[McNightmare]

Hi all. I just bought some Glaser Safety Slugs to put in my Colt King Cobra for home defence. I bought them in 38 special. The man at the gun shop said that the 357 magnum would be to hot for inside my small home. When I loaded the gun I noticed that the bullets fit kinda loose. So loose that if I shake the gun a little I can hear the bullets rateling inside the gun :eek: Is this normal ? Or is this a defect of some kind with the bullets themselves ?

[Vicious-Peanut]

Arent the safety slugs filled with shot or something? Maybe that is what your hearing?

[rodregier]

It could simply be the cartridges rattling around in the cylinder too.

[McNightmare]

No its not that. After I load the gun and close the cylinder I can clearly see the bullets sliding back and forth when I move the gun. Is that normal ? Never noticed that before.

[RevolverMan567]

im not sold on the safety slugs, seems like a glorified snake shot, but then again I am a 158 SJHP kinda guy too. seems like a good fit, but are you sure it isnt some sort of end shake in the cylinder or something, please dont take offence, just have to ask.

[give]

i had them for a .44 special i used to have,they fit fine,might be worth it to ask the guy who sold them for another set,and from what i remember werent the shot suspended in tefelon?

[nalioth]

The cartridge under the hammer will be where it is supposed to be.

Some revolvers have a bit of extra play in between their cylinders and frames elsewhere.

I have 'clicky' revolvers, too. They all fire fine.

[hankdatank1362]

I think he means the cartridges ( not just the bullets) are rattling in the cylinder.

[351 WINCHESTER]

It's normal for ctgs. to rattle within the cylinder. I think you could do a lot better than glasers. We tested some last year and we didn't get nowhere near their advertised velocity and in ballistic gel. it performed poorly. Check it out www.brassfetcher.com.

[Virginian]

I would have gotten the 357s. I have been buying these in 357 and 44 for years, and shooting them up when they start to get a bit too old for me, and I have zero complaints at any performance. Of course i have yet to really be attacked by anybody, much less by a blob of ballistic gelatin, but if I ever am I shall make note of the result.
All of the data I have ever seen showed the Glasers with excellent performance, against people, but they did not have enough documented cases to make the results statistically valid versus the other rounds.

[McNightmare]

im not sold on the safety slugs, seems like a glorified snake shot, but then again I am a 158 SJHP kinda guy too. seems like a good fit, but are you sure it isnt some sort of end shake in the cylinder or something, please dont take offence, just have to ask.

No shake in the cylinder. Everything with the gun is tight.

[Rampant_Colt]

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/7575/cartridgesbulletsat3.jpg

The best advice i can give here is to get rid of the Glaser ammunition and get some 158gr lead hollowpoints. Gunshop employees will say anything to make a sale. The gunshop there is a shyster - don't go back because he's FOS

[The Bushmaster]

If you are going to shoot the intruder...Kill him! Don't piss him off with such a weak round...
Get a good lead or jacketed hollow point...

[dispatch]

Count me in for the heavy solid bullet. Got a few revolvers around the house,all loaded with 158 grain solid 38 Specials. I'm not counting on any tricks.
I just want a bullet that will go through the guy's jacket, his roach clip, little red book, or whatever he may have in his pocket.

[Elvishead]

shouldn't be

[The Bushmaster]

Shouldn't be...What?

[Lashlarue]

I have Glasers in 44 mag, 45acp,. The only ones I have fired were 7.62x39/ Used a 10 gallon pickle bucket filled with water and the top sealed shut.The bucket disintegrated into about 30 pieces. The tests I've seen using frangible bullets by the FBI were awesome. http://www.goldenloki.com/ammo/gel/9mm/gel9.htm Note the 9mm 60grain frangible left a 2.1"x 5" deep hole in the gel, and they won't penetrate sheetrock walls, so you won't accidently kill your next door neighbor.The 44 mag 90 grain Glaser put a 3"x6" hole in the gelatin. Doubtful if the target was a bad guy, he would live long enough for his body to hit the floor...

[Rampant_Colt]

Note the 9mm 60grain frangible left a 2.1"x 5" deep hole in the gel, and they won't penetrate sheetrock walls, so you won't accidently kill your next door neighbor
That is simply incorrect. They penetrate drywall and building material just like any other bullet does

[Virginian]

They are frangible, and therefore they do not penetrate walls just like any other bullet. Don't trust hearsay, do what I did. Take four small pieces of sheetrock nailed to four small pieces of 2"x4" to simulate two sections of average interior walls out to the plinking range and put them 2' or more apart. In my experience, the Glasers blow thru the first sheet, most pieces get thru the second sheet, but with obviously reduced velocity, because no pieces got thru the second section, in fact most seemed to be stuck on the face of the second wall section. A standard 38 will sail thru both wall sections with ease.
If you want to use the hottest handloaded solid lead hunting bullet, and you have nerves of steel and are absolutely never going to miss the spot you aim at in a life threatening situation in the middle of the night, have at it. In all lilkelihood neither of us will ever have to pull the trigger in such a situation so we'll never know who was right. Thankfully.

[familywgn]

McNightmare,

I have the .38 spl in my 686 and they too slide back and forth in the cylinders, I'm not too concerned though. I have some Magtec ammo that does the same and they fire fine.

[doc540]

Mc, here's my 2 cents:

For years I carried Glasers and used them for home defense.

Then I moved up to the original MagSafe ammo when Joe Zambone built it.

About a year ago I read a single article that changed my thinking and caused me to abandon any ammo with a similar design.

It's highly probable that in a self defense situation you may hit a perp at an angle, say across an arm, forearm, hand, weapon, what ever. Any obstruction (like a belt buckle) in front of a vital "stop" organ will cause Glaser-type ammo to fragment and lose it's "stopping" energy.

Just think about that a minute.

Glaser-type ammo very well may NOT work to save your life or your family if anything obstructs its clear path to a vital organ.

The risk isn't worth it to me anymore. My .38's are now loaded with Speer Gold Dot's and hope all my good sense, practice, and preparation put the Dot's in the right places.

Just something for you to consider.

[novaDAK]

As for hearing (and seeing) cartridges being "loose" in the cylinder, both my mod64 and Security6 do that some. The cartridge "under the hammer" (aligned with bbl) is rock solid in place ready to go. Just how these were made and it doesn't bother me in the least.

I agree with the others too about the ammo. I prefer 158gr Lead Hollow Points myself. It's what the FBI found to work well in their later years of using revolvers before switching to 9mm. However since these are of the Semi-wadcutter design, the sharp shoulder of the bullet slows my reload down so I carry Speer Gold Dot 125gr .38s as reloads due to their more rounded jacketed nose design that "feeds" better into the chambers.

[moxie]

It's perfectly normal for unfired rounds to be a tad loose in the chambers.

[JFrame]

I stagger my hollow points with Magsafe,as in the case of an intruder,or any attack,I'm not just going to shoot once ! Continue to shoot until the threat is over.
Glasers can not really hold a candle to Magsafe.All bullets do work better on a frontal shot versus a cross sectional shot.

I've operated on too many gun shot wounds,and direct hits with Magsafe
make a nasty mess of the organs,vessels,and arteries,even in cross sectional shots.I operated on a BG once who was shot in the chest with a .38 Magsafe
from about 20 feet.The round first entered his billfold which was in his front pocket of his coat.The round pushed part of his driver's license,and stolen
credit cards right into his heart,and lung.
Needless to say,he didn't make it ...
I extract bullets,and parts of bullets on a daily basis from people in surgery.I definitely wouldn't want to be hit by a Magsafe of any caliber !They are not the cure all,end all round in every scenario,but,they are lethal in their range.

ERDOC -- very interesting observations.

I had an opportunity to swap some emails with Mr. Zambone before his very unfortunate demise, and that brief time left me with an indelible impression that the man definitely knew both what he was doing, and what he was talking about.

Like you, I stagger my HD handguns with Magsafes and conventional hollow-points... :)

[pbearperry]

The problem with Glazers is that they can work terrific in some scenerios and fail miserably in others.I would never use just Glasers in my gun,I would mix them with heavy solid or HP bullets to cover all the bases.They are famous for massive but very shallow wounds.They almost never penetrate enough to reach the vitals.

[doc540]

"I extract bullets,and parts of bullets on a daily basis from people in surgery.I definitely wouldn't want to be hit by a Magsafe of any caliber !They are not the cure all,end all round in every scenario,but,they are lethal in their range."

Again, while I respect your professional experience, common sense tells me it's not the "range" that might make the life-or-death difference, but the odds of an "unobstructed" shot.

Perhaps by "range" you meant "their area of lethal performance". If so, I totally agree with you.

I no longer bet my life on the chance that I get an unobstructed, vital-spot shot with Glasers or MagSafe in my .38.

YMMV

[JFrame]

I no longer bet my life on the chance that I get an unobstructed, vital-spot shot with Glasers or MagSafe in my .38.

I may be splitting hairs here, but I'm not sure Glasers and MagSafes should be lumped under the same banner. From what I understand, Glasers have shot pellets packed loose in a polymer shell. Magsafes have the shot pellets packed in a bed of epoxy.

Having shot not one human, goat, or lump of jelly with the above ammo ( ;) ), I can't speak with any authority -- but it seems reasonable that the MagSafes would present a more controlled platform for penetration and dispersal than the Glasers.

Having said that, I don't think there's a "magic bullet" out there either -- hence the preference for both ERDOC and myself to Dutch-load our handguns...

[AdamSean]

Every revolver I have owned has a little forward to back play like that. Nothing to worry about. I have never had a problem.

[Dr. Snubnose]

Just a side note here....Glasers don't have the penetration needed to get the job done....MagSafe on the other hand is a whole different story...I use to test ammo for Joe Zambone...he would make up a new load and I would test that load on lots of meat....I can tell ya the man really knew his stuff and you can trust his ammo to get the job done pronto....the new Magsafe (under new ownership) IMHO just does not measure up to what Joe used to make...if you have any of Joe's original loadings...hold onto that stuff and don't be afraid to use it in your guns for SD...There is no doubt what-so-ever in my mind as to their potential and about the results ERDoc has seen and reported on, from the operating table.....Doc:D