Glock Armourer Course

I've been asked this question a few times this week regarding access to factory classes and instruction so I figured I should do post something useful in light of all the butthurt I have been causing. Yes, I'm aware it's a lot of butthurt.

FYI: I did my armorers class THREE YEARS AGO. I am due for re-certification in the last quarter of this year. The info that I have may be outdated but for the most part it stays the same.

**HOW TO GET INTO THE CLASS:**

Simple. Be law enforcement, sponsored by an existing dealer, be a Glock dealer, or a GSSF member. For most of you - the GSSF membership will be the path of least resistance.

**WHAT TO EXPECT:**

It's boring. Glocks are very simple to understand and operate and if you can put an iphone 4 in an otterbox, you will likely have no issue passing the class. It's 8 hours, first 4 hours are pretty boring and they cover the design, parts, history of the pistol, differences in model, breaking down the gun etc - you break for lunch - then you break down the guns again, do some review, the instructor tells you what material you need to know for the test. The test is closed book. You do not get notes or your armorers manual. If you pay attention, you will do fine.

**WHAT SHOULD I BRING FOR LUNCH?**

I would ask Glock who is doing the catering. Get some solid intel because I had a questionable sammich with less than stellar gastrointestinal results. I would pack an emergency lunch in case the food they serve does not agree with you. Yes, I am being pedantic but if you get the caterer from hell you will thank me.

**WHAT SWAG DO I GET FROM THIS WONDERFUL MECCA OF FIREARM INSTRUCTION?**

Prepare to be disappointed. You get an armorers tool (NOTE: The factory armorers tool is useful but get a 3/32 punch from Sears. It's cheaper, easier to find and when it breaks AND YOU WILL BREAK IT ONE OF THESE DAYS, Sears will swap it for a Craftsman product off the shelf at no charge) with your armorers manual and US domestic supplement, and a GLOCK PERFECTION pen. Note that my pen did not work, so there was nothing perfect about it. They teach you how the guns run and you take a test. As my mother would say - you go to class to learn, not to make friends or have fun.

I am told that you may be able to get a discounted gun but when I went through it - there was no written policy or anything about it. Your miles may vary but many manufacturers have killed discount programs to catch up on orders.

You get an orange slide cover plate that lets you check the engagement of the trigger bar cruciform and the striker because it is half the size of the normal plate. You'll use it once in a while to check the parts in question to see if they are out of spec, because when these parts go out of spec, bad things happen.

Hats are available for purchase as are DVD's with a power point presentation of slides and mechanics of operation. I bought the DVD, I would not spend money on it again.

**HOW DO I FIND A CLASS NEAR ME?**

This is the Glock training schedule - https://www.glocktraining.com//Schedule.aspx

It SUCKS and is a pain to navigate. The only way you can sort the information is by date or by state.

AC is standard armorers class, AA is advanced armorer (I am trying to take this, schedule permitting), IW is instructor workshop open to current armorers who have instructor creds through state or NRA and G18 is their Glock 18 course open only to those who own an 18. **MAKE SURE YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE PROPER CLASS.**

You'll note the following. There is ALWAYS a host - it can be an LE agency, a gun dealer, or a gunsmith school like CST. Venues vary. Know the terrain.

There are so many that many can be found inside of a 1 hour drive, but there are a few issues. For instance, AA courses are the hardest to find and to get into. I really don't want to fly into Atlanta but looks like that is my easiest option. You typically CANNOT fly into a local airport the day of because they start at 8AM and they're not kidding about start time. You miss the start, you miss the class. There is zero chance of you being able to fly in day of unless you are on a red eye from the west coast and getting in at 6:15AM. Not that you're going to fly cross country on a mileage run just to keep your Delta Diamond Medallion status like my brother....

I digress. Back to the Glock training schedule....

**HOW TO GET INTO THE CLASS ROUND 2**

After taking into account the date, type of class, location, host - you have one other factor working against you.

**CLASSES MAY BE CLOSED TO YOU IF YOU ARE NOT IN LAW ENFORCEMENT.** You may find the perfect class 20 minutes from your house on your day off and it is LE only. That sucks. **BUT WAIT! THERE'S HOPE!**

There's a few "status" modes for classes. Cancelled/Closed/Full/Restricted are self explanatory.

**YOU WANT TO LOOK AT TWO THINGS: TIME TO CLASS AND EMPTY SEATS.**

This is important for a few reasons. Look at the classes offered in the next 5 days. A lot of them are closed/cancelled or full. You have to plan ahead. But you can't plan too far ahead. You're probably wondering why you don't want to be booking a class in July in March because you have to plan the fuck ahead, right?

Part of planning ahead is planning to procrastinate.

**GLOCK WILL CANCEL THE CLASS IF CERTAIN CRITERIA ARE NOT MET. THEY REQUIRE 20 OR MORE TO DO THE CLASS. IF THEY ONLY HAVE 19, THEY WILL CANCEL IT.**

The criteria for a Glock class is:

They need 20 or more students. 19 students = cancelled class. No more than 15 open seats. This will depend on the size of the venue but most seat about 30-40 people, so thats where they typically cap the registration because rate limiting factor is they only have so many classroom guns to distribute. If they do not get their 20 students or have more than 15 empty seats, about three weeks prior to showtime **THEY WILL CANCEL THE CLASS** so plan, but don't plan too far ahead like buying nonrefundable plane tickets. If the class is filling up fast and they have under 15 empty slots, you can be pretty certain that class is a go. If there's 7 weeks to go and there's 32 empty slots - you can be pretty sure that's going to get the ax....

Which leads me to my next point.

**LE ONLY CLASSES ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE AT LEAST 15 REGISTRATIONS 6 WEEKS BEFORE CLASS DATE - IF 15 ARE NOT MET, CLASS WILL BE OPENED TO ALL CATEGORIES!**

So, if you do manage to find a class near you - that is LE only in 8 weeks and they do not have the 15 student minimum, wait two weeks to see if they fill the seats. If they do not fill the seats and they hit the 6 week mark, they will open to all categories and try to meet the minimum. Yes, it is a pain in the ass to watch this like a pot of boiling water but if the only class near you is LE only you have no choice.

**SO I HAVE PASSED THE ARMORERS CLASS WHAT CAN I DO WITH IT?**

Jack and shit, and jack done left town. You are the firearm version of the Maytag repairman.

You are officially certified to fix an item that is branded as, marketed as and sold as the perfect be all end all solution to firearm consumers worldwide that is flawless and impossible to break that will deliver unsurpassed reliability for years and years to come (unless you bought a gen 4).

You can order parts from the factory - but you can't just call Glock and order them. You have to have an order form emailed, mailed or faxed (ugh) to you and then you have to mail or fax (double ugh) the order form back to them. You can buy all sorts of nifty parts for your gun that won't break. Note: You do not get any discounts on anything and most of the time midway is going to be easier to deal with. The Glock factory sight tool does not work and should be avoided at all costs. They will not sell you "-" connectors so don't think you'll have access to those. Magazines are not orderable items. You can get barrels and small parts, aprons and a limited amount of armorer apparel but not much.

Prepare to argue about glock technical speak on the internet as you frame and hang your xerox quality certificate on the wall next to your kindergarten diploma on your ego wall.

In short: Do it, don't do it - it's entirely up to you.


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The "-" connector is frequently and incorrectly called the 3.5 or 3.5 pound connector.
The "-" connector you find in 34/35/17L/24/24C pistols only. It does not deliver a trigger pull anywhere near 3.5 pounds.