Average lifespan of Glock barrel?

[Tse Gee La]

Does anyone have any ideas about what the effective lifespan should be for a Glock barrel? I have a 3rd gen Glock 22C with somewhere between 20K and 30K rounds through it. I have been noticeing over the last year and a half that my accuracy has been getting worse and worse. I had been chalking it up to less practice than I should be getting but after shooting a co-worker's Glock with few rounds through it I noticed that I was able to get far better groups.

Essentially as I am shooting I will get a round way to the left or way to the right but never anything consistant enough to adjust point of aim. Trust me this is not an issue of flinching, jerking , or anticipation, I know what I am doing.

Anyway I am pretty sure that the Chief is going to be less than pleased with me for asking for a new gun after only 7 years of use but I was wondering if there was any info on barrel life.

The weapon function fine it is just extremely inaccurate.

 

[10-Ring]

How clean is the barrel? You'd be amazed how much crap those polygonal barrel cake on them
From what I've seen & experienced, Glock barrels are extremely difficult to shoot out

 

[Tse Gee La]

As clean as possible. I have had the same results with it spotless clean and dirty as hell.

While I was shooting I noticed that some of the holes in the targets looked as if the rounds where coming in at a slight angle to the paper. They were not full on key holeing but looked as if I had shot the paper from an angle. Other holes appeared straight only a few would look odd.

 

[CWL]

I have read that Chuck Taylor has a G17 with over 200K rounds thru it. While that's only 9mm, I doubt that .40SW would wear a barrel out at 10X the rate.

Have you gone carefully over the muzzle & throat of your barrel for any signs of dings or erosion?

You have a "Chief" so I'm guessing you are LEO. Have you had your armorer take a good look at your pistol yet?

 

[John C]

Call Glock and tell them what you've told us here. They're quite good about taking care of customers. If the bullets are starting to keyhole, you definitely need a new barrel, or at least a crown job.

-John

 

[glockman19]

didn't you know...Glock barrels are made of Kryptonite. They never wear out.

No Really... just spend the $100 and get a new barrel. I purposely bought an aftermarket barrel for all my Glock's. One with a right twist and one with a left twist. OEM & storm lake barrels. I always have a clean oiled barrel. Nice when leaving the range I simply exchange barrels and they're ready to go.

 

[Prince Yamato]

I have read that Chuck Taylor has a G17 with over 200K rounds thru it

Is it two tone like his canvas sneakers?

 

[possum]

i agree i would call glock and see what they have to say and what they reccomend. i would have changed the barrel out alredy if it was mne but that is just me probally at the 20-25k range.

 

[kymarkh]

Glock barrels are notoriously durable - are you sure it's not ammo related? If a SERIOUS cleaning with Sweets or another strong copper solvent and/or switching to another ammo manufacturer does not remedy the keyholing tendencies I'd call Glock.

 

[BamBam-31]

Are you shooting reloads, by any chance? Were they 147 gr. bullets?

 

[CountGlockula]

How does the rifling look on your G22C?

Is it still there? Compare it with a new barrel to see the difference.

You've probably bore brushed the hell out of it.

 

[DWARREN123]

What bullet weight do you shoot? Have you tried different weight bullets?

 

[Tse Gee La]

I am our department's Glock armorer and firearms instructor but, unfortunately my word is not enough about issues.

I am using the dept. issued practice ammo which is 165gr remington. I have also used some remington lead less rounds from one of the local ranges. I am not sure of bullet weight but it had no different results.

I did not look at another newer barrel for comparison because the other officer's weapon was dirty and he had not cleaned it in a few trips to the range.

My suggestion to the Chief was to trade out my weapon and call Glock about sending it in for an inspection.

I realize there are Glocks out there with 200K rounds through them that still work flawlessly. At the same time there are Glocks out there with cracked breach faces after very few rounds. I am not complaining about the design, I might have got one that isn't going to last as long as others.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

Average lifespan of a Glock barrel? Wha? You mean the ones that don't blow up? About 47 rounds, if you're lucky. I hear they are made of plastic so you can't see them in metal detectors [/sarcasm]

Glock barrels are polygonally rifled, which means there is no real rifling to wear out. And they are very well made. You'd have to try very hard to actually shoot one out.

I'd make sure it was clean and absent dings on the crown, try it with different ammo, and if problems persisted then I would contact a Glock armorer through the department for servicing, as just buying a new barrel probably isn't an option for you with an issued sidearm.

 

[DWARREN123]

If all proper checks have been made then the weapon needs to be changed out and GLOCK called.

 

[sturmgewehr]

I would estimate the life span somewhere around your own. If you die at 70, your Glock should still be shooting just fine.

 

[Tse Gee La]

I cleaned the barrel realy well tonight before work and then compared it to another officer's weapon. The polygonal rifling looks to be about the same, maybe a little shallower and more shiney. There does not appear to be any dings in the barrel or on the crown. Literaly this thing seems no different than another weapon of the same age with less use.

The Sgt. and I are trying to figure out how to explaing the problem to the Chief and Lt. in layman's terms so that they will understand what is going on and that we have no explanation as to why.

Lt. wants Sgt. to inspect it and report back. Problem is Sgt. is not Glock armorer (I am), has been an firearms instructor for 6 months (4 years for me) and has very little firearms experiance. All he does is come back to me and ask what to do.

 

[mljdeckard]

Did you try to actually shoot the other officer's weapon?

 

[Tse Gee La]

I shot the other officer's weapon on monday when we noticed the problem and I was able to get a far better score with rounds going where I actually aimed them.

 

[Wetawd]

You have a "Chief" so I'm guessing you are LEO. Have you had your armorer take a good look at your pistol yet?

Haha when he said "chief" I thought he meant his wife.

 

[TimboKhan]

Anyway I am pretty sure that the Chief is going to be less than pleased with me for asking for a new gun after only 7 years of use but I was wondering if there was any info on barrel life.

I would think that your Chief would be more than happy to replace your gun or get it fixed if you could prove that the problems you have described are actually due to the gun and not you. If he is so budget conscious that he wants his officers to go out with obviously faulty weapons, he probably needs a new job.

 

[PTK]

LWD has replacement Glock factory 22C barrels for $139.95 (out of stock right now, but they get more stock in all the time) and they have their own LWD brand (though not ported) for $99.95.

 

[Tse Gee La]

To give you an idea what my chief is like. When I came up with a list of questions to ask the officers about their opinions on their level of firearms training, I was put on a complaint form and given a letter of reprimand. I was told that if the department knew the answers to the questions, they would be liable if someone got into a shooting. He doesn't understand the concept of failure to train.

Evan after the Training Coordinator supported every question as having valid purpose, the Chief just got pissed at him and tried to fire him.

 

[Baneblade]

Tse, sounds like you need to move to Arizona. We have a job for you.

We have experienced the same problem with our Glocks. We have approximately 100 CVGxxx Glock 22's, some of which have very high round counts. We don't have the money to buy new ones so we make due with what we have.

Everything wears out eventually, and I believe our Glocks have worn barrels or there is some other factor that leads to 5 inch groups instead of 2 inch groups (and the shooter isn't the factor).

I have a relatively new Glock 22 (about 3k rounds) and access to plenty of old and heavily used Glocks. I will take both out and do a comparison. I can take some of my reloads, but I will mostly be using our practice ammo. 180 grain Speer lawman.

I have been meaning to do this anyway as our Chief has been asking about "life span" of Glocks. I just can't get a straight answer anywhere. Glock has been good to us, but they don't really answer that question.

 

[C. H. Luke]

"The weapon function fine it is just extremely inaccurate."

Can relate a similar story of a "claimed" used LE G20 personally bought quite a while ago. Everything about the gun looked fine inside & out but even playing IDPA games with it on close targets with own hand-loads proved how poor the bbl. was! Inspection of same showed no visible damage or signs of high wear, etc. Tossed the thing in the safe for months and switched to a G21, then got the bright idea of trying a KKM .40 bbl. in the 20. It virtually drives tacks now!

Had a fairly high-mileage G34 with in excess of 35K rounds of hand-loads thru that cracked the slide at the rail-cut @ left rear. Still was accurate but the slide was really, really wobbly on the receiver, only noticed after buying a replacement 34! And... do not think it's from the crack as slide is fully supported when gun is in battery.

Point is, believe your "accuracy" problem is quite legitimate! Especially given own experience with above two guns and other Austrian polymer!