I just picked up a gen 4 g29 for woods carry and need to know what weight recoil spring to get and what guide rods do we like?
Also do I really need an after market barrel to shoot the heavy woods loads? Or is it just a nice thing to have for piece of mind as far as the full chamber support goes?

Pick your load and shoot it first. Lots of folks use the factory recoil spring and barrel without any problems.
I use Underwood ammo in my G20 with a 20 lb. Wolfe Spring. I think the stronger spring lessens long term wear on the gun.

The reasoning behind the different barrel is lead projectiles. If you check, most of the heavy/hot loads from Buffalo Bore are lead. Polygonal rifling in a Glock barrel will become useless unless you pay special attention to cleaning/removal of the lead. After market barrels don't use polygonal rifling, so no issue with lead.

I don't know what is available for spring setups. Since the factory gen 4's are a captured double spring setup. Maybe someone else can help there.

I carry Sig 180gr HP's in my G29. They're running out at 1250fps and 624ft-lbs of energy.

I've been considering these for my G20 for wilderness carry, to avoid the lead fouling issue with the hard-cast rounds.


https://underwoodammo.com/shop...n-full-metal-jacket/

The buffalo bore ammo is gas checked so the leading issue isn't too big of a deal. I'm more concerned with having a kaboom.
I've seen plenty of people YouTube run the hot loads with a stock barrel so I'm wandering if it's something to really worry about or not

For springs look to Wolff, from the sounds of the research I've done into the bigger hitters (toyed with the idea of 454 or 460 in my G21).

And a wrist brace probably wouldn't be a bad idea with the 29...

I'm definitely going with Wolff springs but can't decide between a 20 or a 22lb spring

I tried replacing springs, different barrels..., actually I have a box full or replacement parts for the G29. I had no luck with anything, anything I added made the pistol unreliable. Like someone said earlier, buy some underwood 180 JHP and keep your stock barrel and spring.

For woods-carry (bears) I imagine FMJ is better than JHP?

Not sure for 29, but for 20, I think Buffalo recommended 22# a while back but said that stock is ok too.

I definitely plan on running it stock to see how it goes. My concern is how it runs with the 200 grain hard cast loads, I see a lot of talk about how a stiffer spring is needed to help reliability and figure it wouldn't hurt to pick one up.

It may be fine as is because I think the springs in the gen 4s may be a little stronger and they have that dual setup. but if its not the only thing probably would be a stronger recoil springs.

Check out underwood too..they are the current favorite for hot 10mm stuff. Im not really sure how enjoyable shooting hot 10 out of a 29 will be though...

I don't think it will be bad. The barrel is just a wee bit shorter, honestly it's pretty much the same size as a 20 if you put a 20 mag with grip spacer in the gun. Which I will have for the underwood loads. And when I'm not in the woods I will have hollow points in a standard g29 mag with pinky extension

I don't use other than factory springs in my Glocks, but I don't push pressures, either.

Factory barrels don't cause "kabooms."

The guide rod is irrelevant and will do nothing for accuracy, improving reliability, or otherwise, but if putting a different one in makes you feel better, go for it.

The only purpose of the guide rod is to keep the spring aligned and prevent it bunching or kinking in recoil. It exists to serve the spring, period. It won't make your weapon more accurate. Some prefer heavier guide rods to add weight forward, but that's a personal preference, and if you've ever seen a slow motion video of the Glock flexing under recoil, you can see why additional mass may not be desirable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fr5ccyriJI

theres nothing wrong with shooting hard cast. you may go through 50 rds tops trying it out. but hard cast is so hard you could shoot 1000's of rounds easily. your hands will wear out before your barrel.

run one mag to test , clean , and carry on.

big difference between soft and hard lead.

Have you shot it yet? 10mm is not as bad as people make it out to be.

Messing with springs is a bad idea.

And stay away from tungsten weighted guide rods. Tungsten is brittle and breaks easily.

Why not buy a 40sw if you are worried about recoil?

There's a common misconception that the harder, the better, with lead. Too soft is undesirable, but too hard isn't desirable, either. Around 18-22 brinell is best.

Too hard and the base doesn't deform or expand to seal the bore and gas bypasses the bullet through the grooves (or corners in poly barrels) during the firing process, and can heat increase leading.

I got it as a gun for bear defense and intend to carry underwood or buffalo bore loads, I've read a lot about people buying after market barrels because of lack of chamber support, I'm just curious if that's just people being overly cautious or is there a valid concern? I'm obviously not going to shoot much of that stuff through it. But I will be shooting some of the hotter range ammo.

I also see that a lot of guys having trouble with reliability with the g20 shooting the hot ammo unless they put heavier springs in them.
I'm going to put some some rounds through it and hopefully it will work great as is. The less shit I have to buy the better, this gun is one expensive pig to feed

20 lb Wolff springs for me and I load em HOT!

I have the 20# Wolff recoil spring IIRC plus a Lone Wolf barrel.