Wadcutters in a Glock 40 S&W

Dunross · Mar 2, 2021

I have a buddy who bought some ammo for his Glock in 40s&w the other day. One of the cartridges had the bullet seated backwards - base outwards. Looks just like a jacketed wadcutter. I told him not to try to fire it as the pressure spike might be too much for his pistol, but he's been playing around with seeing if it will feed from the magazine into the chamber and apparently it does. Now he's convinced he wants to shoot full wadcutters.

I've seen 45acp pistols that would feed empty cases so it's not inconceivable I suppose. As deeply seated as a full wadcutter would have to be though seems to me leaves too little volume for the powder charge and would almost certainly create dangerous pressures even if it would feed and fire.

I'm not sure he really believes me so I am asking here. Is it possible to do so safely? I'm convinced it is not, but want to be able to speak more authoritatively.

Lennyjoe · Mar 2, 2021

I wouldn’t in a .40 cal because it’s a high pressure round to begin with. I’d pull the bullet down and not fire it. But, you can lead a horse to water....

fxvr5 · Mar 2, 2021

It would be safe to do so IF: the powder charge is appropriate for the bullet weight and it's seating depth, so as to not push pressure past the 40's pressure limit of 35,000 psi. (This is all we do with any bullet.)

It might be tough finding load data.

Dunross · Mar 2, 2021

Yes, it's the load data that would be difficult to find. I suspect because it does not exist.

You know, with a 45 it might be a doable thing given the case capacity.

Kingcreek · Mar 2, 2021

Ability to feed is not an indicator of safe to fire.
No way. The billet that should be out in front is taking up considerable case capacity.
Satisfying some curiosity is small gain for real risk of damage or injury.
If you can’t talk him out of it at least make plans to be somewhere else when he tries it.

gotboostvr · Mar 2, 2021

Is it possible to load full wadcutters safely in a 40sw? Yes.

Is that particular cartridge safe with a flush seated backwards bullet? No.

GarrettJ · Mar 2, 2021

So not exactly the same thing. I bought a pile of inexpensive frangible .40 bullets a while back. The problem is that apparently "frangible" = "fragile". They tend to break at the mouth of the case. And no, I don't have too much crimp. I'm not using really any crimp. I have the die set to just take the flair out of the case, and that's it. But I still get them breaking off sometimes.

So what I end up with is a handful of 75 gr. "wadcutter" bullets, that are loaded with an appropriate amount of powder for a 125 gr. bullet. No issues with overpressure there. Unfortunately, they would not feed in a Glock 35 for me.

I used this as an excuse to go buy a .40 revolver. Just so I had something to shoot these up in. :thumbup:

Wadcutters in a Glock 40 S&W

Dunross

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fxvr5

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