Find Out How Durable The Glock 19 Is After Running 30k Rounds

When I got into suppressors, I kept hearing folks debate the advantages of sealed cans. They’re self-cleaning, the argument goes. I got to thinking about guns along the same line. Could it be possible that some guns are self-cleaning, too? If so, the logical place to start would be with the Glock 19, which led to this torture test.

Running a 30K-Round Torture Test on a Glock 19

It didn’t seem likely that the Glock 19 is self-cleaning, really. But I wanted to try it out. And I’m not crazy about gun cleaning, either. So, not long after I bought this Gen 4 G19, I stopped cleaning it.

What I’ve Done with This Gun

I began shooting this G19 for gun reviews—back in 2012, I think. Shortly after, I began carrying it. As I began using this in training classes, the round count increased quickly (often 500+ rounds in single-day courses).

Now, I help with holster development and marketing for Safariland. Most of our new holster projects begin with Glocks (as they remain the most common handguns in use with police departments). So, this G19 still sees regular range-time.

The G19 will eat anything. For this range session, I’m shooting Hornady’s Critical Duty (which is what I carry in the G19) and Remington ball for high-volume practice.

What I’ve Not Done with My Glock 19

I shoot this gun every time I go to the range, but I’ve never abused it unnecessarily. This is my Glock. I bought it myself back when I was just getting started as a writer. I’ve never felt compelled to push it through mag-dump after mag-dump rapid-fire torture testing. Most of its use falls into what I’d consider practical scenarios.

Snow, mud, rain, dirt, heat, cold… of course. Running endless streams of ammo to heat the gun to the point of absurdity? No. What’s the point? One thing I’ve accepted to be true: you can force failure in anything if you try hard enough.

Why Did I Stop Cleaning Guns?

Back before my son was born (he’s 17 now), I cleaned guns religiously. Even if I was just sighting in a hunting rifle, I would swab, soak, and scrub. I’d put on a movie I’d seen before and get at it, and I genuinely enjoyed the practice (and the smell of Hoppes).

Glock 19 Torture Test: The steel parts inside the frame seem to take care of themselves. The use of stainless steel helps with rust and corrosion, and friction clears the fouling.

With a kid running around, though, I put away the chemicals and never got back in the habit. I will occasionally blow out an action with some Rem Oil or wipe down blued steel. However, there are some guns, like my Glocks, that I run hard and never clean.

Sometime after about 15,000 rounds, I began this informal experiment. How far can this Glock 19 go before I begin to see any measurable degradation in performance? While I’m uncertain about the exact number, I’d guess I’ve crossed the 30,000-round mark now and have some notes.

The Exterior

The plastic on the plastic fantastic continues to hold up well, and the gun is only exposed to light when I shoot or carry it OWB. Sunlight, more than any other environmental factor, is hell on plastics.

But chemicals, too, take their toll. As I’ve not cleaned this gun regularly, there’s no material degradation from chemical exposure.

While the G19 was on my hip for much of the last decade, I’ve replaced it now with the G45.

Glock finishes its slides on the double-stacks with a salt-bath ferritic-nitrocarburizing. MELONITE is hard to scratch through and provides much more robust rust protection than standard bluing. The treatment is a surface finish—one that doesn’t build up. It’s a finish I’ve handled thousands of times without any concern for moisture or sweat.

Even still, I’d expected to see more holster wear on the gun than I do. There’s a bit of steel shining through at the muzzle end, but not much.

The Controls

I’ve never messed with the mag release or slide-stop lever. As I trained more with the gun, I developed the muscle memory needed to run these reliably. Then, it became part of the overall goal of keeping the gun stock just to track its lifespan.

The Stock G19 Sights

The sights on a Glock are plastic. Since they protrude a bit from the slide, they’re prone to wear. The front sight has a rough feel—it has nicks you can feel but not really see. Likewise, the white dot isn’t as bright as it could be.

The Well-Used G19 Trigger

After about 20,000 rounds, this trigger began to get a bit gritty. I am not a fan of stock Glock triggers, anyhow, but the Gen 4 versions were far from terrible. As the grime began to build up in the gun, it began to feel somewhat sticky.

Glock 19 Torture Test: Look up the trigger shoe here, and you can see where the filth from inside the frame is making its way out. The trigger is the only part of this that is not performing as I’d like. It has gotten a bit sticky.

I have a newer G45 and G47 in the safe now, and both triggers feel amazing by comparison.

Still, while there are some issues building, it resets as it should, the shoe comes forward, and the trigger shoe safety actuates freely. So, we press on.

The Internals

Traditional barrels have deep grooves that tend to fill with gunk. The sharp edges of these lands will sometimes pick up copper from jackets. Glock, though, uses polygonal rifling that allows for more surface contact (as there are no channeled grooves). The result is a barrel that is better at cleaning itself out as the bullet forms to the inside of this barrel and sweeps out buildup.

It is hard to capture the inside of a barrel, but this shows enough to see how much fouling lines the barrel.

Most agree that the Gen 4 guns use chromium-molybdenum steel for the slides—likely 4140. It can be worked cold, withstand abuse, and provide reasonable corrosion resistance.

Barrels, if you trust the internet, are made of stainless steel. I don’t think this is true. These are carbon steel barrels—likely the same type as the slide.

The Glock Small Parts

Looking deep into the slide is complex. On the one hand, these parts are well protected—shielded somewhat by the slide—and are, therefore, less likely to get gummed up. I’ve not had the striker hang up on this gun.

The firing pin safety continues to function as intended. Likewise, the drop safety, in which the trigger bar is held in place by housing that prevents unintentional travel of the firing pin, has also never presented any problems.

Glock 19 Torture Test: Is a Glock 19 self-cleaning? No. Hardly. Will debris and build-up shift itself during live fire? It looks like it to me.

The Recoil Spring

Maybe the dirtiest part of this gun will be the area surrounding the recoil spring. This is where the muzzle kicks out the detritus. Even here, though, I’m not seeing anything atypical.

What Can I Conclude from This?

The Glock seems utterly foolproof. I’ve carried this on abusive hog hunts. I’ve carried it in the rain. This G19 was my EDC gun for more than a decade (AIWB). Through all of this, I’ve never had anything that I’d consider a fault.

As this is one of the guns I regularly use when teaching, I’ve seen new shooters with poor grip control struggle with ejection. Even new Glocks run better when you hold them firmly, but this one will stall if you limp-wrist it.

At this point in this gun’s lifespan, the most common failure I experience is the slide falling on an empty mag.

Small parts show healthy wear. The slide stop has lost some of its finish.

This kind of reliability is why Glock still sits at the top of national sales lists. It is why many, if not most, of the so-called experts would put the Glock high up on their list of guns for EDC, duty use, and SHTF.

When you need a gun that will work, no matter what, Glock has earned the top spot.

For more information, please visit us.Glock.com.