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.


For the magazine extensions, I tried buying the +8 .40S&W magazine extensions from "Taylor Freelance", but they are not allowed to export to other countries at the moment. They referred me to "Brownell's", but they were asking me for export licenses, etc., so I just begged off. In the end, I just bought the "Arredondo +5 .40S&W Magazine Extension Kit, which one could easily buy without any hassle online since they ship worldwide. The kit contains the basepad extensions, a custom spring, and a removal tool.

They arrived after about a week and a half wait, and they work quite well, so now my my Glock 23 magazines holds 18 rounds instead of the regular 13 rounds, and my Glock 22 magazines now holds 20 rounds instead of just 15. Price for each extension worked out to about P2k per unit, which is more than the cost of a new Glock 23 magazine. Then again, these extensions give you more bullets before you need to change your magazine.

Glock 22 magazine with Arredondo +5 .40S&W Magazine Extension


Glock 23 Magazine with +5 .40S&W Arredondo Magazine Extensions


The new springs allowed me to load only 15 rounds on it initially, but I kept the mag with that load for about a week to allow the springs to "soften" up a bit, and then loaded the remaining three. Its peculiar that it's a bit hard to load the third from the last round on the mag, but after you push it that, the remaining last two rounds are easy to load. So far they have worked perfectly, no failures to feed because of it.

'Drop-In FSSG'
I was able to acquire another Fire-Selector Switch for Glock (FSSG). The thing I liked about this unit, is that it is completely drop-in. Just replace the Rear Face Plate, and you are ready to go. When I performed the Dry-Fire Test for FSSGs I described in "My Fab Defense KPOS Review Part Three", the slides sorts of pauses a bit when you hold on to the slide as it goes into battery, so that you need to push it a bit in to move the slide fully forward and release the Striker. However, this is not an issue when you allow the slide to go back on its own during actual firing.

I'm pretty happy with the unit, it looks great. The surface was very fine, no tool marks visible on its exterior. The black finish matches the Glock finish very well, making it look like a stock Glock part. It worked very well during the shooting session, enabling my unit to have true select fire capability from semi to full auto and vice versa. The only issue was that the button that selects the type of fire for the gun was a bit too stiff when switching from full auto to semi-auto such that you needed a good push of that button, or a light tap using a rubber or wood surface to activate it. After awhile of switching back and forth, though, the switch became loose enough that it wasn't an issue anymore.

Drop-In Fire Selector Switch for Glock


My Glock 23 in Machine Pistol configuration as of Feb. 8, 2012


(End of Part Two)

--> Glock 23 Machine Pistol Configuration Part One

--> Glock 23 Machine Pistol Configuration Part Three

--> Glock 23 Machine Pistol Configuration Part Four