Shot my new-to-me Gen 4 Glock 19 today. It is a recent Gen 4, less than a year old, with the latest most updated factory parts to prevent brass-to-face or erratic ejection.  Previous owner bought it and only put 100 rounds of Georgia Arms 115gr and 124gr 9mm through it.  Says all the brass ejected to the right and 3-4 feet away like it should.  He's a friend, I trust him and believe him.

So, today I shot 50 rounds of Doubletap 9mm +P 147gr JHP.  Every round of that ejected perfectly to the right like it should.

But then I shot 100 rounds of 10-year-old Wal-mart Winchester white box 115gr FMJ and for EVERY damn round, the brass ejected straight up and landed on the bill of my baseball cap or on top of my head.  Went back to the Doubletap 9mm+P and the brass ejected normally. went back to WWB and the brass ejected straight up and landed on my head or bill of my cap.

Is this a known WallyWorld Winchester White box problem?  Or is there a known issue with the current (not early production) Glock 19 Gen 4?

Please note that I am not bitching, I love my Glocks and this one is the most accurate I have owned.  I plan to keep it, even if it means replacing an ejector or extractor.  I just need to know if this is a known issue with the gun or the ammo before I throw parts at the problem.

TIA

ETA: 30274 ejector

Sounds like you already know the answer: Stop shooting what is some of the lowest power, lightweight, 9mm rounds there is

It's both.  WWB can be pretty weak, but lots of other 9mm handguns can eject it just fine.  When Glock switched to MIM extractors, they changed the extractor geometry in a way that causes it to have a weaker hold on the case rim.  For weaker ammo that causes a slower slide velocity, the empty case has more time to wiggle around under the extractor, causing the ejector to hit in a slightly different spot on the case each time, causing the erratic and weak ejection.  

Glock justifies this by saying that their guns are designed to shoot NATO spec ammo, but that doesn't explain why they used to eject weaker 9mm ammo just fine, or why other 9mm handguns can eject weak ammo just fine, or why Glocks still sometimes struggle to eject NATO spec ammo... oh well.

If it causes malfunctions, or still appears with hotter ammo, or just bugs you, then consider getting an Apex extractor.

It will work itself out as the round count climbs. My G19 and G17 did exactly the same thing, but neither do it anymore, after around 500 to 800 rounds.

This is what I would suggest.  Also have another shoot the pistol with the effected ammo see if it is shooter, pistol, or ammo.

Do you have another G17/19/34/26?  Swap the extractor see if it changes or persists.

My son shot it today, had the same issue with the WWB.  He is a new shooter, has a weaker wrist grip than me.  I'm a pretty strong handgun shooter, pistol doesn't move much in my hands.

I am pretty sure it was the crappy ammo. I may just order the Apex extractor out of an abundance of caution.

B AND S
It's a gun problem.  I can shoot that ammo out of a 06 production G17, an M9, & a M&P 9 just fine.  
I can't tell you WHAT the problem is cause no one really knows. Some Glocks are worse then others & some have zero problems.
My finding is it gets WORSE or starts to exhibit it.

Do you have another 9mm Glock?

A buddy had a g34 that had that problem, he took it back to the dealer and they claimed to have had a glock armorer go over it.

When he got it back it still did the same thing. He decided to dump it, and called me and made me a deal at $300. I bought it thinking it might take some work. I tried a new recoil spring, extractor and related spring. That was all it took, it's flawless now. Fwiw

My new Gen 4 Model 19 did it. I put a new billet Apex extractor in it. Still brass to forehead. I did a lot of research and found an article written by Randy Lee at Apex that said "Possible solutions? Our solution is to lower the ejection port, and change the ramp out angle to a 45 degree rather than the steeper factory angle".   So I did that, and that fixed it. Voided my warranty though, but my eyes are worth more than a $569 gun.

How did you have the ejection port lowered?  My G19.4 is the only handgun that has BTF, and I would like to get this fixed.  When I shoot it I get a lot of brass chips and brass stains on the exterior of the chamber by the ejection port.  When I inspect my brass I see that the case mouths all have a significant scuff which tells me ejected brass is hitting the edge of my ejection port.

It involves milling out the slide, which voids the warranty for obvious reasons.

Definitely try an Apex extractor first.

my early gen 4 19 would spit brass to my face no matter the ammo.


my mid gen 4 would only do it with super weak 115gr crap ammo


my latest gen 4 doesnt hit me in the face no matter what ammo i use.

I did it myself in a mill with a carbide end mill, then hand blended and polished out all the sharp edges (stress risers) with a dremel. There may be gunsmiths that perform this service, but it will void the warranty, so I'm not telling you to do it. I'm only offering my experiences on my gun.   Randy Lee of Apex has an article on this and can be googled .

I had the same problem with mine. Replaced the ejector and it was good to go. Wrote a how to on my website Glock BTF fix

I am a glock person through and through but I'm not too proud to admit that sometimes you can get a glock that throws brass back at you pretty bad.  There are fixes that include extractor/ejector changes... do that and move on.  Its not you, it happens.  I've only had one glock that will do brass to mouth but i have seen a lot of the online videos .  I still prefer Glocks to the other striker fired options out there.

I'm new to Glocks within the last two years and have to admit I really like them. The only guns I carry for self defense now.  Easy to see how they are so popular. The thing that is confusing to me are the vast differences between guns. Some don't have brass to face. Other ,,,it is corrected with an ejector and extractor, then others like mine..needs the ejection port  milled.

But it's still a great gun. I can't sell my Gen 4 19 because of the slide being milled now, but had planned to hold onto it anyway, the Gen 3 22 shoots great out of the box with no work. HMMMMMM.

Thank you SO much for being honest! Alot of Glock people will NOT be honest about this issue, they blame everyone and everything except the gun when they could instead help the people who are trying to love the gun as much as they do. I want a Glock really Bad! I rented the 17 from my range & it felt SO good and so comfortable in my hands. It was so accurate, that was great for any range rental gun. But I was there with my Husband & we BOTH had constant and consistent BTF! We have no problems or issues with our grip, stance, ammo or color of our tennis shoe strings when we shoot ANY OTHER GUNS yet somehow that Glock threw brass in both of our faces like crazy! I want a Glock but I don't want to have to "fix" ANY brand new gun for ANY reason, nobody should have to! The things that really bothers me and turns me away from Glock even more than the ejector issue itself though is the Glock people (owners) at the range & online who are consistently denying there even IS an issue with BTF. "It is how you are shooting, it's your grip not the gun, it's the ammo". I just want someone to be honest and say yes it has this one issue BUT...here is how you fix it". The fact that I am constantly reading "It isn't the guns fault, it's yours" is just ridiculous to me so I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HONEST!!! We are only asking for help because we WANT Glocks too but we want them to work like any firearm should, I don't think that is too much to ask for.  My range, CSA Richmond is having the Glock launch for 17 Gen 5 17's and 19's at 10 am today, that is what I am truly hoping will fix my problem, and everyone else's!  I just HOPE Glock fixed the ejector issues so I can buy myself a new 17 Gen 5 and this BTF will be a thing of the past for us all!

Bingo.

Disregard.

I wish I had a gun like that! I love to shoot in my yard, but I hate recovering my brass off the asphalt grindings pad.

I'd get one of these, and shoot all damn day!

Try some WW nato ammo, its cheap again. Shoots like defense rounds.

Ummm.....FPNI.

Winchester White Box is weak sauce. I had the same issue with my 17 and WWB that I picked up at Wally World just as the Newtown price raping crisis began. Brass to face and general falling out of the gun at my feet ejection. Switched to Blazer 124gr. brass FMJ. Ran perfect with no hiccups and perfect ejection.

Blazer Brass 124gr. FMJ for practice, and 124gr +P Gold Dot for defensive use...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I have a 3 week old G17.4 and no matter what ammo I use, weak or strong hand it ejects where it should.

You got a good one, consider yourself lucky.


OP here are some of the proven methods to cure BTF:

Use a Non-LCI bearing on your extractor spring, even if you have an LCI extractor. This puts more tension on the extractor and can help

Remove your MIM extractor and stone away all the flashing that may be on the outside.  This flashing can causing the extractor to bind a bit and cause BTF. They call these MIM fabricated extractors "dipped extractors" because they have a small dip in the middle of them.  The machined extractors did not have this dip.

If you have a Gen 3 gun, buy a gen 4 trigger assembly and move over the gen 4 ejector assembly to the gen 3 gun. Not the trigger, just the ejector assembly.

Try the apex extractor



Most folks have had good luck with all or some of these methods. Good luck!

my g17 gen 4 had horrible ejection issues.  swapped in a gen 3 ejector and haven't had a problem since.