I bought a Glock 23 just weeks before my first reloading manual and to my chagrin I found warnings not to fire reloads in Glock and "similar guns" in .40 S&W. Anyone know which similar guns they're talking about. I thought about trading off the Glock. I really like the gun, but I can't stand the thoughts of having bought a gun I can't reload for. ~Marc

The .40 Glocks are known to "blow up" even with factory ammo in .40 caliber. It had to do with the fact that the case is not fully supported when in battery. Since there is no support for the case, it's real easy for the case to rupture. I imagine they are talking about any gun that has a similar "unsupported case" type of condition.

Every owners manual I have read states to only use factory ammo in their firearms. Handloading for a Glock is really no diff. than any pistol, but you do have to tread carefully when approaching max. loads especially in the 40s&w. You will be fine if you keep your handloads below max. & stay away from lead only bullets. Use plated or jacketed.

While many many other firearms have case ruptures, Glocks appear to have their fair share, if not more.

A google of the works "glock kaboom" will get you a bunch of hits, some more valid accounts than others.

Here is a good one:

http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

SC Gunner, a couple of things can get you in trouble real quickly when reloding for glocks, especially 40 cal. Follow Fredj338's advice to never shoot lead through a glock. It tends to accumulate and can lead to dangerously high pressures. Like others have mentioned, do not use max loads when reloading for any 40 S&W. DO NOT try to load to make major power. I would stay away from the faster burning powders like 231, bullseye, AA-2, etc. For some unknown reason, fast burning powders with heavy bullet's(180 and 200 grs)have been implicated in the majority of KB's that I've read about. I would advise against reloading 200 gr. bullets in the 40. I usually stick to the 155-165 range. IMR 800-x will often yield the highest velocities while producing significantly lower pressure than most of the other powders. I have also used AA-7 with great success. This is the powder alot of competitive shooter's are using. With that said, I have shot thousands of reloads through a glock 22 without a single KB. I pay particular attention to the brass when loading it. I do not load brass that has been fired from a glock more than one time. I have measured cases that have been fired from my glock and also my sig p239. Those fired from the glock are readily identified by their "bulge" and measure several thousandths larger with a mic. I recently purchased a KKM barrel which claims to fully support the case. While accuracy with the factory glock barrel was good, the KKM barrel was phenomenal. If you are planning on doing alot of reloading for your glock, I recommend buying an aftermarket barrel. As an added bonus, you can shoot lead through these barrels. Just pay attention to what you are doing and you should be fine. Hope this helps.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Molar1, I appreciate the detailed reply, and I will definately look into those KKM barrels. ~ Marc

I have safely fired many many thousands of reloaded rounds through a 40S&W chambered Glock with the factory barrel. The description given by bowhuntrrl is typical of the marginally true internet legend that you hear everyday concerning Glocks.

The only thing to remember is that the 40S&W is a high pressure pistol cartridge and is less tolerant of being hotrodded...in any firearm. The famous Glock "unsupported case head" (it is only a small portion of the thick casehead, BTW, not the entire case as hinted above) is a feeding feature that is shared by several popular firearms out there. A little bit of reading in the pistol secion will lead you to several threads about it...

Bottom line...keep your reloads sane, discard your brass after 3-5 firings (depending on how hot you load) and you should never have a problem.

Just about the only "Internet legend" about Glock reloading that is true is the use of lead bullets...and it holds for all polygonal rifled barrels. This type of rifling strips lead quickly, causing rapid buildup and potential barrel constrictions. Not good. I do know people that shoot coated lead bullets ( one source )successfully, but I didn't have good luck when I tried it.

Be safe, be careful, and you will have no problems.

I think another misunderstanding is that the 40 S&W is a really high pressure rated cartridge. Consider the CIP specs for the following cartridges:

38 Super - 2500 bars
40 S&W - 2500 bars
10mm auto - 2500 bars
9mm Parabellum - 2600 bars
44 Magnum - 2800 bars
357 Magnum - 3200 bars

Now I know the 45 ACP is way down below the above mentioned cartridges but the 40 S&W isn't somehow exceptionally hot. I am fortunate that the French make an excellent powder for the 40 S&W: Vectan SP 2. Someone told me it is sold in the USA by ADCO. You can get excellent velocity with lower pressures than most powders.

I have blown up a Glock 22 twice. Here is what I think happened. The first time my taper crimp die had become mis-adjusted, putting way too much crimp. It would allow the rounds to go too deep into the chamber causing excessive headspace. It blew down through the mag well and stung the shit out of my hand. Sent it back to Glock, they replaced the frame no charge. Second time I had a round that had some kind of a defect, (I think) a burr or something that kept it from going all the way into the chamber. I believe the gun fired without being fully locked up. Try this on a Glock, pull the slide back just enough that you can see it start to unlock, that is when the barrel just starts to move down, then pull the trigger, some of them will fire. It seems to be more common on the older guns. I have seen a few that would do this. Not bagging on Glocks here I have several, just my personel experience.

Gentlemen,

Here is some interesting reading about polygonal rifling

http://yarchive.net/gun/barrel/polygonal_rifling.html

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=170130

I always loaded with 155 grain bullets over Blue Dot. Slower burning powder seems to be a good idea to keep pressures down a little and still get a good MV. Never even saw a bulge on cases.

If you buy an aftermarket barrel (I have two Lone Wolf barrels) you can shot your reloads and leaded or jacketed bullets. The aftermarket barrel has standard lands and grooves (for the lead bullets) and a better chamber support for the base of the relaoded case. Of course, you still need to clean your weapon frequently - especailly if you shoot lead bullets.

However, I still load my 40s on the lower end of the powder charges.

Hack

Barsto makes after market barrels as well. I had a Glock for a short while which had this barrel. It shot well and I got about 8 reloads per case. I usually throw all of them out by then just in case.

I ended up selling the gun because of my preference for Beretta. I've always been a fan of Beretta so nothing "seems" to shoot as well to me.

Wink, I don't want to start an argument, but I think that the issue with 40S&W pressures is that they can get high very quickly with just a small decrease in volume eg. by seating the bullet deeper. Most of the others have larger (longer cases) so they have a larger volume to start with. However, the 9mm certainly falls into this category. Then, of course, you have the folks trying to turn the 40 into a 10mm!
Peter.

quote:

Originally posted by Peter:
Wink, I don't want to start an argument, but I think that the issue with 40S&W pressures is that they can get high very quickly with just a small decrease in volume eg. by seating the bullet deeper. Most of the others have larger (longer cases) so they have a larger volume to start with. However, the 9mm certainly falls into this category. Then, of course, you have the folks trying to turn the 40 into a 10mm!
Peter.

You are exactly right Peter. What molar1 siad about heavier bulelts being involved is becuase they take up so much space, a bullet setback, even a minor one, can dramaticly increase pressures. In the poorly supported Glock chamber, a blowout at the weak spot in the case is bound to happen. Loading w/ uberfast powders like Clays, TG & BE, only make this more likely as the pressure curve is almost vertical.
So stay w/ med.-med. slow powders & watch for bullet setback & you will be fine. I've loaded 1000s for my USP & 4006 w/ 0 problems.

I reload for my glock 23 3rd gen.

I try to stick with 155 or 165 gr copper jacketed bullets. I don't have the after market barrels necessary to support lead bullets. I've gone up to 180 gr bullets with a max load of Universal, and had problems keeping good groups. So I dropped back down in bullet weight.

Loads that worked well for me:

155 gr Rainier Ballistics or Berry's copper jacketed flat point, 6.5gr Universal, Winchester Small Pistol Primers.

155 gr Rainier Ballistics or Berry's copper jacketed flat point, 6.3 gr Titegroup, Winchester Small Pistol primers.

I'm still working up in the titegroup loads, but so far they aren't working as well as the universal loads.

I have a Glock 22 40S&W.
It came with a chamber that was cut with a feed ramp .235" deep, with case webs only .180" thick, but the chamber was cut large in diameter.

The rear of a 40sw chamber is registered with SAAMI at .4284" +.004" and .4274" + .004" when .200" deep into the chamber.

My chamber is .440" at ~ .2" into the chamber.

Most chambers are cut at the small end of the sloppy SAAMI spec, my Glock was cut to big to make spec.

Cases were bulging when I put 25% more powder than Alliant's Power Pistol 135 gr max load.

I welded up the feed ramp, and now I can shoot 146% more powder than the IMR 800X 200 gr max load.
But the orifice is still .440" wide.

What does it all mean?
I seem to be getting away with handloading 40sw in my Glock.

I saw a couple KBs in the early days of Glock and they were all due to trying to make the glock something it wasn't, i.e. a 38 super from a 9mm (40 S&W wasn't out yet). I shot one of the first Glock 17Ls at USPSA nationals in 1990 and almost everyone asked me if I could make major with it. Since I never tried, it didn't matter to me. I heard about two guys from Europe that tried it and both pistols blew up. I shot lead almost exclusively since it was WAY before the warnings, and I never had a problem with it, that I didn't create. I will admit to not cleaning it for about 3200 rounds and it failed to go into battery for me at a regional match. I cleaned it and it was fine. I never had a problem with leading. I loaded 122 grain bullets to about 1080 fps, IIRC. I had over 20,000 rounds through it before selling it back to the local Glock distributor so he could send it back to Austria. They wanted a "torture tested" gun and I guess mine qualified.

I do still have a Glock 19, but all of my .40s are CZs.

I was browsing Hodgdon's online reloading data, as I do occasionally, when I came across a 155gr 40 S&W load using Hodgdon's Longshot powder, which much slower than most powders people would use for a pistol.

The reload data shows 1329fps on their test firings which is very promising. Has anyone used this powder for .40 S&W? Would this particular powder, which lies between 800-X and Lil' Gun on the burn chart be useless in a compact or subcompact (3.5 or 4.5" barrel)?

LONGSHOT is great powder if you believe the published data.

Not so great in the real world.

Here I blow a hole in a case with 100% extra LONGSHOT:

quote:

3) LONGSHOT "Hodgdon Basic Reloader's Manual 2002": LONGSHOT 6.0 gr.,
1.125", 4", 200 gr. HDY XTP, 954 fps, 32,500 psi

At 12 gr. the OAL springs out to 1.160", 12 gr. blew a small hole in case.
Looks like extractor pulled head loose from weld to case body, +100% extra powder

Clearly, the limit of LONGSHOT was reached and that was all the power it had.

But this is low velocity compared to the power that 800X or even Power Pistol can deliver.

quote:

Originally posted by tnekkcc:
LONGSHOT is great powder if you believe the published data.

Not so great in the real world.

Here I blow a hole in a case with 100% extra LONGSHOT:

quote:

3) LONGSHOT "Hodgdon Basic Reloader's Manual 2002": LONGSHOT 6.0 gr.,
1.125", 4", 200 gr. HDY XTP, 954 fps, 32,500 psi

At 12 gr. the OAL springs out to 1.160", 12 gr. blew a small hole in case.
Looks like extractor pulled head loose from weld to case body, +100% extra powder

Clearly, the limit of LONGSHOT was reached and that was all the power it had.

But this is low velocity compared to the power that 800X or even Power Pistol can deliver.

Yikes. Maybe if that Longshot powder had another two or three feet of barrel in which to burn the round might have got itself up to 1300+fps.

I guess I'll just stick with Universal for my Glock .40 S&W loads. I've already got a load worked up that suits me just fine.

Just had a similar thread over on the Glock Talk forum, with a bit better informed responses. I have a Gen3 (new ) G23 .40, and the chamber on these is now as fully supported as the aftermarket barrels. When you drop a round into a field-stripped barrel, there is the barest "sliver" of case visible at the feed ramp.

Most of the kaboom BS is internet legend and based on first generation chamber configuration.

quote:

Originally posted by Shibumi:
Just had a similar thread over on the Glock Talk forum, with a bit better informed responses. I have a Gen3 (new ) G23 .40, and the chamber on these is now as fully supported as the aftermarket barrels. When you drop a round into a field-stripped barrel, there is the barest "sliver" of case visible at the feed ramp.

Most of the kaboom BS is internet legend and based on first generation chamber configuration.

If there is any intelligent life at GT not crushed by moderators, please post a link.

GlockPost, the alterantive to the GT tyrany

quote:

Originally posted by tnekkcc:

quote:

Originally posted by Shibumi:
Just had a similar thread over on the Glock Talk forum, with a bit better informed responses. I have a Gen3 (new ) G23 .40, and the chamber on these is now as fully supported as the aftermarket barrels. When you drop a round into a field-stripped barrel, there is the barest "sliver" of case visible at the feed ramp.

Most of the kaboom BS is internet legend and based on first generation chamber configuration.

If there is any intelligent life at GT not crushed by moderators, please post a link.

GlockPost, the alterantive to the GT tyrany

Thanks for the link! Looks like a good forum.

I've only been around GT for about a month, what manner of "crushing" goes on there? Haven't seen it yet...