Broke g26 recoil rod today ?

[cohutt]

Went to the range this afternoon, among other guns g26 and g19 came along. Shot maybe 130 rounds out of each then g26 malfunctioned. Person i was with was shooting it and the slide wouldn;t close after a shot. It was open about the same as it would be on extraction failure where the case was stuck longways (vs stovepipe). She had a case stuck on ejection earlier so i figured this was it, take the gun and look- no case is stuck. The slide was hung up loosely but nothing was showing (had removed mag earlier). there was some play, so i worked it back and forth and found that it would go far enough forward to close but the slide wouldn't lock. It would not go all the way back- you could feel the recoil spring interfering- not the way it should, more spongy, like it was caught on something.
It was getting late so i put it up and headed home. Tonight I tried to get the slide off but it hangs just past the normal alignment- only gets about 1.4" past normal then you cant move it forward.
I noticed that the recoil rod is floppy and messed with it a little. As i am doing this, i hold the gun up to light and through the small gap between the slide and frame i could see that the recoil rod was pulling our of the spring inside the gun. (I could see through the spring to the light from the other side of the slide)
It appears that the end of the recoil rod broke off at the breech side (back). The spring is still connected to back part it would appear (this seems to be what is stopping the slide from being remoived). Also, the rod can be pulled loose out of the front of the slide for a little bit but it hangs on the spring if you try and remove it completely.
??
I was going to call Glock tommorrow to set up the repair, but wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this. If so, what did you do?
Any other ideas what might have occured if my initial diagnosis is wrong?
If it makes any difference, she was shooting winchester bulk box 115 grn from wally world.
any input would be appreciated.

[Steve Koski]

Cohutt,

I think you're right, sounds like the recoil assembly has failed. Can you field strip the gun? Can you take a small, thin screwdriver and push the recoil assembly around enough to let the slide close (so you can field strip it)?

If it's bad, call Glock and have them send you a free recoil assembly, or buy one from Lone Wolf, Glockmeister etc. They're about $11, and I keep a spare or two around. What you don't want to do is pay a fortune to ship the gun to Glock if all you need is an $11 part.

In the early days of the mini-Glock, there were problems with the recoil assemblies. However, Glock changed the design (exactly what was changed I'm not sure) and problems are pretty rare now, in fact this is the only one I can recall. You may have an old one, or a newer one may have gone bad.

There's some chance that there's something broken in the frame. Do your best to field strip the gun and look around.

Take care,

Koski

[cohutt]

Thanks, you have confirmed what I had suspected.

More info:

It is an earlier 26- 1999
I can't field strip- slide will only slide about 1/4 -1/2 inch forward before it hangs. I'll try some more this evening when I've got more time to work on it. I didn't want to force anything and make it worse before i had a chance to investigate a little more.
The good news is glock's u.s. hq is about 50 miles from here in an Atlanta suburb; i can drop the gun off for repair the next time i head into atlanta.

[devilboy]

for what its worth. I broke my recoil guide on my G27 the first session firing it in 97/98. boy was i pissed. called Glock and they sent me another and asked to send my brokcken one back. They said that they had some guides and were recalling them. Needless to say I went and bought a 2 piece Wolf interchangeable and have had no problems w/ about 6K rounds thru. Now my G23 i feel very comfortable w/ the stock guide. I guess my 1st session made me sour on the sub-compact guides.

J

[cohutt]

Don't know what i did differently tonight but I tried again and got the slide off on the first try.

As suspected, a recoil rod malfunction- busted for sure, won;t compress- internal rod is stuck extended about an inch out of the external sleeve. Thanks for comments and help

[Steve Koski]

COH,

Glad you got it apart. I stuck a G22 barrel in a G23 once, and it took me a frantic 45 minutes to get them separated, but that's a different story...

The current G26/27 recoil assemblies are great. Most recommend staying stock and not upgrading to the Wolff rods.

Take care,

Koski

[switch625]

Originally posted by devilboy
Needless to say I went and bought a 2 piece Wolf interchangeable and have had no problems w/ about 6K rounds thru. I also only replace the rod on subs.

[cohutt]

Called GLOCK, told them it broke after 7 years of shooting, they said sorry it broke, new one is in the mail.

didn't even cost me $11. I think this justifies another Glock....I knew 3 wasn't enough, I was just waiting for a sign from above.