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.
Every class, every match, every qual there’s someone whining bout “muh pistol don’t shoot right”. 90% of the time a shooter will take it and it’s not the gun. 10% of the time it could need an adjustment because the owner dropped it, beat a dog while drunk with it, shut it in his car door or some other off the wall comment. Grip Grip Grip Your making it shoot left or pulling it right with improper grip. Ask me how I know. I’ll show you on a long string of 30 or so targets at a match when it’s… Read more »
Replace it with the Glock 20 double stack 10 mm..yea I like that thought
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.”
“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.
Shooting down and to the right? Yeah, its probably the gun’s fault 🙂
So, is it cops that can’t shoot straight or is it the guns? Every department has officers who struggle to qualify any time they have to go to the range. Most also have gun people who can shoot whatever they are handed, well. Are the officers claiming problems with the Glocks from the group that struggles to qualify or from both groups. If both, then it would appear that the gun is the problem. My EDC is a G-19 Gen 5 made in Austria that I purchased in late 2017. I have read a lot of complaints that the rear… Read more »