Any here shooting reloads from stock Glock barrrels?

Virtually all I shoot are reloads, in Glocks or any other handgun. My Glocks have seen many thousands of reloads. I won't tell you I've never found a bulged case while reloading, but then I always come home with a lot more brass than I fired, so who knows what those were from.

I shoot reloads from my stock glock zero issue. All of my bullets were rmr in all three forms of their 115 grain... I also have a stainless storm lake barrel that I got and use for cast reloads. Honestly it's a better barrel for accuracy for both and after thousands of rounds swapping back and forth, the storm lake just stays installed now. I stuck with swapping for a few years and then lost interest.

Soft swaged bullets will lead in any barrel; Poly rifling, Ballard rifling (cut, button, broach, hammer forging and ECM) and even smooth bore...

I shoot nothing but reloads in my Glocks - .40 and 9mm, all G4. My reloaded rounds are Fed HST clones - .40 180gr and 9mm 147gr at personal defense muzzle velocity. They're "stout" loads. If the case is going to guppy, I'd see it by the 3rd reload.

I read somewhere (it was the internet, so it must be true! ) that Glock fixed their unsupported chamber sometime during Gen 3. GooseGestapo previously alluded to that. There are OTHER pistols out there with unsupported chambers. The occasional "guppy belly" gets crushed and tossed into the recycle bin. Outdoor range brass is plentiful.

Each reloaded round goes into a EGWGuns chamber checker. Occasionally, a round won't fit, but after pulling the round apart, the case passes the checker - i.e. the case+projectile error stackup is just a ding off. Again, I just recycle the brass - it's not worth the aggravation of finding it next time around.

I've found this once I get up to near maximum load, the guppy belly shows in 10mm in the stock glock barrels. I found that using Longshot powder, I get maximum velocity (have chronoed 180gr. JHP at 1,375fps) and it doesnt get the bulge. This is out of Glock 40 MOS

I threw in the Alpha wolf barrel anyways, that has better support and can shoot lead.

My G20SF has handled a few hundred Hi-Tek coated cast bullets with no problems. I use loads that are under published maximums. No bulged brass, either. I'm happy with the caliber/gun as it is, and am not trying to push the performance envelope.

For cast bullets, fitment and hardness are key. Speed is as well. Too soft and mushy and fast, and you'll have a mess. I cast all my bullets out of clip on wheel weights and they all come in at Lyman #2 according to my SAECO tester. I have shot them out of all manner of Glocks with FACTORY barrels and they do just fine.

My G36 is very accurate with the Lee 230gr. TC bullet over Bullseye powder and leaves the bore sparkling clean. My new G48 leaded a little bit with the new "Marksman" rifling that Glock is using (wish they would've kept polygonal). After about 400 rounds it's leading less and very accurate. It is really like a "lead wash" than chunks and hunks of lead.

Any gun will lead if bullet selection isn't taken into account.

I have a gen2 & a 4. I've never seen the glock bulge from either of them.

My gen 4 10mm G20 does a little so I run them through a lee Bulge Buster

GooseGestapo said:

Not a “MYTH” !
Late 1996 the Georgia PSTC went “cheap” on their training budget and purchased Master Cartridge”remanufactured” .40 S&W ammo loaded with swaged lead bullets. .........Ammo manufacturer blamed Glock for faulty design.........Glock replaced the destroyed pistol... But didn’t acknowledge “Perfect” firearm didn’t have a minor flaw...

We weren’t the only agency or incident. I know of numerous others.
Glock obviously took it serious and corrected issue.

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Well said! The Glock Perfection moniker was the problem.......they wouldn't acknowledge or take responsibility. Just quietly changed the design and hoped the damage to their reputation would go away.....NO RECALL, ever. They got away with it for one reason.......they like other manufacterers warned, "no reloads." and nobody reported anything negative with factory ammo.....end of story.

There was a reason for the limited support design. It was a way to feed more reliably with "any" ammo. (oh....except reloads, )

Excepting reloading mistakes with extra heavy loads of powder, which will continue to happen with some reloaders, most never saw anything. Even then, it may have taken a second reload of the brass.....with the unluckyness of loading the round with the "weak" spot loaded to the same unsupported spot....again.

I use a Redding debulger too......but not obviously damaged brass.

Are you guys saying that the "Glock bulge" in 9 MM is a myth? I have taken it to be the the truth. Hmmmm...............

I have shot a lot of rounds of 9mm reloads through my G19 and haven't noticed any issues.

I shoot reloads in my Gen 3 G22, my Gen 5 G19 and my G43x.
While I do use the Lee bulge buster on all of my 40 cal brass, I’ve never had a problem…..and probably don’t need to run all of my cases through the Lee bb. But it makes me feel better and I think it only costs about $15 on Midway.

Tempus Tom said:

While I do use the Lee bulge buster on all of my 40 cal brass, I’ve never had a problem…..and probably don’t need to run all of my cases through the Lee bb. But it makes me feel better and I think it only costs about $15 on Midway.

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I found Lee 40S&W carbide sizer ring will slightly undersize brass and further down towards case base than other brand dies (Dillon, RCBS, etc.) and I haven't needed to bulge bust my brass, even for Lone Wolf barrels with tightest 40S&W chamber I know.

If you are using resizing die that won't reach expanded/bulged part of case base to fully chamber in your barrel, push through resizing with FCD (Bulge Buster) maybe necessary.

As to OP, all I shoot through my Glock barrels is reloads with occasional factory ammo.

There’s a warning sticker against shooting “reloaded or remanufactured” inside my Glock 19’s box, and I’m sure there’s another warning against it somewhere in the owner’s manual. So, just like with all of my other guns that came with similar warnings, in order to avoid voiding their warranties, I don’t shoot reloaded or remanufactured ammo in them.
Seriously, of course I shoot my own handloads in my Glock 19. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be shooting it at all right now. Factory 9mm ammo is a little hard to come by these days - at least around here it is.

gifbohane said:

Are you guys saying that the "Glock bulge" in 9 MM is a myth? I have taken it to be the the truth. Hmmmm...............

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Not sure I'd call it a myth. Just neither of my 2 examples exhibit signs of it.

I remember the early 90s that there were some cases of lead reloads destroying the barrels of some of the 9mm pistols. On examination they were shooting soft lead, they were sized too big and they were doing mag dumps and really heated things up. The barrels were examined and found lead that could be flaked off with a screwdriver. Basically they plugged the barrel.

I have over 2000 rounds of lead reloads through my G17 gen2 stock barrel. Never had an issue and never had any leading issue. I use harder lead, keep the velocities where they should be, and use properly sized bullets.

I shoot Berry’s TMJ bullets from my Glock all the time. No issues. I have a G45 and 2 Gen 3 G34s. I do not shoot lead bullets from my G34s and though lead is supposed to okay from my G45 rifled, not polygonal barrel I have literally only shot 6 lead bullets down range with it.

The barrels of the G34s, one made in 2019 and one in 2020, appear to be rifled and not polygonal. I called Glock to confirm but got a bunch of hemming and hawing and the guy just would not answer my question. He would only say “Marksman barrels are rifled”.

My Glock 17, 17L, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 34, and 35 have all digested a diet high in reloads. Most of them with the factory barrels. The 17 and 19 do have aftermarket threaded barrels on them now, but I did shoot them with the original barrels for some thousands of rounds. I have also fed the 21, 36 and 37 reloads as well, but they don't have nearly the round count that the 17, 19, 22 and 23 do. My 17, 19 and 22 are 1st and 2nd gen guns and they have had no issues with bulging cases. I don't load hot, so maybe that helps?

Bcwitt said:

Not sure I'd call it a myth. Just neither of my 2 examples exhibit signs of it.

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Yo, @Bcwitt: This is actual Science. Reporting results of an experiment against an hypothesis, to wit: "Do Glocks cause Glock Bulge ?"

Experimental report: I recently measured concentricity of a few cases from my G22G4 and G27G4. 0.002" difference min-to-max.

The results from this experiment indicate that G4s do not cause "Glock Bulge".

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I "hoover" brass from an outdoor range. Some of us come from poor families. Occasionally, I find "guppy belly" brass. I have passed it through a "bulge buster" - it looks OK, but I don't trust it. That brass has been work-hardened. Crystalized. It's not worth the effort to collect it - (oh! a .40SW! I'll bag it!) Better to let the brass recyclers make it into a new case. Annealing covers a host of errors.

glock 17 gen 4, works!

Spare Parts said:

Yo, @Bcwitt: This is actual Science. Reporting results of an experiment against an hypothesis, to wit: "Do Glocks cause Glock Bulge ?"

Experimental report: I recently measured concentricity of a few cases from my G22G4 and G27G4. 0.002" difference min-to-max.

The results from this experiment indicate that G4s do not cause "Glock Bulge".

[break]

I "hoover" brass from an outdoor range. Some of us come from poor families. Occasionally, I find "guppy belly" brass. I have passed it through a "bulge buster" - it looks OK, but I don't trust it. That brass has been work-hardened. Crystalized. It's not worth the effort to collect it - (oh! a .40SW! I'll bag it!) Better to let the brass recyclers make it into a new case. Annealing covers a host of errors.

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Interesting. I have a gen 2 also. It has never exhibited a bulge that I could see. I'm sure others do. I have seen glock 40s do that.

I have a G29, and a G40. I have shot very little factory ammo. When I do, it's the crazy hot Underwood ammo. My reloads are warm, but not hot. The Underwood makes bulges.
I run all my 10mm through a Redding pass through die. I have a Kimber 10mm with a chamber that is tighter than the Glocks. Without the pass through die, I would have to segregate my ammo. That's not happening.

The only trouble I have had, is my Glocks tumbled 10mm plated bullets. I buy jacketed bullets now. Problem solved.

Bat Rastard said:

I have a G29, and a G40. I have shot very little factory ammo. When I do, it's the crazy hot Underwood ammo. My reloads are warm, but not hot. The Underwood makes bulges.
I run all my 10mm through a Redding pass through die. I have a Kimber 10mm with a chamber that is tighter than the Glocks. Without the pass through die, I would have to segregate my ammo. That's not happening.

The only trouble I have had, is my Glocks tumbled 10mm plated bullets. I buy jacketed bullets now. Problem solved.

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Glocks were designed to feed everything the easy way. Kimber and good 1911’s do it the hard way by fitting

Glock 17, Gen 3, then Gen 4 and now Gen 5. Fed them reloads almost extensively for practice. Berry and Xtreme 9mm and .357 plated bullets in 115, 124 and 147gr weights. No problem. Did clean clean barrel and action at least every 1,000 rounds. Found the Gen 5 action likes cleaning a little more often than that though.