My Glock 23 Review Part Three

'Trigger Disassembly'
I wanted to install a New York Trigger on my unit, and to do so I needed to disassemble the Trigger Assembly. To do this, I first needed to remove the three pins on the frame of a typical Glock: The Trigger Pin, the Trigger Housing Pin and the Locking Block Pin. I was able to easily remove both the Locking Block and Trigger Housing Pins with a slight tap with the help of a small nail. However, I had a hard time removing the Trigger Pin. After a couple of hard taps and nothing still happening, I decided to check in the internet as I felt something was wrong. Besides, I didn't want to ruin my Glock just because of something I missed. When in doubt, check the internet.

And true enough, it turns out that you don't need or want to force out that Trigger Pin. The key to removing it, is to sort of move the Slide Stop Lever back and forth while maintaining force against that Trigger Pin. After a couple of wiggling, the Trigger Pin just sort of slid out easily out of the frame. Its an alignment issue, apparently the spring on the Slide Stop Lever sometimes gets caught in the groove of the Trigger Pin:
- http://glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1184726

The internet can really be such a great help, I sometimes wonder how things would've been if it weren't around.

'New York 1 Trigger'
I thought about tinkering with the Glock trigger because I wanted to be able to shoot quickly and accurately with it. I read in some respectable sources that experts say the best trigger job available for the Glock would be a so-called "New York 1 Trigger (NY1)", coupled with a 3.5 lb. Connector. When I saw a NY1 Trigger available locally during the recent Gun Show, I immediately bought it as a first step of finding that "ideal" trigger.

The standard, Out of the Box trigger for a Glock 23 is a light slack, followed by a heavy, squishy break, or something like, "light-light-heavier-heavier squishy-break". What the NY1 Trigger does, is make that light slack heavier, or something like, "heavy-heavy-heavier-even heavier squishy-break". It makes the Glock trigger a little bit safer because of that heavier trigger slack pull.


I don't find the NY1 Trigger to be very heavy, I kinda like it, maybe because I am used to the revolver-like trigger pull of my SIG P250. The P250's trigger pull is longer and very slightly heavier. The NY1 Trigger is a drop in replacement part you can do, here is a good video for it (though it did not address much the difficulty of removing that Trigger Pin):
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p52Z75UAKC8

There is an even heavier "New York Trigger 2 (NY2)", and it is differentiated by having an orange color instead of the olive drab color of the NY1 Trigger.

'Glock Accessories'
One great thing about the Glock, is that you can buy so many accessories for it. Some say you don't need all that accessorizing, but customizing your gun to fit your individual, personal needs I feel will enable you to be able to shoot the gun more effectively, and with more confidence. Aside from the parts I bought from the local gunshow describe above, I also decided to buy some hard to find additional accessories from the internet.

I decided to buy from the "Rock Your Glock" website, because they offer Paypal and seem to be a respectable online seller. The parts I bought I think are cheaper than the local sellers, but this is offset by the shipping costs, which ran up to USD 35 for the safest method. I just bought one a piece so it wouldn't bother customs, and didn't buy the obvious gun parts (like triggers, barrels, etc.). I bought a Ghost 3.5 lb Connector, Tungsten Guide Rod (non-permanent captive) and a 4 in 1 Armorer Tool. The package was delivered to our house after 21 days, or three weeks.

'Standard Trigger and 3.5 lb. Connector Combination'
Replacing the Connector is pretty easy, especially now that I have a Glock Armorer's Tool. Here is a good Youtube video showing the quick way of replacing Glock Connectors:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfyytGNqohY&

I tried putting the 3.5 lb. Connector in first with the Standard Trigger Spring, and found that the 3.5 lb. Connector does a couple of things:
- First, is that it lightens A LOT that rising pressure before the break (i.e. release of Striker).
- Second, is that it EVENS out the trigger pull, instead of rising trigger pressure, you will have a slightly heavier but even or constant pressure before the break;
- And it smoothens the trigger pull, removing that "squishiness" of the trigger.

So instead of the "light-light-heavier-even heavier squishy-break" of the standard trigger combination, you end up with like, "light-light-slightly heavier-slightly heavier-break". Personally, I don't like the trigger combination, it feels too light for comfort. The travel distance of the "slightly heavier" pull is a bit too short for safety.

'NY1 Trigger and 3.5 lb. Connector Combination'
I decided to put back the NY1 Trigger, and see how it goes with the 3.5lb. Connector. The result was a more reassuring, or "safer" trigger, that goes like, "heavy-heavy-slightly heavier-slightly heavier-break". However, I did notice that the trigger now feels a lot like a two-stage trigger. That Glock trigger has always been a two-stage trigger, but with the standard trigger spring the slack was so light you hardly notice it. But now you can easily feel and distinguish the "heavy" pull to the "slightly heavier" pull.

That part where the trigger gets slightly heavier is actually the part when the trigger is actually pulling back the Striker before the release. I also notice that the trigger does not reset or "go back" during dry firing using the 3.5 lb. Connector, unlike with the Standard Connector where you can actually feel the trigger reset even if you have already pulled the trigger on an empty chamber.

'Tungsten Guide Rod'
I bought the Tungsten Guide Rod in the hopes that it will help lighten up the recoil and speed up sight acquisition as the makers claim, but I felt a bit disappointed when I received it as it doesn't seem to be as heavy as I imagined, and I am not sure if it will have any positive effects on the recoil. Besides, now that I have fired the gun, the sight-acquisition is already quite good even without the tungsten guide rod.

It does make the gun a bit heavier, and changes the balance of the gun, though not really in a good way. I felt it sort of messed up with the way it feels in my hand too much, unlike before when it did not have that extra weight up front.

I also had a bit of problem putting the recoil spring into the guide rod, I needed the help of a colleague to hold the spring back while I cap the end of the rod. It is basically a two-man operation I think for most people. If people are going to buy a stainless steel or tungsten guide rod, I recommend getting the ones with the recoil spring already in place. That would mean an easier time replacing the recoil spring assemblies as you could just drop it in.

The Tungsten Guide Rod came with a Recoil Buffer for free, but I had a hard time assembling the gun back in with it around, so I just decided to leave it out.

'Glock Armorer's Tool'
I got the Glock Armorer's 4-in-1 Tool from Lone Wolf Distributors. Its neat, kinda heavy as it is made of brass and has a clip that allows you to attach it to your clothing. Two of the tools (i.e.,
3/32" pin punch for removing all Glock pins and small flat head screwdriver for connector removal) can be hidden inside the brass body, while the small nylon parts brush and 3/16" nut driver for installation and removal of aftermarket front sights are on both ends of the tool. You can also screw-in into the 3/16" nut driver end the pin punch or screwdriver if needed.

'Parting Shot'
Despite the modifications, I still can't decide about the Trigger Setup to use. The "Standard Trigger Spring-3.5 lb. Connector" combination feels too light for safety, though it seems I can shoot quicker with it. The "NY1 Trigger-Standard Connector" is just too heavy for comfortable shooting.

The "NY1 Trigger Spring-3.5 lb. Connector" combination is acceptable, but feels a bit too much like a two-stage trigger, so I still want to tweak it a bit. And also there is that no-reset issue with the use of the 3.5 lb. Connector which I want to see if there will be an effect during actual firing.

What I am looking for is like a constant, short heavy trigger pull with no less or no build-up before the break. The way things are looking, it looks like I might have to mess around with the Striker Spring to get the trigger pull that I want.

Also not sure about the effectiveness of the Tungsten Guide Rod, not heavy enough though skewing up the pistol's balance. However, I will hold final assessment of the new parts until after I have shot another 100 rounds into it, see how it all feels during actual firing.

(End of Part Three)

--> My Glock 23 Review Part One

--> My Glock 23 Review Part Two

--> My Glock Review Part Four

--> My Glock 23 Review Part Five