It appears Glock has quietly modified several internal parts on the new G42’s rolling off the line. This may be to address feeding/ammo issues that have been reported in the G42. Recently I acquired a new G42 to compare. I purchased a blue label G42 on the first day of release, after Shot Show in January. I found the G42 to be very problematic and mine was extremely unreliable. In every magazine fired, I had failures to feed and even double feeds, after the first round fired. Several of my co-workers also bought G42’s the same day and have had the same feeding and extraction issues. Several different kinds of ammunition were used, mostly quality ammo i.e. (Federal, American Eagle, Speer Lawman, HPR JHP with Hornady XTP) and others.

Recently, I was called about a new batch of G42’s that had just come in at GT Distributors. I had also become aware, that Glock might have quietly made some small internal part changes, to current G42’s coming of the production line. I notice some part changes/modifications immediately upon looking at the new G42’s. Once I was able to fully strip the new G42, I noticed more changes in the internal parts. The most curious possible change was to the frame. Although I could not figure out how the frame might have been changed, it was distinctly marked differently than the first run G42 I have.

I have not been able to fire the newer G42, to see if the changes Glock has made make the firearm more reliable. I just wanted to get this information out as soon as possible, I will do a follow up article to update its performance, once I am able to find more ammunition. For now, let’s look at some of the changes.

Magazines:

Let’s look at the most obvious changes first. The magazines have been changed slightly. The new magazines are not as jagged and have been smoothed/contoured at the top, on each side. Notice how jagged and sharp the older magazines are. Both magazines have a different shape, this more than likely helps with feeding and added room in the slide, next to the slide stop lever.

Update: There is a third revision on the magazines as of June. While I don’t have a picture, the Third revision on the magazine has the right side of the magazine shaved down where it makes contact with the trigger bar. Magazine looks just like the new ones above, but the right side is slightly shaved down.

Slide Stop Lever:

The Slide Stop has been redesigned, with a rounder magazine tab. It has a new part number and this will also correspond with another interesting marking, as we strip the new G42 down further. The newer Slide Stop is rounded more, where it makes contact with the Magazine Follower. The new Slide Stop has a (-1) added to the end of part number, to identify the difference in the part.

Trigger Mechanism Housing:

The Trigger Mechanism Housing (TMH) has been slightly modified at the top, directly across from the ejector. An extended cut lip has been added to the top right side of the TMH. The part number has remained the same but the new TMH has been marked with a (1) on the right side.

Frame:

What I found interesting was the frame on the new G42 was marked with a (1) inside of the frame, on the right side, of the trigger hole. I have never seen a frame on a Glock marked in this area. I also found it interesting that the new Slide Stop Lever and Trigger Mechanism Housing were also marked with a (1). Now, I could not find any feature that differed between the frames, other than the added mark. It does not appear that the frame has been changed by just looking at it. Update: Some of the new frames coming out since June are being marked with a (2).

Final Thoughts:

I will see if these changes make a difference in how the newer G42 works. Without information from Glock, there is no way to tell if Glock has made changes to the frame that cannot be seen. It is interesting that all the parts have been marked with a (1) that correspond with the frame number. I have looked at a few of the new G42’s that have the changed parts and they have been marked the same. After completely stripping both the frame and slide of all parts, I did not see any other parts that were different than the ones I have discussed.

Duncan.