HARTFORD, CONN –-(Ammoland.com)-The East Hartford police union is accusing Gen 4 Glock 17s of shooting to the left.
According to a blog post by East Hartford’s police union President, Officer Frank Iacono, the police issued pistols tend to have the sights misaligned, causing the guns to hit to the left of the target.
“My members have guns with sights cocked to the side and are being told to aim to the right of what they want to hit,” Iacono said. “This is completely unsafe and unacceptable and should’ve never been allowed to happen.”
The East Hartford Police Department pushed back against the claims that Iacono made in his blog post. The agency contends that all officers on the force qualified with the same guns that Iacono claims are defective. They stressed that all department-issued firearms are safe, and the public is not in danger.
According to Iacono, the pistols get worse over time. The officers in the East Hartford Police Department have been using the Austrian based guns for over three years. Iacono said when the Department contacted Glock for a solution, the manufacture told the agency that the officers were holding the pistols wrong and suggested that they adjust the sights. Iacono claims to fix the problem that the sights had to be pushed to one side so much that they hung over the edge of the gun’s slide.
“Our firearms staff has run this issue up their chain of command and has been in touch with representatives at Glock,” Iacono wrote in a blog post. “and the only solutions (Glock representatives) have offered is to tell them to instruct our members to compensate by aiming to the right of the target, and moving the sights on some of the guns so far to one side that they’re hanging off the slide.”
According to East Hartford Police Department Training Officer Jeffrey Otis, a small number of the Department issued Glocks were shooting high and to the left. He said Glock sent out a representative who verified the issue. The Glocks in question had sight adjustments made on the range to alleviate the problem.
Initially, the Department said they made sight adjustments on the range as a stopgap until new parts arrive for a permanent fix for the pistols. The Department did not say what parts other than sights would fix the reported problem.
Internet users and I personally have experienced getting a Gen 4 Glock 17 with sights that the factory shipped that were pushed slightly to one side. Most users were able to fix the sights with a common sight pusher to dial them in. Most occurrences didn’t require swapping out parts or sending the guns back to Glock for repair.
In an update, in February, the Department said they sent the small number of Glocks with the misalignment issues back to the company for repair. The Department was satisfied with the repairs from Glock.
Officer Iacono is not happy with the fix and would rather have the Department switch to another gun. He did not offer a replacement suggestion
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.
Well gee whizz could it be that those cops just do not know how to use the weapons they have, anyone that knows anything about a Glock knows that some of them are just a tiny bit off, it is a simple fix with an adjuster tool and about 3 minutes, had a Glock 19 and the sights were off the tiniest bit. I found that most officers as well as sheriff’s do not have good aim practices, when a person can out perform a cop on the range?. Every pistol that I bought needed to have the sights adjusted… Read more »
I wish I had a dollar for every time someone had me shoot their handgun because it wasn’t shooting to point of aim and it shot to point of aim for me. Shooting is a skill that takes time and effort to perfect and as with everything else some do better than others with their efforts. As someone once said, “A man has to know his limitations.”
When I was a new cop I was at department range training one day, and was consistently missing the center of the target. We had just been issued new Sig Sauer P220s/P226s. I told one of the range masters that the sights were off on my pistol. He had me hand the pistol to him, and without a second’s hesitation he raised it up toward the target, fired off three quick shots, and they were all dead center. He then called over another range master and said, “he says the sights are off.” The second range master fired off three… Read more »
I just shot my new G17 Gen 5 and I found I had reacquired old bad habits. It was shooting low left. Well, I know that is me milking the grip. I used to fire 350 rounds per month in training and was pretty good. But I hardly shot since retiring. I know there is nothing wrong with the gun, it’s just deteriorated skills. Make the officers practice and provide an instructor to the mix. Those Glocks likely shoot right on.
don’t they have a department armorer who can verify or diagnose that is the problem? how about putting it in a shooting vise to take out shooter error?
not saying i have any glocks or firearms at all, but if i did, they would shoot well right out of the case.
seems like they have a leadership/training problem not a firearm one.
“Glock sent a decent instructor to rectify the problem. Now all officer are shooting within several feet of the intended target.” Everybody’s happy …except the guy buying ice cream for his daughter in the shop down the street. She is expected to recover.