Glock 23 Machine Pistol Configuration Part Two

'Heavier Recoil Springs'
I was thinking of putting an extra power recoil spring to reduce wear and tear on the gun especially since I am now firing full auto on it, it sort of makes sense. However, it turns out that there are some adverse effects when using heavier recoil springs, like increased muzzle flip and felt recoil based on this advise from Springtech: http://www.custom-glock.com/springtech.html

They recommend using a LOWER strength recoil spring to reduce felt recoil and muzzle flip, but that would increase the wear and tear on the gun, especially if I use it at full-auto. As it is, I think I will stay with the stock recoil spring for now.

'Alternative Extended Magazine Option'
They are selling those 22 round .40S&W magazines at Makati Cinema Square (MCS) at insane prices, so on alternative to getting higher capacity magazines at cheaper prices for your Compact-sized Glock would be to:
a) Buy magazines used for the full-sized Glocks;
b) Buy magazine extensions for it.

Magazines for full sized Glocks will fit into the compact units, meaning a Glock 22 mag will fit into a Glock 23, if you don't mind the bottom of the mag extending out from your magwell. But then again, if are going to replace and extend the basepads, it wouldn't matter anyway. Trust Trade seems to offer the cheapest Glock magazines, I bought Glock 22 (with "Austria" markings ) Generation 4 magazines (with ambidextrous locking depressions) from them for only P1.7k (with flat basepads).

Take note, though, that removing the baseplates on the stock Glock magazines can be a pretty difficult thing to do, thanks to the over-zealous locking protrusions. In the end, I decided to just remove those protrusions using a cutter to make it easier to remove/install those basepads. I don't think this will affect the functionality of the unit, as the magazine spring tension should be enough to lock those basepads in place.

Glock 23 Machine Pistol Configuration Part One

'Glock Full Auto - Initial Shots'
I had an all-metal Fire Selector Switch for Glock (FSSG) that was given to me by a gunsmith (see "My Fab Defense KPOS Review Part 3" for the full story), and I wanted to try it out, just to see how full auto fire would be with a .40S&W caliber round and a compact frame like the Glock 23. The FSSG is currently stuck on full-auto mode only, I dare not have it fitted again to have select fire capability for fear that it will be ruined again.

I wanted to fire it free hand (i.e., without the help of a shoulder stock and/or front grip), only using my two hands. I haven't fired any pistol in full auto before, so I decided to take it slow, loading only three rounds into the magazines for every shot. I was afraid that if I load a full magazine, the worst will happen and I will start shooting the ceiling if the recoil was severe. I used my standard shooting settings: 13 meters, SWC-TC reloads.

When I fired the first shot, I was surprised at the violence of the recoil. Since I'm firing a .40S&W round, the recoil of three shots was severe, I could feel a tingling in my right hand. Muzzle climb was severe also: I aimed at the center, and the first shot was at center, the second higher, and the third out of the target board. I shot nine more rounds of three rounds per magazine for a total of twelve, and out of those twelve rounds, only seven hit the target board, two of which hit both ears of the target. I even tried aiming at the bottom of the target to compensate for the muzzle climb, but to no avail.



Lesson learned is you definitely cannot fire full auto using a .40S&W caliber in a compact pistol free hand, and hope to have decent accuracy, at least not at 13 meters. At this point, I decided to take a break, go outside, and buy a Fab Defense GLR 440 Stock. I wanted to see how much control a shoulder stock will give me when I shoot the pistol.