Posted: 10/13/2015 10:48:20 AM EDT
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Okay guys, spend a couple hours last night searching improvements on the Glock G19 trigger. I will be upfront and honest, I can not find the attraction so many of you guys have for Glocks. I bought this Blue Label G-19 through the military discount program and fired it a bunch (ok, a lot) but just could never really get excited about it. Reliable-yes...ergonomic-no....trigger-major suck! Since this pistol is on the 'cheap side' compared to most of my handguns I am wanting to improve it enough where I will want to carry it around my property.
The '25 cent' trigger mod, while it did improve (smotthed) the pull a bit, it still sucks. I am thinking of getting one of the Ghost Inc.Ultimate kits and installing it. Reason for using it is only due to availability. I live in the boonies...literally!!! The nearest shop that has any Glock upgrades is 90 miles away and this is what they sell. Is this kit worth the money? I really don't wan't to invest a bunch of money into a pistol that will be used mostly for shooting varmits and pest around the farm. I am on the tractor alot and the gun will be getting dirty and abused, not something I like to do to my expensive carry and target guns. Hey, Glocks are advertised as being able to be abused and keep on firing....may as well use it that way. ;) |
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| The only changes I've made to my G21 is a minus connector and it's good enough for me that I won't be changing anything else. I shot a friends G19 last weekend that was all stock and it had a heavier trigger pull, but the biggest difference between the two was the ribbed trigger on the G19. So I'd probably start with a smooth trigger and a minus connector if I get a G19. There's always Agency Arms and other drop in triggers available if you want to spend the money. I just haven't seen the need for the type of shooting I do. |
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I run the same setup in all my Glocks
- connector Heavy trigger reset spring Lighter safety plunger spring In the compact\sub I swap the trigger to a G17 smooth trigger. It Yields anywhere from 4-4.5# trigger smooth, no mushy clunk(like - connector alone), and good positive reset. |
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i just installed a TTI connector kit in my Gen4 G17, it lightened the trigger alot and gave it much better reset. i was worried about light strikes with the 4.5lb striker spring but i have ran ~500 through and have 1 uspsa match on it with no light strikes, but only time and many more rounds will tell.
kit comes with : - TTI 3.5lb connector - 2-4.5lb striker springs - 2-trigger return springs - safety plunger spring - stainless trigger housing pin. also you probably want to ditch the G19 serrated trigger bar for a g17 trigger bar. just some food for thought, the kit cost $44. and greatly improved the trigger for me. it still has all the factory pre-travel as well which i think is a good thing for a carry gun, but for my comp gun i think im going to shorten it a bit. once i find a FDE gen4 G19 locally ill be doing the same kit in it! |
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Quoted:
i just installed a TTI connector kit in my Gen4 G17, it lightened the trigger alot and gave it much better reset. i was worried about light strikes with the 4.5lb striker spring but i have ran ~500 through and have 1 uspsa match on it with no light strikes, but only time and many more rounds will tell. kit comes with : - TTI 3.5lb connector - 2-4.5lb striker springs - 2-trigger return springs - safety plunger spring - stainless trigger housing pin. also you probably want to ditch the G19 serrated trigger bar for a g17 trigger bar. just some food for thought, the kit cost $44. and greatly improved the trigger for me. it still has all the factory pre-travel as well which i think is a good thing for a carry gun, but for my comp gun i think im going to shorten it a bit. once i find a FDE gen4 G19 locally ill be doing the same kit in it! For a carry gun I think changing the striker spring is very ill advised. The chance to have a light strike in a defensive shoot situation the one time you need a 100% reliability of ignition. I have had seven Failure to Fire total in my G34 when I run the lighter striker spring for competition or plinking that is fine but my carry NO WAY! (varying ammo over the years all factory no reloads). My entire life other than these FTF's I have had 1 223 round not go off(did not go on second strike either)(RRA AR), 1 30-06 Rem CoreLock(went on second strike) (old Mauser rifle rebarreled), and 1 shotgun shell (went on second strike)(Remington 870) The worst sound in the world is a click when you were expecting a bang. |
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Quoted: For a carry gun I think changing the striker spring is very ill advised. The chance to have a light strike in a defensive shoot situation the one time you need a 100% reliability of ignition. I have had seven Failure to Fire total in my G34 when I run the lighter striker spring for competition or plinking that is fine but my carry NO WAY! (that has been varying ammo over the years). The worst sound in the world is a click when you were expecting a bang. |
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The easiest thing is to get a connector/spring kit. Since your local(ish) guy carries Ghost stuff, I like the Ghost Edge connector with the Ghost spring kit. I wouldn't advise a LIGHTER firing pin spring in a carry gun, but I do swap in the HEAVIER firing pin spring that comes with the Ghost kit (the factory spring is about 5.5# and the Ghost kit comes with 4.5# and 6# firing pin springs). I'm not sure what your guy will charge you for that, but you can get all of it in a single kit online for less than $30. It takes about 5 minutes to install it all. I would also add a smooth G17 trigger, but that's just a personal preference. |
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Quoted:
The easiest thing is to get a connector/spring kit. Since your local(ish) guy carries Ghost stuff, I like the Ghost Edge connector with the Ghost spring kit. I wouldn't advise a LIGHTER firing pin spring in a carry gun, but I do swap in the HEAVIER firing pin spring that comes with the Ghost kit (the factory spring is about 5.5# and the Ghost kit comes with 4.5# and 6# firing pin springs). I'm not sure what your guy will charge you for that, but you can get all of it in a single kit online for less than $30. It takes about 5 10 minutes to install it all. I would also add a smooth G17 trigger, but that's just a personal preference. FIFY you do not want him to spill his beer in a rush now. |
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I have spent hundreds on different Glock triggers and parts to figure out what's best for me. I could write a lot about this but I much prefer standard connectors over the minus connectors. The standard connectors are much more crisp and predictable. To lower the trigger weight of a stock trigger you can put an extra power trigger spring in and a lighter firing pin spring. A 5lb firing pin spring will knock a half pound off the pull and still be very reliable and set off hard primers. A 4.5lb spring will still be pretty reliable but I wouldn't do it in a carry gun. With a lightened firing pin then it'll make it very reliable again. In comp guns I do a 4lb striker spring with a lightened firing pin.
So my preference is the crispest trigger possible while taking some weight off it stock. In carry/defense guns I use a standard connector with a 5lb striker spring and it's pretty damn good for a DAO trigger. |
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Quoted:
For a carry gun I think changing the striker spring is very ill advised. The chance to have a light strike in a defensive shoot situation the one time you need a 100% reliability of ignition. I have had seven Failure to Fire total in my G34 when I run the lighter striker spring for competition or plinking that is fine but my carry NO WAY! (varying ammo over the years all factory no reloads). My entire life other than these FTF's I have had 1 223 round not go off(did not go on second strike either)(RRA AR), 1 30-06 Rem CoreLock(went on second strike) (old Mauser rifle rebarreled), and 1 shotgun shell (went on second strike)(Remington 870) The worst sound in the world is a click when you were expecting a bang. it could be ill advised but you can only tell with time and enough rounds. with an idp lightened striker you would more than be fine on a carry weapon given that you have tested its reliability. once i have a few thousand rounds down the tube it will be nice to see if i am getting light strikes and i can re-visit this for me it is too soon to say it is 100% reliable or not as i only have 500 rds of WWB and Freedom munitions reloads. testing is really the only way to be sure it is 100% reliable. if your not going to test it then dont run the striker spring, i guess it is easier for me cause i will test it while shooting uspsa and test it some more when i practice. then i can use what i learned in my carry gun. while its not life threatening light strikes are the last thing i want while im in a match. so i shoot for 100% reliabilty in my gaming gun aswell. |
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Quoted:
it would have been helpful if the OP had stated what it was about the trigger that he didn't like and what he's using as comparison. also, how is it not ergonomic? Fair enough.....I am used to good and excellent target type triggers. 1911's, S&W Model 41, Walther GSP Expert, these are the guns I have in the 'best' catagory of triggers. This also answers the ergonomics question since most of these handguns are designed to 'fit' the hand more so than feeling like a squarish block of plastic. I know this really irks the glock fan boys, but glock could have done better in the grip design. Maybe I am just too set in my ways. I think one of the better grips in defensive type guns is the CZ 75, one of the best in my stable in my opinion. I am a 'any gun' fanboy and like all of them. :) Past military Marksmanship team member plus competitive shooter in other styles, even used to shoot IMSA with big bore revolvers and have also hunted big game up to and including Elk with handguns. So basically I have the wide spectrum of triggers I own/shoot. Having said this, my experience with the G19 feels (felt) like trying to drag a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper through a gravel pit. It was very gritty and it measured almost 10 lbs on my trigger scale when I first got it. After many rounds it did 'smooth' up a bit to around 8-8.5 lbs. It had a little less grittiness to it but was still terrible. I have polished everything ($0.25 trigger job) which helped considerably and last night I installed the Ghost Inc. 3.5 lb. conector, 6 lb. firing pin spring, 6 lb. trigger spring, and the reduced plunger spring. Definite improvement!!! Trigger has much less drag/gritty feel to it. Still a little 'mushy' but I know this is the nature of striker fired guns. Probably the best I can do and still have a very reliable and fun to shoot pistol. Thanks everyone! The help is appreciated. |
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Quoted:
Fair enough.....I am used to good and excellent target type triggers. 1911's, S&W Model 41, Walther GSP Expert, these are the guns I have in the 'best' catagory of triggers. This also answers the ergonomics question since most of these handguns are designed to 'fit' the hand more so than feeling like a squarish block of plastic. I know this really irks the glock fan boys, but glock could have done better in the grip design. Maybe I am just too set in my ways. I think one of the better grips in defensive type guns is the CZ 75, one of the best in my stable in my opinion. I am a 'any gun' fanboy and like all of them. :) Past military Marksmanship team member plus competitive shooter in other styles, even used to shoot IMSA with big bore revolvers and have also hunted big game up to and including Elk with handguns. So basically I have the wide spectrum of triggers I own/shoot. Having said this, my experience with the G19 feels (felt) like trying to drag a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper through a gravel pit. It was very gritty and it measured almost 10 lbs on my trigger scale when I first got it. After many rounds it did 'smooth' up a bit to around 8-8.5 lbs. It had a little less grittiness to it but was still terrible. I have polished everything ($0.25 trigger job) which helped considerably and last night I installed the Ghost Inc. 3.5 lb. conector, 6 lb. firing pin spring, 6 lb. trigger spring, and the reduced plunger spring. Definite improvement!!! Trigger has much less drag/gritty feel to it. Still a little 'mushy' but I know this is the nature of striker fired guns. Probably the best I can do and still have a very reliable and fun to shoot pistol. Thanks everyone! The help is appreciated. Isnt the stock glock firing pin spring a 5.5Lb? why would you move up to a 6lb seems like dropping to a 5.0 would give you a lighter trigger pull? |
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Quoted:
This also answers the ergonomics question since most of these handguns are designed to 'fit' the hand more so than feeling like a squarish block of plastic. I know this really irks the glock fan boys, but glock could have done better in the grip design. I can speak to this since I have just gotten into Glocks since this summer after having Springfield XDs for 10 years. If you pick up an XD with one hand and then a Glock with one hand many people think that Glock feels strange. This is because most other guns have a smaller grip size that makes the hand wrap more around the grip so it gives the illusion of "feeling more natural". I stayed away from Glocks for over 10 years because of this. However, shooting should be done with two hands (only one handed in an emergency). What the larger grip for Glocks do is open your hand up more to put a bigger gap on the pistol grip between your finger tips and palm. This leaves more room to put your support hand and get increased surface area to control the recoil with. I didn't realize this until I started shooting the Glock 17 for a few weeks. Now any grip that is smaller feels unnatural to me. The only reason I got a Glock was that I wanted a 9mm for cheaper target shooting and that when I get a suppressor, I wanted to have no trouble finding a barrel. I didn't realize it would turn my pistol world upside down. Now I have also added a G23 to the lineup and am getting rid of both my XDs. |
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