Guide Rods and Spring Weights for Glock?

[rodralig]

Newbie shooter here (just passed my 1st month)...

I've been seeing some threads, posts, blogs, etc. that a recommended upgrade for a Glock would be replacing the "plastic" guide rod with either a Stainless Steel or a Tungsten one (with the latter being twice the cost of the former).

But most of the information are from at least 5-years back, and am not aware of any changes/perceptions on a guide rod upgrade...

1. How much a difference would this upgrade be? Is there really a noticeable between the stock Polymer and the SS/Tungsten?
2. I've heard that Tungsten is the better upgrade; but just be wary that it tends to break more than the SS. Is this still true? Either for Lone Wolf or GlockStore? Some say that it's better to spend the price difference on ammo, etc. as they basically do the same thing...
3. For spring weights - the stock is at 17lbs. Exactly what would happen if I move down a weight, say 15lbs; or move up to 20lbs? When would you use one or the other?
4. Or as some have also said - the only thing that would happen is the owner would just be $50 poorer...

Thanks for any inputs!!!

[pacmule]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[robert101]

You can change the stock guide rod but why spend the money? I would consider going to a SS rod an upgrade but the cost doesn't seem to justify the action. As to revising the spring rate (weight) if you don't reload then I suggest you leave it as is.

[Sheldon]

The tungsten is heaviest and adds weight to your pistol but would reduce the felt recoil some.........enough to be worth the added cost of the tungsten I dont know. Guys usually go lighter on the recoil spring to ensure reliable cycling with lighter loaded ammunition.

[Garv]

I got the tungsten guide rod for my G34 Gen. 4.

It reduces muzzle flip for me and eliminated FTEs when my wife shoots it.

Bought it when on sale at Glockstore for the same regular price as the steel rod.

Could it be a difference in spring weight?
IDK, but MY Glock is now my wifes' favorite gun.

Edit:
(Wife was limp-wristing and we were working on it, but the difference was immediate.)

[jeremiah12]

IMHO, unless you are having issues related to the stock guide rod, or for some reason need a lighter or heavier spring weight, I would leave it stock and shoot 1,000 rounds out of it before you decide to do anything. The stock guide rod works well for most.

The exception I would make to that is the G20 or G29. It comes with a stock 17 lb spring and the 10mm round can easily handle a 19 or 21 lb spring. I would go at least 21 lbs if shooting hot loads.

For my G42, I did install a 10% lighter SS spring because I was experiencing many FTE and some stovepipes, especially with target rounds. This took care of the problem.

I also purchased a gen 4 G26 under the old SSE. I was experiencing stove pipe issues, FTE, and the slide not fully returning to battery. By the time I figured out what the problem was (the polymer frame was slightly out of alignment causing extra friction on the slide) Glock was willing to replace it, but SSE was over and so they would only replace it with a gen 3.

I am a lefty and due to a stroke I am unable to shoot right handed. I found replacing the guide rod with a SS one with an 18 lb spring solved the problem and it is now my CCW gun. Very reliable and eats all but the cheapest reloads. I am almost as accurate with it as my G17, which still has the plastic guide rod.

Before you spend the money, you might want to try shooting someone's Glock with a SS or tungsten guide rod.

[Germ1]

Metal guide rods are worthless. The only time they are worthy is with high volumes of fire, like with a automatic Glock 18. I have 14,000 rounds through my Glock 19, OEM guide rod and springs.

[Germ1]

I got the tungsten guide rod for my G34 Gen. 4.

It reduces muzzle flip for me and eliminated FTEs when my wife shoots it.

Bought it when on sale at Glockstore for the same regular price as the steel rod.

Could it be a difference in spring weight?
IDK, but MY Glock is now my wifes' favorite gun.

Edit:
(Wife was limp-wristing and we were working on it, but the difference was immediate.)

No it doesn't. a metal guide rod weight is probably immeasurable difference compared to the plastic one.(makes no difference) The only reason they exist is for the automatic variants of Glocks. Your wife is limp wristing, like you said. Minuscule weight added to the front of the gun isn't going to prevent muzzle flip, proper grip will.

[rodralig]

Thanks for the inputs!

Yeah, it is NOT that I'd definitely want to upgrade. But hearing about these contraptions in some forums/blogs/YouTube/etc; and me being a newbie - has definitely piqued my interest.

Regardless of whether I do choose to spend the $$$ here or something else, it is definitely good information.

[ElDub1950]

I'd think 1 out of 100 people could detect a difference with a guide rod swap. And unless you're shooting extremely hot or extremely weak ammo, no need to screw with the springs. IMHO

[Eljay]

There's a lot of placebo effect with these things and I don't personally believe the weight makes a difference to my shooting, although I haven't tried tungsten.

That being said I have a couple of Glocks where I wanted a different spring weight. For my competition G34s I only run fairly soft ammo. I'm never going to put +P hollowpoints in there or whatever. So I can go lighter with the springs.

For my nightstand G17 it's just the opposite. I'm ONLY running +P hollowpoints in there. And I'd rather go a little heavier - I think I'm at 20 or 21 pounds, something like that.

Those models both use 17 pounds for factory which is a nice general purpose kind of spring since they don't really know what you'll be doing with it. It's pretty much perfect for normal factory ammo.

Also I shoot the G34s a lot and I change the recoil springs pretty often just so I don't have to worry about it and once you have the guide rod the springs are like $7 each so compared to flying, hotel, car rental etc. it's really of no consequence versus piece of mind.

[CandG]

What model glock are we talking about here?

Some (or maybe all? I dunno) models use a captured recoil spring assembly, so you can't really replace the spring without replacing the guide rod, and vice versa. The plastic guide rod is fine for probably 95% of shooters, and the factory spring is fine for most glock models and shooters. I only ever replace mine with different spring weights when I need to solve a problem - such as on my 10mm G29, where the slide was slamming into the frame because of a weak factory spring weight.

[rodralig]

What model glock are we talking about here?

Glock 22

Also I shoot the G34s a lot and I change the recoil springs pretty often just so I don't have to worry about it and once you have the guide rod the springs are like $7 each so compared to flying, hotel, car rental etc. it's really of no consequence versus piece of mind.

How many rounds, on average, before you change the springs?

Well, if I decide to get one that I could change the spring, then it would Lone Wolf then...



Hhhhmmm... The lure of the Lenny Magill marketing! Hahaha!

[CandG]

Glock 22

How many rounds, on average, before you change the springs?

Ya that looks like a captured spring, so I think you have to replace the whole assembly. If it were me, I'd at least upgrade to stainless guide rod since you're replacing the spring anyways. Even if you don't notice a difference, it's a nice upgrade - easier to clean, more durable, neat looking silver endcap on front of pistol...

I'm not sure what the Glock Armorers say about round counts, but I would guess no less than 5-10k rounds before it might become a concern.

[Garv]

No it doesn't. a metal guide rod weight is probably immeasurable difference compared to the plastic one.(makes no difference) The only reason they exist is for the automatic variants of Glocks. Your wife is limp wristing, like you said. Minuscule weight added to the front of the gun isn't going to prevent muzzle flip, proper grip will.

YMMV.

The weight difference is about 1.3 ounces, that is not insignificant and quite measurable.
There is also a larger moment arm on a G34 compared to your G19.
It may not be much, but it worked for both of us immediately.
I did not say prevent, I said reduce flip.