Alternate method to field stripping Glock 19?

A

allaroundhunter

New member
Hey guys,

My Glock 19 was given to me by my grandfather. He bought it back in '95 and had a Lasermax guide rod installed. Recently, the battery cap of the guide rod broke, and it has rendered the pistol impossible to field strip the easy way (uncocked, slide lock down). Does anyone know of another way to disassemble this gun?

When I try the normal method the slide gets stuck after it moves forward about a 1/2"..... This is frustrating...
 
I hope it doesn't have a round in the chamber, because you have to pull the trigger to uncock the striker and remove the slide.
 
I hope it doesn't have a round in the chamber, because you have to pull the trigger to uncock the striker and remove the slide.
Click to expand...

It doesn't whenever I am trying to get the slide off. But I can still pull the slide back into battery and load it and shoot it if I want to. I just can't remove the slide to clean it.
 
I've read some threads on various forums over the years about this sort of thing happening. It sucks because you can't disassemble the gun without a degree of destruction. You can probably find them with good google-foo.

There was even a post by the owner of Crimson Trace back in 2005 or so (on another forum, I don't recall which) that he would buy a CT laser for anyone that had a story about how a broken Lasermax guide rod laser turned the owner's gun into a paperweight. Seriously... it's old, but it's out there. (I'll see if I can find that one)

Call Lasermax CS and see what they have to say about it... maybe they have a trick.

C

Add: Here's that thread I was referring to. http://archery.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3&f=20&t=189773
 
Last edited:
Will the slide lock levers move all the way down to the bottom of the slots in the frame? If they will, then here are a couple of things to try.

First idea:
Turn the gun upside down and cycle the slide vigorously several times. It's possible there's a bit of broken plastic from the cap that you may be able to dislodge. After you've cycled the slide upside down, leave the gun upside down and see if it will field strip that way.

Second idea:
Lock the slide back, and rotate the lasermax guide rod a little bit, drop the slide and try the field strip again.

There may be something that's attached to the guide rod thta is hanging up in the small slot(s) in the frame forward of the slide lock spring. It's not a large area for something to hang up, so the odds are reasonably good that you may be able to turn the guide rod so that whatever is hanging up is positioned so that it won't catch on the slot(s).

Third idea:
Try a combination of the above where you vigorously cycle the slide with the gun upside down and then, with the gun upside down and the slide locked back, try spinning the guide rod to see if you can clear the obstruction.

If none of that works then I guess it's time for the brute force approach.

Make ABSOLUTELY sure that the trigger is in the fully rearward position and the slide lock levers are all the way down and held down firmly and then apply significant force to the back of the slide to force it forward off the frame. There's not much to damage in the part of the gun where the bind is occuring, and the surface area of the bind between the guiderod and the gun has to be very small because that part of the frame doesn't have any large areas where something can hang up.

I think that there's not much chance of doing any significant harm to the gun, although you may end up with some scratches inside the frame.
 
I was able to get it by removing the rear slide cover and removing all of the internals. Then a little force got the slide the rest of the way off.

Thank you everyone for your help, it is greatly appreciated.
 
Interesting--that approach just takes the place of pulling the trigger to get the trigger bar out of the way of the striker. It shouldn't have changed anything at all up at the front of the gun where the bind was occurring.
 
Interesting--that approach just takes the place of pulling the trigger to get the trigger bar out of the way of the striker. It shouldn't have changed anything at all up at the front of the gun where the bind was occurring.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought too, so I was kinda confused when it made it much easier to remove the slide.

When I actually got it all off though, a piece of the battery cap was missing, so I think it was actually stuck elsewhere (I just don't know where :o)
 
Well, that fits with one of my theories--perhaps turning the gun over in the process of removing the slide plate and other parts dislodged a piece that was jamming the guiderod in place.

A happy ending is always nice--even if you're not sure exactly how it worked! :D
 
When you can't get the slide off a Glock, it's usually because the striker can't move past the trigger bar.

You'll need your punch or Glock tool. Make sure the pistol is unloaded, and the mag is out.

Pull the slide rearwards until you can see the underside of the rear of the slide. Depress the plastic collar around the striker, remove the striker cover on the rear of the slide, then pull out the striker. Now you can move the slide forward and off the gun without wrecking anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top