Glock 30SF – 20,000 Round Update

Following the 6 year review of my Glock 30SF in 45 auto, I have spent a lot more time with the pistol. I logged 20,000 reloads through the gun a few weeks ago and wanted to give a reliability report. First off, I feel extremely gracious to have been able to afford enough resources and time to be able to evaluate a gun so thoroughly as this. No other gun on the Land & Groove site has seen as much use and abuse as my Glock. But I know a few are thinking, “hey, what’s the deal with a round count? What exactly is the point besides showing off?” It’s quite simple, really. By logging rounds on a firearm, it becomes easier to identify upcoming maintenance. After losing a few slide locks early in the evaluation I felt it prudent to keep detailed logs so I could point to rounds vs parts breakage if and when they occurred again. I also wanted to give an account on Glock’s motto: Perfection.

 

So is it perfect? Did the pistol keep gobbling up round after round without fail? Not quite. The weakest part on my Glock has got to be the slide lock. My first one went out at around 2k rounds. The next let go somewhere around 7k rounds. I’ve changed out my recoil spring assembly four times, but only because I prefer to get a new one every 5k. As you’ll recall from the previous review everything was stock except the Storm Lake barrel. After some looking around I made the decision to switch to Truglo rear and front sights in green around 15k rounds. There was nothing wrong with the stock sights. I just wanted something more precise as the factory front sight tends to be a tad large in my opinion. It also has a tendency to get dulled by cast bullet lube and powder residue during long range sessions.

The more the merrier. Magazines are essential to reliable function in semi-auto pistols. Feeding malfunctions can sometimes be resolved by changing out magazine springs.

So everything was running along fine until 16,300 rounds. My first and hopefully last major failure – the trigger spring broke. I’ll claim responsibility for that one. I should have completed a detailed inspection at 10k. Luckily this happened on the range and not in a defensive scenario. Losing a trigger spring during the fight for your life can mean certain death. For those unawares, the trigger spring, (more aptly: trigger return spring), enables the trigger to reset after being fully depressed. A pistol without that spring will fire, eject, and chamber a new round, but requires manually pushing the depressed trigger back to the fire position for each successive shot. When it first occurred I thought maybe I did not have a firm grip and was causing the malfunction. Sometimes the inertia during recoil from the last round fired would barely reset the trigger. Most times it would not. Driving home from the range with what was essentially a single shot pistol on my hip was a humbling experience. If there was ever a reason to log rounds on a pistol you intend on bringing into harms way that would be #1. Since then, I’ve made it a priority to do a complete inspection for any firearm at 10k rounds. The trigger spring cost me a grand sum of $1.83. A paltry amount for such an integral part. Replacing the spring put my pistol back into action with no issues since.

Not bad after 20,000.

As far as durability goes I’m nothing less than impressed. The reputation for the finish on my Gen 3 Glock 30SF is well deserved. The pictures would not show but there is a faint graying on the high spots toward the muzzle on the outside of the slide. Its very minimal and has not warranted special attention during cleaning. The breech face is noticeably worn but has suffered no worse for the wear. The Storm Lake barrel has taken off a decent amount of finish from the interior of the slide but it looks to have leveled off for now. The only thing that really concerned me was the barrel hood where it locks up against the breech face. There is a noticeable amount of flare on the barrel hood where it has peened against the breech. It has yet to cause a problem but I’ll continue to monitor the progress.

Since my last review on the Glock 30SF I have taken up bullet casting. I originally wanted to produce a few hundred bullets for black powder loads in 32-20 but couldn’t resist trying for 45 auto. I go through, on average, 80 pounds of lead for the Glock 30SF every year so it was a no-brainer. At my current cost of $0.05/round for 45 auto, I’m spitting out 50 round boxes for $2.50. If you like to shoot and have more time than money that’s not a bad way to spend it.

 

Conclusion: Shoot the heck out of your pistols but also complete a diligent inspection every now and then. Even if you don’t keep detailed logs at least have a general idea when preventive maintenance should take place. Though my Glock is a sample size of one and may not be representative of Glocks in general, I hope this update gives readers an understanding on the importance of regular inspection intervals. I’d also like to reemphasize how fun this pistol has been. Yeah, it’s a carry gun. It’s boring and it’s like all the others. But this is really a good shooter. Even after 20,000 rounds I’m not a great shot. Still, I’ll keep enjoying each one.

RCBS 45-230-RN bullets before lube/sizing.