Purchased a Dagger last September. I noticed pretty quickly that the slide would occasionally fail to lock back on an empty mag. Searched the forum, and found posts where others have had this issue. Break in time, lube, contact with the slide release, magazines, etc. I’m pretty confident none of those apply. I’ve got probably 600 rounds or more through it. It’s lubed. I’ve put a couple of rounds of ammo in it while carefully making sure that the fingers are nowhere near the mag release. And it does it. I’ve tried several different brands and weights of ammo. So I did the submit an issue to customer service form and explained the problem…
First response was “…issue you are experiencing is likely caused by the slide stop lever being broken or the spring not being seated properly. You can verify to see if the slide stop lever is broken by removing the slide from the frame”. I’d previously looked really closely at the slide stop lever, so I knew it wasn’t “broken”, though I think there’s a possibility that the foot that gets pushed up from the mag when it’s empty could stand push the lever a bit higher. So I responded with…
“Slide stop over is not broken. I see nothing odd about the spring. As I said in my original description, this occurs intermittently. As a point of information, I have several other Glocks, and I do not have this issue with them. I’ve tested several of the mags I’m using in my G26 with no failures to lock back, so I don’t think it’s the mags…” And their response was…
“The comparison between Glocks firearms and the Dagger cannot be compared since they have different tolerances.”
Not real helpful in resolving the problem. I know that Dagger is not Glock, but I also haven’t ever seen this happen with my Glocks. I tried the only thing that isn’t the Dagger in another compatible firearm, and the problem doesn’t happen. I’ve also put a Glock 17 OEM mag in the dagger to make sure it’s not the Pmag causing it, and it still happened. I’ve tried to buy the “Slide Stop Lever Assembly” at the PSA store in Myrtle Beach when I was down there a few times since it’s only $6.00, and if I have a second one, I could take a stab at adjusting the foot, cause if I screw it up, I’ve got a replacement. They have little in the way of inventory in the Dagger parts section, and haven’t had that for at least 3 months. Mail order is another $10 on top of it.
I’ve read about others having this issue. Has anyone here who had the problem figured out how to fix it? Their lifetime warranty hasn’t helped resolve this problem, which as I mentioned before, has existed since about the second mag through it.
I’ve only had it happen with 8 year old mags, and when my thumb rides too high. A different slide release fixed that for me. if that’s not your issue, take the trigger pin out, reseat the slide release and pin completely. Lets you check if the spring is messed up farther down where you can’t see it as well.
Since the Dagger doesn’t have another pin sitting above the trigger pin, it has to rest on the locking block. Make sure the top leg of the spring didn’t get pushed completely below/behind/under the locking bloxk. Though in my experience that would cause it to lock open with ammo instead, still worth checking.
I did. Maybe lost in the word salad that I posted. It was a G17 mag as I done have any real G19 mags. I really need to do some outdoor testing and some video with the phone in slo-mo mode. Maybe it will catch something. As you might imagine, I really don’t want to be “that guy” on camera at the indoor range playing with a camera while shooting.
Aside from the actual issue, which really isn’t the end of the world - not F2F, or F2E, or F2GB. It’s a bit aggravating that they claim “lifetime warranty” even for subsequent owners. Yet, there’s nothing that they are interested in doing. My suspicion is that it’s the Slide Stop Lever not being pushed up enough. I can’t just spend $6.00 at their store and buy one to try it. It will cost me $20 or more by the time I’m done. They will not just send one in an envelope - they WILL NOT send parts. I got told to look at the website on that one. Really not the friendliest people when you finally get them on the phone. Store in MB wants nothing to do with issues with already owned hardware. And, they have no answers as to when they might get more parts in stock.
Once I can get some clear video of the issue actually happening, I’ll consider pushing to return it. That way there should be no questions - especially if I get it back and if it still does it because they can’t find a cause.
Are your hands big? Have someone take a picture of your natural grip full ready to fire with this platform. Covering the mag release your thumb has nothing to do with the problem your having. I say that because I’m left handed and my middle finger covers the mag release a little by default.
I had issue with an old worn mag with weak spring, can you make the slide lock back with no mag?
I would get a return label and send it back to PSA,They will make it right.
Yup. Big hands. Right handed. Bottom - pinky side - of hand extends a bit over the bottom of the mag with crease between thumb and index buried under slide. As far as pics, I’m gonna try to get some video of it happening. As I mentioned previously, that’s got to happen outdoors.
I mistyped when I said “nowhere near the mag release”. I actually meant slide release, as prior posts mentioned that as a possible cause, and I’ve done some tests where I was really sure that nothing was touching it.
Do you have a theory regarding some sort of interaction with large hands?
It is common that large handed users fail to lock open last round. I personally have that happen on so many guns since my grip is high even though my hands are not that big. I have to chop my slide locks in half, or use the Ghost Bullet Forward slide release for it to lock open. Every polymer gun has the dang release right under where my thumb rests.
There’s a reason those products exist, and Kagwerks even made a slide release that extends farther upwards to be out of the way. Funky, but it is popular and works.
To check if that’s what’s doing it, just shoot with a revolver style thumbs down grip, far away from the slide release.
If it’s locking open when you just rack the slide back, then it’s a problem during recoil, and likely hand related.
I still recommend pushing the trigger pin out (though it’s a pain on the Dagger first time until you force the pin to round out the slide release hole) and reassembling that bit to make sure it’s done right.
Newer Dagers do seem to have a new slide lock design though so maybe they are easier to disassemble. I know the old ones had a… really tight hole. Never broke one forcing the pin out but they worked fine and were easier to take apart after that. Before I replaced them.
I recently purchased two PSA DAGGER frames.
They were Compact and Full Size-S. I also purchased several PMAG 15 and PMAG 17 magazines.
Both frames had the same issue - the slide would not engage the slide stop when the magazine was empty.
I found that when the magazine was empty, the Slide Stop Lever only get up 0.5 mm. I think this is not enough to catch the slide in the rear position. I don’t know if this is due to the insufficient follower lift on the PMAG or if the tooth on the Slide Stop Lever is not the right shape. In any case, I don’t plan on using other magazines and my choice is to modify the Slide Stop Lever.
This ussue was easily solved by slightly bending the tooth on the Slide Stop Lever down. Now, the lever get up 1.7 mm and reliably catches the slide when the magazine is empty.
I had this same issue but only after swapping the trigger to a timney which led me to believe maybe I installed the slide release a tad bit off (spring wise) since the trigger spring and slide release spring sit next to each other… Try seating the springs evenly not overlapping if that makes sense but I also upgraded the dagger slide release to an oem gen 3 glock slide release and have no problems… Hope that info helps man!
Parker Mountain Machine comp weighs nothing plus I have a lighter recoil spring that wouldn’t cause the slide to not lock on an empty mag. It’s for sure his trigger spring and slide release overlapping and or the slide release is broken. My gun runs flawless zero issues and its a gucci budget build.
** Correction it can also be excess plastic on the front left cutout of the mag according to some gun stores that are certified in glocks… we will see a buddy of mine had the same issue but with an actual Glock 19 and that was their answer… But here’s pics of the gen 3 slide release on a dagger
