After having spent several dozen hours reading through all the information out there in the various Glock and other shooting forums, I decided to take matters into my own hands and do some magazine extension experimentation with my Gen 4, Glock 29.
I have fairly large hands and even after taking a dremel to the underside of my triggerguard, I was still unable to get my pinky on the grip of the gun.
I quick call to Glockmeister and I had three PG-29 mag extensions on their way. Incidentally, the Pearce PG-29 is the ONLY mag/grip extension listed anywhere on the internet for the G29.
A few days later, a small manilla envelope arrived and in fairly short order, I had one of the PG-29's installed on one of my factory 10 rd mags. Without even shooting the gun, I could already see that these were probably not going to be the answer to my problem. I could only get about half of my little finger on the grip. Shooting the feisty 10mm confirmed my suspicions. After the first shot my pinky was again seeking a home on the underside of the magazine.
Rats!
I remembered reading where at least one other person had said that he was successfully using the Pearce +2 extension (PG-G45P2) on his G29 10 rd mags. I also remembered reading immediately after that post that a bunch of folks warned against using it claiming numerous failures to feed, etc.
Undaunted, I ordered a couple of them just so I could see with my own eyes. Again, a few days later, the familiar manilla envelope arrived. With minimal effort, I was able to get one installed. I loaded it up with 10 rds. Sure enough, after the first shot, the second round failed to feed properly. I cleared the jam and the rest fired normally. I did this three times, always having a failure with the second round.
I mean, it says right on the package, "not for Glock model 29" so what did I expect? It also says that the application does not use the factory magazine floor plate.
There are no mysteries here, it has to be that the factory spring simply does not have enough strength to push the rounds up fast enough. I considered filling up the bottom of the +2 extension with epoxy so that the bottom of the spring would be at the same approximate height as when using the factory floor plate. (I did not have a particular need for additional rounds, just additional room on the grip.)
I decided that before ruining a brand new mag extension, I would find some other means to provide more spring pressure just to test my theory. There, lying on the work bench was the unused Glock floor plate. It fit perfectly in the bottom of the +2 mag extension. (The little button is facing up toward the top of the mag.)
I reinstalled the +2 with the upside down floor plate on the mag. Test time. After firing nearly 100 rds of every possible number of rounds in the mag, I have not had a failure of any type. I did this initial testing with only 10 rds in the mag. I also fired another 50 rounds with 11 rounds in each mag without failure.
I will not be carrying this gun CCW any time soon and especially not with the modified +2 mag extension but I will be using it every time I shoot the gun on the range. It has transformed this handgun into one of the most comfortable and easy to shoot guns I own.
It is beyond me why Glock and other aftermarket providers have chosen to ignore the Glock 29. It is growing in popularity and deserves a factory mag extension option just as much as all the other models do.
I do not suggest that anybody else try this, especially for a carry gun. I simply wanted to document the fact that I did it, it works for me and I like it.
I have fairly large hands and even after taking a dremel to the underside of my triggerguard, I was still unable to get my pinky on the grip of the gun.
I quick call to Glockmeister and I had three PG-29 mag extensions on their way. Incidentally, the Pearce PG-29 is the ONLY mag/grip extension listed anywhere on the internet for the G29.
A few days later, a small manilla envelope arrived and in fairly short order, I had one of the PG-29's installed on one of my factory 10 rd mags. Without even shooting the gun, I could already see that these were probably not going to be the answer to my problem. I could only get about half of my little finger on the grip. Shooting the feisty 10mm confirmed my suspicions. After the first shot my pinky was again seeking a home on the underside of the magazine.
Rats!
I remembered reading where at least one other person had said that he was successfully using the Pearce +2 extension (PG-G45P2) on his G29 10 rd mags. I also remembered reading immediately after that post that a bunch of folks warned against using it claiming numerous failures to feed, etc.
Undaunted, I ordered a couple of them just so I could see with my own eyes. Again, a few days later, the familiar manilla envelope arrived. With minimal effort, I was able to get one installed. I loaded it up with 10 rds. Sure enough, after the first shot, the second round failed to feed properly. I cleared the jam and the rest fired normally. I did this three times, always having a failure with the second round.
I mean, it says right on the package, "not for Glock model 29" so what did I expect? It also says that the application does not use the factory magazine floor plate.
There are no mysteries here, it has to be that the factory spring simply does not have enough strength to push the rounds up fast enough. I considered filling up the bottom of the +2 extension with epoxy so that the bottom of the spring would be at the same approximate height as when using the factory floor plate. (I did not have a particular need for additional rounds, just additional room on the grip.)
I decided that before ruining a brand new mag extension, I would find some other means to provide more spring pressure just to test my theory. There, lying on the work bench was the unused Glock floor plate. It fit perfectly in the bottom of the +2 mag extension. (The little button is facing up toward the top of the mag.)
I reinstalled the +2 with the upside down floor plate on the mag. Test time. After firing nearly 100 rds of every possible number of rounds in the mag, I have not had a failure of any type. I did this initial testing with only 10 rds in the mag. I also fired another 50 rounds with 11 rounds in each mag without failure.
I will not be carrying this gun CCW any time soon and especially not with the modified +2 mag extension but I will be using it every time I shoot the gun on the range. It has transformed this handgun into one of the most comfortable and easy to shoot guns I own.
It is beyond me why Glock and other aftermarket providers have chosen to ignore the Glock 29. It is growing in popularity and deserves a factory mag extension option just as much as all the other models do.
I do not suggest that anybody else try this, especially for a carry gun. I simply wanted to document the fact that I did it, it works for me and I like it.
