Slide to frame recoil impact area, it is plastic, how does it last?

[His lordship.]

Installed a Buffertech recoil buffer today on my Glock 17, I usually will use one to help protect my guns when available.  Noticed on the Glock that the area where the slide hits the frame during recoil is plastic, on other guns this area is steel.  Checked with my Ruger SR9, also a polymer framed pistol, yup, a big chunk of steel, both impact surfaces.

I have heard that Glocks last along time with out a recoil buffer, I think one gun writer said he put 100,000 rounds through his.  And as Glocks are also chambered for heavy hitters like .40 S/W, .45 ACP, and .357 Sig, how can the guns hold up from use with what appears to me to be limited structure plastic as the only thing that takes the impact from the slide?

Thanks.

[HAMMERHEAD]

It withstands it by flexing and being resilient.
I think the proof is in the pudding.
In all my years shooting Glocks and reading about them, I've never seen or heard of one damaged frame from slide impact.
OTOH there have been many reports of buffers disintegrating inside Glocks and causing stoppages.
I put one in my 17L for a while and felt no difference. I decided there was no reward, only risk.

[shot1]

If your slide is hitting the frame then you need a new spring. The spring stops the slide from coming back far enough to hit the frame. Never heard of a Glock having this type of frame damage. Springs a not expensive. I would put a new one in every 10,000 rounds or so. How long would it take the average person to shoot 10,000 rounds through their Glock? Most would never.

[His lordship.]

So essentually, the slide really does not touch/or very little, the frame upon recoil if the spring is good?  I noticed that with my new Mini-14 rifle after several trips to the range I checked the impact areas of where the bolt and linkage were thought to be hitting the receiver and found no real sign of impact.  I had planned to install a recoil buffer but not now, especially after Ruger says that there already is one, which looks like the recoil spring mount fitting on the reciever.  I did not want to spend the money if I did not have to. 

[HAMMERHEAD]

The spring is not the 'stop' for the motion of the slide on a Glock or any other locked breach pistol.
It would take a much stronger recoil spring to stop the slide. There's only about an 3/16" of travel after the stripper rail passes the rear of the cartridge in the magazine before the slide hits the frame. The spring would have to stop the slide in that 3/16" for the stripper rail to pick up a fresh cartridge from the magazine and for the slide not to hit the frame.
Rack your Glock, you can see it and feel it hit the frame. Shooting it does the same thing with even more power.
It's the area just forward of the front rails that takes the impact.

[team101]

I have seen two glocks damaged in this area; both were glock 23's.  The first was a gen 2 that I owned with a round count <2k that was being excessively battered and deforming the contact area.  The second was a gen 3 owned by a co-worker with a round count in the 3-5k range and it cracked the frame in two at the front slide rails.  Perhaps they had weak springs from the factory???  Despite this, I would not add a buffer to any defensive handgun or any handgun that I didn't want to risk suffering a stoppage.

[His lordship.]

team101...you bring up a good point with the .40 S/W.  Thanks for the info on the stressed Glocks.  I used to own a CZ-75 in .40 S/W and when it was new I put in a Buffertech recoil buffer, after 600 rounds it was almost squashed flat.  The customer reviews on the buffers for the .40 also say that the buffer has a very short life due to the heavy hitting of the .40.  I also put in a Buffertech in my new CZ-75 in 9 MM, after 8 years and at least 1,200 rounds it still looks good.

I sold my .40 caliber CZ as the recoil seemed "Angry" to me, too stout.  I could see having one as a police officer, but not a cartridge for me.  I don't mind the .45 ACP, a heavier thump, but it is tolerable. In the book "Glock" by Patrick Sweeney, he mentioned that the .40 was peening the slides on the pistols, a picture was shown, the designers put in an indentation to help fix this.  I really like the 9 MM and feel it is fine for all around use.  I might get another .45 but the cost of ammo keeps me re-thinking that  

[Spector]

I bought my Glock 21 in 1991.  I cracked the inside corners off the frame some years ago, but I continue to shoot it with no problems.  The pistol has between 13,000 and 14,000 rounds through it now.  Most of them in the early years when I had hot-rod fever.

I've fired the Lee 255 RF at 982 fps and the Magsafe 66 grain Swat loads at over 2100 fps.   I unsure which load cracked the frame.  I just took a knife and trimmed the corners off since they were battered back and cracked.  Hasn't seemed to make any difference.  Most times I run the origional factory captured recoil spring, but sometimes I substitute a Wolff 24 pound spring.

Several weeks ago I fired some Lee 252 SWC's at 857 fps.

The pistol used to love the Lee 200 grain SWC.  Gave great accuracy and function.  I had some failures to eject with the 252's.  I think it was just me limp-wristing the pistol as it stopped once I took a more aggressive grip.

I have even run some paper patched cast bullets through it at various speeds.

Keep your Glock digesting standard pressure loads and it will do just fine.  Mine still does well, though it has been abused.  Most of my loads have been cast lead.  Yeah I know the old wives tale, but I don't buy it.

The day I brought mine home I thinned the grip with a hunting knife.  Last year I shortened the grip and cut the swell off the back of the grip.  I filled it in with black Acra-glas, reshaped it and then textured the grip.  It's now a 21/30 and I prefer the shortened grip.

I'm betting it will still be going strong, even with it's cracked frame, long after I'm gone.  Flexing is the secret to it's longivity.  Wish I was still flexible.  Ugh.............Mike

[Coup De Grāce]

NOT a good idea to use a recoil buffer on a Glock frame.  

Glock frames are not plastic; they're nylon and much more resilient than many plastics.  When I first got into Glocks I tried using these recoil buffers.  (Think I might still have a pack, or two, of them around somewhere!)  None went, even, 200 rounds before ripping apart and binding up the slide so that the pistol wouldn't operate.  

Use the proper weight recoil spring AND keep that spring in good condition by changing it out every 4 or 5 thousand rounds - You'll be fine!