The GLOCK 22 was introduced to the U.S. market at the 1990 SHOT Show. It immediately became one of the most popular law enforcement handguns on the market, largely due to the increasing popularity of the .40 S&W cartridge back in the early ’90s.
A friend wanted to “re-home” this old, worn-out duty gun and wanted to help him by getting it better shape for him to sell.
After some quick research and a couple of emails, I discovered that this particular pistol was imported into the United States in November, 1991 and was most likely issued not long after that. That makes this pistol almost 35 years old, and boy, it shows it.
Given that I know the GLOCK platform well enough to be dangerous, I gave it a good going over to see what I was dealing with.
The First Look
This pistol is worn and has been used hard, but it wasn’t dirty or damaged. It had Tru-Glo fiber-optic front and rear sights, which were good sights for the time.
One thing that immediately got my attention was the gun’s horrific trigger pull. I have never felt a pull that bad. It was heavy, mushy and gritty…all at the same time.
As I mentioned before, I know the GLOCK platform enough to be dangerous, so after the obligatory field stripping, I went on to disassemble the frame. That’s where I got my first surprise.
While pushing out the trigger pin, it easily came out—in two pieces. My first thought was, “That’s not a good sign.” I feared what I would find next.
After completely disassembling the frame, I discovered the reason why the trigger was so nasty. The pistol was fitted with an early, God-awful New York trigger. It was one of the early black ones without a spring.
For those who are unfamiliar, the GLOCK New York trigger was created to increase the trigger pull weight and mimic the heavy double-action feel of traditional revolvers. It was requested by the New York Police Department to prevent accidental or negligent discharges when transitioning officers from wheelguns to striker-fired semi-automatic pistols.
The NY trigger replaces the factory trigger spring with a polymer component that makes your GLOCK trigger much worse than the nastiest revolver trigger pull you have ever felt. Yes, it’s an abomination.
And to make matters worse, this pistol had one of the early versions of the NY trigger.
After seeing this mess, I decided to triage the G22 and determine the order in which I’d clean it up and replace parts. This had more to do with the parts I had on hand and the parts I’d need to order.
After seeing the condition of the frame, I was almost afraid to disassemble the slide. Fortunately, the slide wasn’t that bad. I wiped it down and started a detailed cleaning.
After completely stripping the slide, I ran a clean swab through the striker/firing pin channel. To my surprise, the polymer channel liner came out stuck to my swab. That was a first for me. Previously, whenever I wanted to remove a channel liner, I had to struggle to get it out. That development added another part to my list.
Surgery
After inspecting both the frame and slide, I made a list of all the parts I wanted to replace.
Sights: I didn’t really need to replace the Tru-Glo sights. They were actually fine, but I wanted this pistol to be as close to stock as possible.
Channel Liner: That one was pretty much self-explanatory. When the channel liner came out with my swab, I figured it needed to be replaced.
Firing Pin Spacer Sleeve: This is one of the integral parts of the firing pin/striker assembly. This one showed a ton of wear, and I didn’t want to risk it.
Firing Pin Spring Cups: These are the two little cups that hold the firing pin/striker assembly together, and boy, did they show wear.
That New York Trigger: Like I said before, this one was just plain nasty. They all are. I replaced it with a brand-new GLOCK OEM trigger spring.
Trigger Pin: Again, obvious. This one was broken in half and needed to be replaced.
There were a couple of other parts I wanted to swap out, but I didn’t have them on hand at the time. After reassembling the pistol, I went ahead and did a whole lot of dry firing. Just replacing that horrendous polymer thing with a GLOCK spring made the pull much better, but at the same time, it still wasn’t the best.
So, I made a list of the other parts I wanted to replace. These weren’t essential for the safe operation of the gun, I just wanted some peace of mind and to make the gun better than it was.
Ordering
Even though GLOCK OEM parts are readily available online, I prefer going through Brownells. Not only do they have pretty much every GLOCK and aftermarket part listed on their website, but they also have a great schematic that shows you the part, where it goes and the correct name for it.
This helps a lot. Trust me.
Second Surgery
Again, most of the parts involved in this second surgery session didn’t really need to be replaced, but GLOCK parts are so inexpensive that replacing them was a no-brainer.
I replaced the following parts:
Firing Pin Spring: The original wasn’t bad, but I like replacing springs regularly. They aren’t expensive, and it’s just good practice if you shoot your guns regularly.
Connector: This pistol was fitted with a very early connector. It wasn’t bad, but you never know.
Slide Stop: This part wasn’t bad and had what looked like normal wear, but because the slide stop has a spring in it and I wanted to make sure. Springs wear out.
Firing Pin Safety and Spring: Talk about a part that never seems to wear. This one was replaced because “Why not?”
Extractor Depressor Plunger Assembly: Another part that didn’t really need to be replaced. I could have gotten away with replacing just the spring, but I found the complete assembly, so I went for it.
Slide Plate Cover: I didn’t need to replace this part at all. There was nothing wrong with the factory one, but it was so cheap so, again, why not?
Locking Block Pin: I have never seen this part break or prematurely wear out, but I had a new one, so I replaced it.
Trigger Housing Pin: This part is polymer, and sometimes it wears badly enough that it can move during recoil. It’s inexpensive a swapping it out is cheap insurance.
Slide Lock: I have never seen this part break, but I have seen them worn out and deformed. Given that the .40 cartridge is snappier than 9mm, I went with the safe route: replacement.
Trigger Housing with Ejector: This is another part I like replacing on older guns. This pistol was almost 35 years old. Time for a new one.
After reassembling the gun and doing some dry fire, I measured the trigger pull with my Lyman Electronic Digital Trigger Pull Gauge. I did five pulls and came out with an average of four pounds. That’s not bad, especially compared to the horrific state is was in when I got it.
The Final Result
After all that work, shooting and testing, this pistol really grew on me. Like a fungus. I’ve failed as a pistol foster parent. I made my friend a fair offer, and he took it. I guess now I own another GLOCK 22.
It needed a lot of parts due to its age and the fact that it came from the original officer who carried it for a very long time. I think he carried this pistol until he retired.
Normally, police trade-in duty guns aren’t in this kind of condition. Re-sellers, and often enough the factories, perform safety checks and replace worn parts before the guns get to the civilian market. Not this one.
I went a little overboard with most of these replacement parts, but after coming to the conclusion that I wanted to keep the pistol, I wanted to get it in the best shape possible.
Even though I’m not the biggest .40 S&W cartridge lover, I have a soft spot in my heart for the cartridge and the GLOCK 22. If you find one of these for a decent price — and there are lots of old .40s out there — give it a second look. Parts are cheap and and there’s a plethora of high-quality aftermarket parts available for them. And GLOCKS are easy to work on.
Remember, adopt before you buy new. These pistols need loving homes, too.
One good thing about Glocks is that parts will be available for a long time.