It’s essential for any gun owner to learn how to clean and maintain their firearms. Taking proper care of your gun ensures that it’ll be in top working condition every time you need to use it.
Maintaining your Glock will increase its durability and reliability while minimizing issues. Plus, knowing how things work is just fun, and disassembling your Glock will help you understand its inner workings.
Taking your Glock apart shouldn’t take more than a few minutes if you follow this guide carefully.
Safety Measures
Follow these safety measures at all times. Your, or someone else’s, life could depend on it.
Always treat your gun as if it were loaded. This means never point it toward yourself or anyone else.
When checking if the chamber is loaded, never look down the front of the gun barrel.
Always keep your finger off the trigger unless instructed otherwise.
1. Make Sure Your Gun is Unloaded
Extract the magazine by pressing the release with your thumb as you remove it with your other hand. Then, pull the slide back and push the slide stop lever with the thumb of your other hand to lock it open. Peer into the chamber to ensure that there’s no remaining ammunition in there.
2. Remove the Slide
Pull the slide back. This will release the stop lever. Close the slide. Squeeze the trigger to release the firing pin.
Again, pull the slide back, but only about half an inch this time around. If you pull it back too far, it’ll reset the trigger. In this case, you’ll have to pull it back all the way and repeat the process.
Now, using your other hand, apply forceful inward and downward pressure on the slide locks on both sides of the gun simultaneously, then guide the slide forward.
The slide should now move freely, and you’ll be able to release it. To do so, push the slide forward until it slides off from the receiver of the gun.
You now have two separate pieces: the frame which houses the trigger, and the slide which has the barrel and spring. You can set the frame aside.
3. Remove the Barrel
Start by removing the spring. With a finger and thumb, grip both of its ends and squeeze the inner end towards the outer before pulling it away from the barrel.
Then, pull the barrel away from the slide until it stops. Push it forward into the opening it rests in, then pull it outward again to take it out.
Clean Your Glock
At this point, you’re good to go if you want to clean or maintain your gun, no need to disassemble it any further.
Reassemble It
Once you’re done cleaning your gun, you can reassemble it by reversing the steps you just took. When putting the slide back on the frame, you won’t need to hold down the slide lock.
Keep it Squeaky Clean
Now you don’t have any excuses not to keep your Glock in mint condition. With a tiny bit of practice, disassembling your Glock will be like second nature.