Glock gen 3 vs gen 4: my head is spinning

[mitchntx]

Been searching and reading for the last couple days.

And to be honest, from what I've read on various forums (not the dedicated glock forums), the difference between the two boils down to trigger feel, which is so very subjective.

double spring vs single, weight, grip texture, head shots with spent brass ... c'mon, really?

Why all the gen 4 haters?

 

[country_boy]

I know when they first came out they had a recoil spring problem. My desigion to go with a 3rd gen was the 4th wasnt compatable with 1 through 3 and I got a huge discount on the 3rd.

 

[jfrey]

I've got 4 Gen 3's and happy with them. Gen 3's are more traditional and don't have all the new gimicks of the Gen 4's. I saw this week where Glock finally has a replacement recoil spring kit for the Gen 4's just for the asking. No more gun returns.

 

[Angered_Kabar]

Gen 4 hate comes from the many problems that were around since the release of the Gen 4. Glock has been chasing problems down only to create new ones. People saw no problem with the Gen 3s and the Gen 3 G17 is probably the most proven and reliable handgun in the world, with their other Gen 3 models following closely behind. At some point however enough current production Gen 3s started developing problems after 2000 rounds that it's making some people lose faith in Glock.

Aside from that, I do think Glock addressed some complaints about the older generations with the Gen 4s. A big complaint was that people disliked the grip. Glock added some modularity. Another was that the texturing wasn't very aggressive and it's very common to find people putting skateboard deck tape on the grip. Glock did have a different texture available for Gen 3 guns not too long ago but some complained it was too agressive. It looks like the Gen 4 texture is a good compromise. Then the magazine release was enlarged and is now reversible, that makes some people happier.

All the other stuff that's different with the Gen 4 I personally feel could have been ignored. Maybe their problems were from them changing too much too suddenly without it being thoroughly tested.

 

[Tcruse]

The number of gen 4 issues are really a very small number of guns, Glock has been doing a fine job of fixing the ones sent back. It is, of coarse, a lot of inconvience to send your new gun back. The noted problem fall into 2 areas. One is for very weak ammo (9mm only) and the first RSA springs, "Fail To Feed" was an issue. This happend in mostly people running weak ammo and/or had a grip that was loose. The current RSA does not seem to have that issue. The other issue is that the ejection pattern has been reported to on occassion eject the case straight back toward the shooter. (I have seen this on both Gen 4 17 and older Gen3, as will as a lot of other semi-autos). This issue seems to be fixed by an ejector change and/or extractor change. Some of the extractors were fit a little tight in the slide and required some polishing.

The Gen 4 17 is one that I really like and would not even consider a Gen 3.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

Generation 3. A significant issue is the fact that Glock is no longer using a machined extractor. They are now using a MIM extractor that is being manufactured with poor tolerances. For some people this has led to the extractor fitting into it's slot very tightly and wear occurring on the high spots, plus inconsistent function. IIRC, I believe some of the extractor geometry has also been changed. There have been some changes made to the ejector as well.

I love Glocks, but I'm not a fanboy. One thing that people have failed to realize or simply ignore over the years is that most Glocks have extraction problems. They're generally so subtle that most people never notice them, but the fact remains there is some geometry in the extractor plunger, the height/angle of the ejection port side wall, etc. that cause the gun to be right on the very edge between barely functioning and malfunctioning most of the time. Bottom line, nothing is perfect.

 

[mitchntx]

Thanks for the replies and opinions.

I'm certainly not a fanboy either. But my daughter is.

 

[kyletxria1911a1]

What one keeps the food the freshest(sorry couldnt help it)my boss
Has a gen 4 and loves it, but ya cant pistol whip
With a glock

 

[Younggun]

Shot a gen 3 19 yesterday and loved how the brass landed near my feet, then after a couple landed and sat on the inside part of my elbow I loved it less.

(pretty sure it was gen 3)

 

[Nullrejector]

Originally a glock fan (mostly with Gen 2 and early Gen 3 models), I switched to the M&P for a few years. I'm now back with Glock, trying our a Gen 4 G17, mainly because of the reduced frame size.