Beware of factory ammunition

[MCgunner]

And you wonder why I handload? Wonder if the ammo shortage and rush to get product to market had anything to do with this?

http://www.wtov9.com/news/21866969/detail.html

 

[lions]

I'd be interested to find out. It also says that was the first time the weapon had been used. I wonder if that may have something to do with it. Maybe some form of barrel obstruction, excessive lube in the barrel or something along those lines.

 

[Yo Mama]

Wonder if the ammo shortage and rush to get product to market had anything to do with this?

I was laughed at when I said this like 6 months ago. It's what happens when greedy manufacturers try to soak their customers, and don't do a proper retooling.

 

[DeputyRet]

I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about ANYTHING with this incident. First of all it didn't say if the ammo was reloaded or factory fresh "virgin" ammo. And personal handloads for a police department is NOT going to happen.
For most departments you shoot what the department issues you for liability issues, just like this one.

If it were a Glock in .40 S&W it would just be another "Kaboom" and not really make headlines. Even the Gock 21 is not immune to Kabooms. There is the possibility that there was excessive grease or oil in the barrel/chamber causing increased pressures. Especially since it was a new gun. Every new gun I fire gets a thorough cleaning before and after a range day. We don't know if the deputy just yanked it out of the box and loaded it up and started shooting. As to the chief giving his opinions...they are hardly credible. He's a chief, not an armorer. Does anyone think he is going to take any heat if it turns out he bought ammo from a shady supplier? Nooooooo.
Even worse, this is a Glock. I guarantee that Glock is going to go into full denial of any problems with the gun. It is either the ammo or the user.

Dep

 

[KC9LDB]

agree with Dep on this one. Ive shot a 21 and a 19, just don't trust em.

 

[MCgunner]

Isn't there something beyond bullet stability issues concerning polygonal rifling and cast bullets or did I dream that? First shot, though, more likely barrel obstruction I'm guessing, a dab of shipping grease in the bore. Does make more sense than the ammo, but hard to say, really. A double charge of a fast powder like bullseye would be mighty easy even done on commercial machinery. I take GREAT pains against it when handloading and I know that haste makes waste while handloading. But, I know I've never even encountered a misfire with factory ammo, what little I have shot, except for rimfire of course.

No one knows at this point. Might be the gun, too, I guess. Brand new gun, can't count that out.

 

[DeputyRet]

The only misfires I have encountered with factory ammo were with mil-surp stuff. And that was due to age or hard primers. I also doubt the bullets used were cast, unless the department is completely clueless about Glocks. Glock SPECIFICALLY advises AGAINST using lead bullets in their handguns. Again...we simply don't have enough information to form a conclusion and guessing about this stuff just leads to more unfounded rumors.

As to factory machinery easily doing a double load...I doubt it. I don't think factory ammo is loaded one bullet at a time. I am betting they use an automated assembly line, especially for pistol ammo. If the machinery were malfunctioning, you would have whole boxes or even cases of ammo that had double charges in them. So you would have many more guns blowing than just this one Glock. Machinery doesn't get distracted while watching a football game or lose track of number of charges in a shell because the wife is nagging them.

 

[earlthegoat2]

It had nothing to do with the ammo. It was a Glock he was using. Everyone knows Glocks KaBoom all the time.

 

[DeputyRet]

"It had nothing to do with the ammo. It was a Glock he was using. Everyone knows Glocks KaBoom all the time."

This is the type of BS rumor that gets started when you post an event with very little details. Glocks definitely have other problems like limp-wristing, but they do NOT "KaBoom all the time". I've got two Glocks, a 17 and 26, and they have been 100% reliable unless you limp wrist them. Then they WILL jam and stovepipe. Hundreds of police departments across the country as well as individuals use Glocks with no major malfunctions of this type.

 

[jakk280rem]

"It had nothing to do with the ammo. It was a Glock he was using. Everyone knows Glocks KaBoom all the time."

This is the type of BS rumor that gets started

I'm just guessing, but that may have been a bit of a tounge in cheek statement.

It'd be nice to know how many rounds were fired before the KB. The reporter said , "this was the first time the pistol was used". That could mean that it was the first mag, or that it was the first time at the range for the weapon. I'm guessing that it was an issue weapon because of the Dept. markings on the side of the gun. I wonder what the Dept. policy is for the breaking in for newly checked in guns is.

 

[LSCurrier]

What do you expect from a plastic gun?

Give me a steel 1911 any day!!

Luke

 

[MCgunner]

The only misfires I have encountered with factory ammo were with mil-surp stuff. And that was due to age or hard primers.

Yeah, well, I wasn't counting that WW2 vintage 8x57 I got cheap. LOL

What do you expect from a plastic gun?

Give me a steel 1911 any day!!

Luke

I've seen a lot of Glocks put rounds down range in IDPA. Hell, every department in the country shoots Glock, and this one incident proves something? I don't like Glock "safe action" triggers and don't own or carry one, but I ain't gonna say they're crap. I had two 1911s that WERE crap, however.

 

[The Bushmaster]

I was shooting a Colt 1911 a few years ago and chronographing Remington 185 +P .45 ACP rounds at 1,000 fps when I felt a very heavy recoil and the chrono registered 1400 fps. Manufactures DO screw up. Even the best of them. I hand load and haven't had a double charge in all of the 23 years of doing so...

 

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

LOL, reminds of something.

J/K

 

[iScream]

I saw my first case of a factory ammo problem on Black Friday. I was loading a magazine with the cheap Federal 9mm and one round had the primer in sideways.

-Chris

 

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

I once had an S&B .45acp round that was extremely compressed into the case

 

[rd2007]

The only misfires I have encountered with factory ammo were with mil-surp stuff. And that was due to age or hard primers. I also doubt the bullets used were cast, unless the department is completely clueless about Glocks. Glock SPECIFICALLY advises AGAINST using lead bullets in their handguns. Again...we simply don't have enough information to form a conclusion and guessing about this stuff just leads to more unfounded rumors.

As to factory machinery easily doing a double load...I doubt it. I don't think factory ammo is loaded one bullet at a time. I am betting they use an automated assembly line, especially for pistol ammo. If the machinery were malfunctioning, you would have whole boxes or even cases of ammo that had double charges in them. So you would have many more guns blowing than just this one Glock. Machinery doesn't get distracted while watching a football game or lose track of number of charges in a shell because the wife is nagging them.

do you know why they recommend against lead bullets? I just happened to pick up some reloads at a gun show yesterday and they were all lead.. and I just shot some through my new G19 this morning. Hopefully I didn't screw up too bad and should probably go all the way through that manual...

 

[wally]

do you know why they recommend against lead bullets?

Its the polygonal rifling, it fouls with lead easily leading to a partially obstructed bore that raise pressure, that, along with the Glock chamber's reduced case head support, is what causes case ruptures and blown up Glocks

I just happened to pick up some reloads at a gun show yesterday and they were all lead..

DANGER! DANGER! Will Robinson, gun show reloads lead the league in squibs and double charges. A squib will blow up a tun if the bullet goes into the barrel just enough to let the next round chamber, squib: followed by tap-rack-bang = KABOOM!

I think most everyone here will agree you should only shoot your own reloads.

--wally.

 

[rd2007]

good information and thanks! I will definitely never do that one again and will also clean out the barrel real good. Luckily I only bought a small amount because I wanted to test them out.
This wouldn't be as applicable with a .38 Special load would it? I also got some of them and will be shooting that in my SP101, unless I shouldn't..

 

[DeputyRet]

There is more to the problem than polygonal rifling. Glock has very little case support in it's barrels. What should probably be said is you shouldn't fire lead bullets in FACTORY barrels. There are a goodly number of replacement barrels (BarSto for one) on the market that feature a lot more case support and are perfectly okay to shoot led bullets out of. You can do a search and find a bunch of them. Surprisingly, even the lowly 9MM isn't immune to the kaBoom situation. There have been 2 reports of them exploding with factory FMJ ammo.

You can read all about Glock KaBooms at this website. Those who worship at the Glock altar will deny all of this. But they are big time Kool-Aid drinkers

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

 

[augustino]

Well with thousands of pistols, no tens of thousands of pistols in use both in the USA as well as around the world you're bound to hear about kabooms! But to speak as though it's common knowledge that Glocks go kaboom all the time doesn't make much sense to me at least. I own a Glock model 30 45ACP and have fired thousands of rounds, never a misfire, never a stovepipe, never a jam, never a kaboom. Over the years I've owner other and will own other pistols so I'm not some kind of Glock-acholic! But they are darn reliable firearms that always go boom when I've used them. it's kind of strange that so many are more than willing to jump at the chance to knock this decades old brand. Glocks are what they are, and that's pretty darn reliable pistols that can take abuse and keep on spitting out rounds. Sure 1911's can be great! As can Sig Sauer's, HK, Smith, Springfield and on and on. But if one looks for stories of a 1911 jamming they will find them. As they will also find horror stories about every brand firearm, car, truck, plane and on and on. But to bash the entire line just doesn't sound very logical to me.

 

[rd2007]

and don't even get me started on the SIG Mosquito...
that will never blow up on you, but it sure does love to FTE

 

[DeputyRet]

I guess you didn't visit my link I posted. I'm hurt

It's hardly a rare occurence for a Glock to KaBoom. And it is common knowledge through most of the gun world who isn't drinking the Kool-Aid. As a matter of fact, it's relatively easy to get a Glock to jam. I've done it on purpose with my Glock 17. You simply limp wrist it. There is a forum member on this forum (I think his name is Sturmgewehre) who did an excellent video of Glocks jamming and stovepiping. He got the Glock to do it repeatedly. Other plastic guns in the video functioned perfectly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh9J...48C3E29B&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=61

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsew...48C3E29B&index=62&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL

Visit the website I posted above. Then find me another website that is devoted to the kaBoom in other guns as much as that one is to Glock. I'll gladly eat my words

 

[DeputyRet]

"and don't even get me started on the SIG Mosquito...
that will never blow up on you, but it sure does love to FTE"

I'll see your SIG Mosquito and raise you a Walther P22.
They have a whole FAQ on what to do to a NEW P22 to make it function more reliably.

 

[rd2007]

Interesting videos and now I know what limp wristing is. I had heard the term before, but never bothered to look it up. Question, though, why would you do that? I always have both hands on all my pistols unless I am playing around with the Mosquito and doing my impersonation of a ghetto gangbanger POS.