Reassemble a Glock

The following entry will illustrate how to reassemble a Glock once it has been taken apart. This information also generally applies to most modern handguns on the market today. (IE: Springfield Armory, Smith and Wesson, H&K, etc). Click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Putting a Glock back together once it has been taken apart (on an intermediate level) is not as hard as it looks. You will have four pieces to put back in place.


From left in the photo above, you have the SLIDE, the BARREL, the RECOIL SPRING and the FRAME. There really is nothing to it.

Start by putting the barrel back into the slide. The barrel can only go in one direction, with the recoil spring mount being in the middle of the slide.


Drop it in and make sure the barrel end is even with the opening at the end of the slide.

The next photo is an overhead view of how the barrel looks when seated properly.


Now its time for the RECOIL SPRING. Align the closed end of the spring with the front opening of the slide and barrel.


Place the closed end of the RECOIL SPRING in the small opening in the front of the slide. The RECOIL SPRING will only fit flush in one direction for this.


Now this is the fun part. Place one finger on the end of the barrel where the RECOIL SPRING is seated and another finger on the open end of the RECOIL SPRING. Pinch hard and push the exposed end of the recoil spring down into the mount on the BARREL.


BE CAREFUL not to let the spring fly off! It is not as hard as it sounds, but the first few times most people do not pinch hard enough to get the RECOIL SPRING down into place.

Once you have seated the recoil spring, it will look like the photo below.


It will rest on the BOTTOM of the barrel catch and the core rod of the spring will be parallel with the barrel and with the slide.

Now that you have assembled the upper component, its just a matter of putting the two main pieces together.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE : MAKE SURE THERE IS NOT A MAGAZINE WITH AMMUNITION IN THE FRAME BEFORE PROCEEDING!!

You should see straight through the frame where the magazine is usually located just like in the photo below.


Starting from the end of the frame, take the slide and align it on the small bent rails. Move the slide back along the rails, with the rear sights moving toward the grip at the rear of the frame.


Continue moving the slide all the way back on the frame until it is lined up at the grip at the rear of the frame.


Now pull the slide back away from the firearm in one strong motion. You want to pull it back as if you were loading a round of ammunition from a magazine.


When the slide has moved as far back as it can go, release your grip.

That's it! The Glock is back together in one piece.

From here you can secure it for storage, or prepare it for use with magazines and ammunition.

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