Glocked Brass

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Crow1108

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Going through my stockpile of .40 S&W brass, I remember that at least half of it has been fired through a friend of mine's Glock. Holding the cases to the light, there is a bit of a bulge there (nothing huge, like some of the pics on the various sites, but you can see it a little bit when you hold it up to the light), but I was wondering if there was any way to salvage it? Will a special die be needed, or will the full-length resizing die that came with my Lee deluxe die set (http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=622255&t=11082005) do the trick? According to the tracking info, I should be getting in my press in the mail tomorrow, so I'll be putting it to some use after work and I want to make sure this brass is kosher. Thanks.
 
I don't own a Glock .40, but I shoot lots of range pick up brass that has been fired in one. The square firing pin strike and slight bulge is a dead give away.

No issues in my guns, but then I'm not pushing anywhere near max .40S&W loads either. But I'd be leary of reusing .40 Glock fired brass to reload for a Glock .40 because if the bulges lined up a few times the brass could be seriously weakened with possible case failure in otherwise safe loads.

I'm using the Lee four die set. None on my guns bulge the brass the way the Glock range pickups are originally.

When in doubt, err on the side of safety.

--wally.
 
Crow, you probably won't have to do anything unusual to salvage it. Just full length size it in the Lee die. That will get rid of the "Glock belly."

It would help to have a cartridge gauge that you can try the brass in after it has been sized. If you don't have a cartridge gauge, you can use the chamber of your pistol (assuming you have a .40 S&W pistol). Just field strip the pistol and take the barrel out. That makes the testing easier. Insert a sized (still empty) case into the chamber of the barrel (off the gun). If it fits, pull it part way out and turn it one-half a turn and try again. It should fit just as well regardless of the direction of its orientation.

If it doesn't, the Glock belly may line up with the feed ramp, and the case will go into the chamber. Turning the case one-half turn will orient the Glock belly away from the feed ramp on the second try, and any remaining bulge will be apparent.

I would be very surprised if the brass won't fit after being sized in a regular Lee sizing die. If it doesn't, EGW markets a die made by Lee called a U-Die, which is a regular Lee full length sizing die with a slightly smaller carbide insert and ground slightly to size farther down the case to size the brass a bit more for some guns with tight chambers. The price is reasonable, if you need one to save some brass that would otherwise be thrown away.

Try the regular die tomorrow. I expect that it will work okay.
 
I use Glock fired .40 brass. Although I don't fire it through a Glock. I use the undersize die for ALL my .40 brass- without it some brass won't make it thru the gauge. I don't load my ammo hot either.

I find some Glock brass is worse than others... and other .40 guns certainly exhibit similar problems- most .40s that I'm aware of don't have fully supported chambers. My Sig 229 seems to have a somewhat lose chamber too that leaves bulges on brass.
 
I've loaded thousands of Glock brass too and I load close to max load with my setup. All 3 of my 40's are S&W third generation pistols and have better supported chambers.
I would not attempt to reload for a Glock unless it was a target plinking load.
 
I've been reloading for a Glock 23 for 12 years with RCBS carbide dies.

Nary a problem atall.

1224.jpg
rcmodel
 
Much to-do about nothing. A bunch of paranoid people with nothing better to do than raise a possible problem to the level of urban myth. "EVERYBODY'S HEARD" that you can't load 40's that were fired in a glock, then fire them in a glock again. BS! Because I've done it and will continue to do it, without a single problem.
 
I shoot almost all reloads in my Glock 20C (10mm) and haven't had any issues. I have been saving all my brass over the years before I got into reloading and after running them through my Lee dies, the slight belly goes away. I inspect all the brass carefully before and after sizing just to be safe.
 
EGW offers custom made, carbide sizing dies that are 0.001" smaller in diameter than typical dies. These dies also flair lower than some other sizing dies and size the case further down, which may prevent feed failures from cases bulged near the base as is typical of brass fired in Glock and other loose chambered guns.

http://www.egw-guns.com/

They also have a 4 in 1 case cage that is GREAT! It is a case gage for 9mm, 38 Super, 40S&W, and 45 ACP all in one gage.
 
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