except maybe if I want to train on malfunction clearance drills!
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Yep I think I have one Magpul somewhere but don't use it either, I was pointing out that my slide stop issues were with OEM mags as I remembered you'd had bad experience with non-OEM.
 
brian said:
Yep I think I have one Magpul somewhere but don't use it either, I was pointing out that my slide stop issues were with OEM mags as I remembered you'd had bad experience with non-OEM.
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Yeah... I got those Magpul mags a long time ago. Tried them a couple of times and abandoned them. This was the first gen Magpul Glock mags. I heard somewhere that they had known problems which were fixed with Gen 2 Magpul mags. I don't care if the new versions work now. Burn me once... Won't get fooled again! (Channeling President "Dubya" Bush.)
 
One Ping Only said:
Racer88- have you tried the Vickers/TangoDown slide release? If not you might want to give one a try. So far, I really like them for these builds, FWIW.
Click to expand...
Updating this thread regarding the slide stop.

To re-cap... with the Ghost Bullet Slide Release, I'd have occasional failures to lock back on an empty mag. It seemed to happen mostly at the end of rapid-fire strings.

So, I swapped that for an OEM slide stop. Problem absolutely disappeared.

Then for the hell of it, I bought and installed a Vickers Tango Down slide stop. And guess what? While I like the flared top of the button, which makes it easier to manipulate.... the problem came BACK! When I'm firing rapidly, the slide does not lock back on empty mag. And of course, I pull the trigger again with nothing happening. No bueno for a defensive weapon!

So, tonight I decided to try to diagnose the problem. Was it the mags? They're old and maybe worn out? First, I put them in PFC9. I put an empty mag in. Pulled the slide back and it locked. But if I kept pulling and releasing (with the empty mag still in), it would slip and go into battery. So it WASN'T my grip during live fire.

Then, I stuck the same mags in my even older Gen 2 Glock 19. Did the same thing. The old G19 performed flawlessly, and I could not get the slide to slip into battery on an empty mag. So, it's not the mags.

I then replaced the Vickers Tango Down part BACK to the Glock OEM. And guess what? Now I can't get the slide to slip back into battery no matter how I manipulate it. I will test it again with live fire next. But it's looking like the OEM slide stop is "here to stay."
 
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Whatever works for your build. I CAN say that we’re running both OEM extended and VICKERS/TD slide stops. For our builds, both seem to function equally well. The aftermarket variant is on my 26 clone and it shoots like stink. Zero misfeeds or failures to lock open. Renées 26 clone with the same aftermkt part works consistently as well. Go figure. I wonder if it’s that particular part of yours that’s either out of spec or needs a tweak? ?
(Thinking out loud)
 
One Ping Only said:
Whatever works for your build. I CAN say that we’re running both OEM extended and VICKERS/TD slide stops. For our builds, both seem to function equally well. The aftermarket variant is on my 26 clone and it shoots like stink. Zero misfeeds or failures to lock open. Renées 26 clone with the same aftermkt part works consistently as well. Go figure. I wonder if it’s that particular part of yours that’s either out of spec or needs a tweak? ?
(Thinking out loud)
Click to expand...
I don't know, but it's definitely the part. The OEM part does not have this problem. And this build's theme doesn't require anything special (all black). So, I'm OK with the OEM slide stop. Since it's a defensive weapon, I care more about functionality. The Vickers TD is easier to manipulate, but the OEM is acceptable.
 
Funtionality is #1. Sad to hear your Vickers part isn't cutting the mustard. I've installed about 5 of these and so far, so good. None of the issues you're experiencing.
 

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