glock kaboom incident at the range!

I have never had a double load ... hope to never have one, but maybe that's because I look into each case. Talk about scary.

So, life lessons learnt, dont cheap out and shoot unknown ammo, and buy 1911s

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Because metal shrapnel is better than plastic shrapnel?

Glad your buddy is OK. I guess he has some pretty good nerve to get back to shooting after having one just explode in his hands!

this is the result of a bad commercial reload in my buddy's 24





mag shot out and stenciled every opening the gun had onto his hand. the square in the first picture is the mag release

I doubt it's a double load. And it may not have been caused by grandpa's handloads.

.40 S&W Glocks have a reputation for Kabooming. See - http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

PainBallDude - I'm glad your buddy is OK...though I gotta tell ya...I got a laugh out of the magazine release buttom imprint on his hand. Crazy.

I hate to say this, but it was a Glock success and a user failure. Grandpa's reloads? I love him, but I'm pulling the bullets.

buy 1911s

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Sure, if you want. But the guy had a double charge detonate the gun in his hand and he was able to keep on shooting, albeit a bit bruised. That's not something you can usually do.

A few manufacturers of components recommend against reloading for unsupported chambers in this calibre. The ONLY time I've ever gotten smiles was with a G27 --and crappy factory ammo. So when I load for it, I am very careful and tend to go with the lower end of the data. No problems this way, and it really doesn't matter --the minimum load for a .40 isn't all that much off from a max load in all the numbers.

If you want smokin' .40, get a 10mm. The G20 and G29 can handle much more powerful loads before failing. I know, I load for all three. BTW, the 9mm and .45 isn't even an issue unless you overload it or do something wrong.

Oh yeah, don't shoot reloads that you didn't do yourself. Gramps probably loaded those for a Smith or something else that could handle, but those Glock .40's are picky. I can load a round that will function fine in one pistol, and not in the other. As for 10mm, my 1006 can safely handle loads that I don't feel comfortable shooting in the Glocks.

What does the barrel look like? I would think a double charged round would have blown the barrel up. A case failure from an unsupported chamber could do the damage shown.

"reloads he got from his grandpa"
"The double charged reload round went off and a chunk of the pistol flew into the ceiling."

What type of reloading setup was used to produce the reloads? Was it a single stage or a progressive setup? Assuming that it was a double charge, my perception is that this seems to becoming more common. Have others noticed this, or is it just me?

Likely the Glock wasn't problem the ammo was. Put one of Grampa's hot loads in a 1911 and the only difference will be the flavor of the shrapnel.

I load powders that will overflow on a double charge if at all possible. I reload for my whole family and hundreds of guns/thousands of rounds. Knock on wood no K booms even with close to a dozen of the Glock pistols in 4 calibers.

double charge a 40 S&W.....the case hardly fits a uncompressed 'regular' charge.
i choose my powder for 40 for its ability to fit in the case.

that said--likely as has been mentioned, is that the barrel has an unsupported area and if the re-load happens to put the same area of the brass at the cut location again--that may be what happened.
also neck tension may be less with a once fired case than a new one. together with ( or lacking) a tight taper crimp, even 1/10" bullet setback can double the pressure.

Grandpa's Reloads

Maybe overcharge and maybe case failure, maybe overseating issues. It is hard to pin it down without having seen the reloading procedure he uses. Inspection of used cases and great attention to detail when charging and seating are practices most all of us do. This one got away.

I

doubt it's a double load. And it may not have been caused by grandpa's handloads.

.40 S&W Glocks have a reputation for Kabooming. See - http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

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Mr. Dobson, let me tell you about two Glock 40's one a 22 the other a35. Both were kaboomed by reloads the shooter had made.

The fellow with the g-22 is a friend of mine who I have known at least 18 years, not a story about a friend of a friend. This person's reloading mentor told him the book max charges were lawyer low and he could exceed published max powder loads. This guy was one who likes being the baddest on the block. So guess what.....He Kaboomed his G-22. He broke the frame and was able to get a replacement frame from Glock.

The fellow with the 35 is also a friend of mine who I worked with. he was using a progressive with his daughter helping and discovered she was double charging. He picked out the rounds he thought were double charged and missed one. When this round was fired it blew the mag out and cracked the trigger. A few days later and after the trigger was repaired, I went with him to record group sizes. I noticed his spent 40 brass looked funny and brought to his attension. We discovered when he fired the double charge, (231) it had split the chamber. But the pistol still functioned with the split chamber. I never did figure out why he did not notice this when he repaired the trigger, but who am I to second guess him.

The 35 took a double charge of 231 and still functioned? Are you kidding me? Maybe these pistols are stronger than we thought. I have a theory the 40 round in this case was over charged but not a total double charge. A double charge of 231 should have taken the 35 completely apart in a very rapid fashion It also seems to me when a 1911 kabooms no body thinks twice about it and assumes it was a double charge.

the barrel has an unsupported area and if the re-load happens to put the same area of the brass at the cut location again--that may be what happened.

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Ahh, so is a 1911's chamber. Unsupported.......

Overcharged case. Poorly serviced gun. Set up for a disaster.
And if that happened to a 1911 the damage would be far worse. And more costly.

Was it a seventh generation?

I doubt it's a double load. And it may not have been caused by grandpa's handloads.

.40 S&W Glocks have a reputation for Kabooming. See - http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

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Did you even bother to read your own link? It says no such thing. For example:

"In general, Glocks tend to contain case failures fairly well, but under some circumstances they can cause injury as well as damage to one's gun."

Did you even bother to read your own link? It says no such thing. For example:

"In general, Glocks tend to contain case failures fairly well, but under some circumstances they can cause injury as well as damage to one's gun."

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The article says a lot of things.

The annotations provide more info about .40 Glock kBs! See - http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/kb-notes.html

if he was using bullseye,he could have double loaded or underloaded,which caused it to detonate

Since it is easier to replace a gun than a finger or a hand, it looks like a success to me.

Regardless of the specific cause for the case failure (looks like an unsupported chamber
is the most probable reason) it looks like the area of the grip frame covered by your friend's hand remained intact and prevented any brass/metal/polymer fragments from injuring his hand.

That says a lot for the strength of the hybrid polymer used in the Glock's construction.

Looks like it is time to spring for new Glock since damage occuring as a result of using reloads will probably not be covered by the warranty.

Most Kaboooooooms are the fault of the ammo, not the gun. Glock, as well as most gunmakers, caution AGAINST reloads. Gramps had the best of intentions, but it only takes one overcharged round or the wrong powder to set up a potentional disaster like this. Your friend was extremely lucky.

Thread progressing down another glock bashing rant

Glocks have a lot of positive features, but is there any reason why this seems to happen to .40cal Glocks more than any other pistol? Is it just reported more?