Update:
March 9 began to have FTE on G19 TSG .22 conversion (G17 conversion continued to work properly).
Clean and try again..
FTE continues.
Dis-assembled and Firing pin safety again fell out into my hand.
Contacted TSG who gave me a work order # and asked I send it in.
Sent in conversion via USPS 3/21/14 ($9.10 including $200 insurance and 3 day delivery) .
Conversion arrived back to me ( no charge
) via UPS ( no charge
) one week after they received it.
Technician "Colt" repaired including the following....
"I installed a new housing and extractor, polished your connector cam and ramp and re chambered the barrel, I shot 100 rounds of blazer and mini mag with no issue and I sent it back your direction.
This may have been a regular issue as you can see they changed the housing and extractor.
Extractor is now a one piece "spring" steel and no longer uses a spring inside of the housing to assist extractor.
Appears that the new housing also has changed detail of firing pin safety.
Pic 6 G19 top, g17 bottom.
pic 7 G19 w/ new housing
pic 8 G17 w/ old housing
All in all, I must say that the customer service I have received from TSG to date is
OUTSTANDING Will get out ASAP to try it out and update you again.
They say “you must practice a skill or move at least 3,000 times to get it down“.
When not dry fire practicing your off the mark, CQB, left handed and other skills, not always hitting your mark with 9mm can be not only depressing, but expensive !
But repetition is what is called for so
AFTER procuring a fair amount of .22 ammo, me and the missus decided on .22 conversions for her Gen 4 GL17 and my Gen 3 GL 19.
We originally looked at the American Arms (AA) version but thought that are conversions should replicate our firearms weight as close as possible to the original 9mm status.
We decided on the more expensive Tactical Solutions (TSG) .22 conversion which has a steel slide as opposed to the AA Aluminum slide and added a few more mags for good measure.
I figured the cost of both conversions would break even (ammo cost wise) after the first 3,333 .22 rounds fired.
The conversions and mags arrived on time in nice little cases, and the slides mount just like stock GL slides, no tools required and off we ran to our range with our newly “converted “ .22 Glocks and ammo.
Unfortunately, we based our purchase on the recommended ammo for the AA conversion where as the TS conversion has fewer ammo choices (one of which the ammo we had purchased, Federal Auto-Match was not), a fact overlooked with some consequences.
Bang, FTE, clear. Bang, FTE, clear. Bang, FTE, clear. Bang, FTE, clear etc….
This is no fun, we already practice our clearing at home with dummie rounds !
Maybe they need to be cleaned or broken in more?
Removed the slide off of the GL 19 and ½ of the Conversion Firing Pin Safety (FPS) falls into my hand. I remove the 2 TINY little screws in the slide to clean further and find the other half. Finish cleaning both slides and re-assemble, larger screw in rear of slide, smaller screw forward.
Bang, FTE, clear. Bang, FTE, clear. Bang, FTE, clear etc….
Nope.
That didn’t work and the GL 19 fires without the FPS feature !
(The Patented GL Safe-Action Trigger still functions.)
We slap the 9mm slides back on just to get our time in and go home to investigate.
This is where I find the ammo disparity.
Almost $2,000.00 in conversions, magazines, shipping and .22 ammo and all are useless !
Maybe 2AHawaii can help us (see my posts for .22 buy/trade/sell .22 ammo).
Lucky for us we hook up with a great guy who feels our pain and pulls us out of the fire with an ammo exchange for Blazer, one of the three TSG recommended ammos (the other 2 being CCI® Mini-Mag HV and Federal® Game-Shok 40 grain solid) and Yeaaaaah, back to the range.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang,
Flawless in both firearms.
Ironically, when the Auto-match did fire, it was more accurate than the Blazer that fed and fired consistently, but an inch or so in grouping is small price to pay when you can have that much fun and practice so cheaply (relatively speaking).
Of course it could have been our excitement.
I contacted TSG and they confirmed that the conversion will fire without the Firing Pin Safety (WTF), but will send out a replacement FPS asap.
Not sure what the FPS’ purpose is.
I also requested another set of the tiny screws as I can see easily losing those.
CONCLUSION:
These conversions are well worth the price, especially if there are two or more of you shooting your own GL regularly. Practice with the cheaper .22 for repitition memory and motor skills then finish off the day with a few mags of 9mm.
Your memories lack of recoil with the .22 also helps the mindset when switching to the 9mm as the grip and weight remain similar.
The ability to repeatedly fire your center fire pistol at a rim fire price will give you that ability to “practice a skill or move at least 3,000 times to get it down“ at which point it has paid for itself twice then keeps on giving.
Thank you 2AHawaii and special thanks to DaveK42 for your assistance.
Update: 10/29/13
250 more rounds each and all is well.
Actually started feeding and firing the Fed Auto-Match better (but not perfectly maybe 50/50) so maybe conversions will accept other ammo after break-in.
Will keep you posted !
Update:
Recieved replacement Firing Pin Safety early this week .
This one has more the look of steel as opposed to the original which had a "Bronzey" look to it.
They also included two (2) sets of the tiny screws (4).