glock kaboom incident at the range!
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Jim Watson
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Because Lyman puts less powder (relative to case volume and bullet weight) in the .40 than they do in 9mm P. SAAMI spec is very close to the same for both. But maybe Lyman is acquainted with people like Grandpa.
trex1310
Member
Maybe it's because there are more .40 caliber Glocks than any other
brand.
Evocatii
Member
+1
I've seen this happen before with factory loads. My example happened during a Divison of Wildlife qual. I will post a pic later.
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gun addict
Member
alrite guys, let me state again that i am NOT a glock hater and i personally have 2 Glocks (no 40 cal though), and i was very impressed at how the Glock directed the pressure away from the shooter in the event of a blown up, leaving my buddy unscathed and being able to continue with his qualification tests.
as far as my comment goes for a 1911, it simply works for ME better than any other handguns ive tried and i recommended it to my friend. In fact i just got a call ,my friend's grandpa felt so bad he went out there and bought a tactical model Rock Island 1911 for my buddy, ending this story on a very happy note
again, no Glock bashing, but Glocks in 40 blowing up with reload ammo or factory has been recorded numerous times and my personal beliefs is that is is more PRONE to catastrophic failures with ammo variations than other firearms. I say this with absolutely no backup however
as far as my comment goes for a 1911, it simply works for ME better than any other handguns ive tried and i recommended it to my friend. In fact i just got a call ,my friend's grandpa felt so bad he went out there and bought a tactical model Rock Island 1911 for my buddy, ending this story on a very happy note
again, no Glock bashing, but Glocks in 40 blowing up with reload ammo or factory has been recorded numerous times and my personal beliefs is that is is more PRONE to catastrophic failures with ammo variations than other firearms. I say this with absolutely no backup however
That is indeed a VERY happy note. I have personally witnessed 1911s fired with double charged handloads and all it did was bulge the barrel. Never saw one come apart. (it does happen, I know). Never have seen a Glock fire a double charged load and survive with just a bulged barrel. The ones I saw were damaged beyond repair. .40 cal. normally is loaded to fairly high pressures. Glocks tend to have more feed ramp than case support. There is a thin line here and if it is crossed bad things can happen. Gaston apparently believes the brass case will withstand LOTS of pressure. Whatever. Be careful with them Glocks kids.
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LiveLife
Member
Actually, Gen3/Gen4 40S&W Glock barrels now have comparable case base support to other brand factory barrels. So the issue of KaBoom applies to all (we just may see more prevalence of Glock KBs due to greater number of pistols in use).
If you reload, take a look at the warnings from the powder manufacturers:
Hodgdon only lists this warning for 40S&W load data:
Accurate - http://www.accuratepowder.com/safety/semi-automatic-handguns/
If you want truly "fully supported" chamber at the ramp area, you need to use aftermarket barrels like Lone Wolf.
Here's comparison picture of 40S&W Lone Wolf and Glock barrels.
So the issue of KaBoom applies to all (we just may see more prevalence of Glock KBs due to greater number of pistols in use).If you reload, take a look at the warnings from the powder manufacturers:
Hodgdon only lists this warning for 40S&W load data:
Accurate - http://www.accuratepowder.com/safety/semi-automatic-handguns/
If you want truly "fully supported" chamber at the ramp area, you need to use aftermarket barrels like Lone Wolf.
Here's comparison picture of 40S&W Lone Wolf and Glock barrels.
exavid
Member
Case support was something I looked closely at before buying my SR40c. The Ruger does have very good support in the loading ramp area. I've loaded some fairly hot cartridges in .40S&W for that pistol with no indications of a problem, cases look good and have been reloaded more than once with those loads. I've always considered Ruger guns to be built pretty conservatively.
Autolycus
Member
Sounds like it is one of Grandpa's reloads more then the Glock.
jerkface11
Member
We can't really base our opinion on information we don't have. You might was well say there could have been a bullet stuck in the bore from a previous shooting session.
Rifleman 173
Member
For years Glock has put out information telling people to NOT use lead bullets and reloads in their guns. Lead bullets do not really work well in most pistols. And with reloads, it is not unusual to have excess pressure from double loads and such in them. Most gun makers, like Glock, will not warranty repair work on guns that were blown up by faulty reloads. Reloads = bad idea for most semi-auto pistols.
Only if the reloaders can't pay attention to what they are doing. There are plenty of stories on this forum alone about FACTORY rounds with aberrations.
On what do you base this statement? I've shot many thousands of lead bullets through my WW2 era P-38 and a 1970 vintage 1911.
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exavid
Member
"...For years Glock has put out information telling people to NOT use lead bullets and reloads in their guns. Lead bullets do not really work well in most pistols..."
Actually lead bullets work quite well in most pistols. The potential problem is caused by polygonal rifling rather than groove and land rifling. I've fired many hundred reloads with lead bullets in my 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP pistols. No problem with serious leading either in any of them. If lead bullets were a great problem with autoloaders they'd show similar problems in revolvers which have been using them since Sam Colt invented them.
Actually lead bullets work quite well in most pistols. The potential problem is caused by polygonal rifling rather than groove and land rifling. I've fired many hundred reloads with lead bullets in my 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP pistols. No problem with serious leading either in any of them. If lead bullets were a great problem with autoloaders they'd show similar problems in revolvers which have been using them since Sam Colt invented them.
MECHAGODZILLA II
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I abandoned .40 S&W, because nobody makes a JSP round for it. If I get another Glock/XD, it will be 9mm or .45 acp. I'm glad nobody was injured, too.
Evocatii
Member
Per my earlier post
Quote:
Originally Posted by 56hawk View Post
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.
+1
I've seen this happen before with factory loads. My example happened during a Divison of Wildlife qual. I will post a pic later.
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Take note of where the case failed. This would be consistent with the unsupported case theory.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 56hawk View Post
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.
+1
I've seen this happen before with factory loads. My example happened during a Divison of Wildlife qual. I will post a pic later.
-----------------------------------------
Take note of where the case failed. This would be consistent with the unsupported case theory.
SEE IT LIKE A NATIVE
Member
because
"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?"
Probably because I would guess that there are 2 glocks out there for every 1 of anything else ! Kevin
"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?"
Probably because I would guess that there are 2 glocks out there for every 1 of anything else ! Kevin
jerkface11
Member
Probably because of the lack of case head support in the early ones. Fine with factory ammo but it would cause case failures in just a few reloadings if you weren't careful. Of course people blamed the gun and not their procedures.
LiveLife
Member
Another key point:
If you use mixed range pickup brass for 40S&W max powder charge loads, how do you know what condition of the brass is you are using?
Even though a case that's been loaded overmax more than once can be push-through resized using an undersized die like Lee FCD. After a nice polish job in the tumbler, you wouldn't be able to tell you have a weakened case that's been work hardened and ready to rupture if given an opportunity.
It is for this reason I keep a separate box for "known" once-fired 40S&W brass for near max/full power loads using PowerPistol/Universal/WSF/AutoComp. For mixed range brass with unknown history, I use lower pressure target loads (start-to-mid range load data) using W231/HP-38. Am I OCD? Probably, but I have not experienced any KB in my 40S&W Glocks (Gen 2 G22, Gen3 G22 and Gen3 G27) the past 17 years.
If you shoot a lot of reloads in 40S&W, I highly recommend the use of aftermarket barrel with tighter and fully supported chamber. The tight chambers of Lone Wolf barrels do not allow bulging of the cases and minimizes work hardening of brass. I consider them my ~$100 KB insurance. Also, resizing the spent cases takes much less effort and based on my experience (over 200,000 40S&W reloads), tighter chambers seem to extend case life.
Be safe, but do enjoy your Glocks!
If you use mixed range pickup brass for 40S&W max powder charge loads, how do you know what condition of the brass is you are using?
Even though a case that's been loaded overmax more than once can be push-through resized using an undersized die like Lee FCD. After a nice polish job in the tumbler, you wouldn't be able to tell you have a weakened case that's been work hardened and ready to rupture if given an opportunity.
It is for this reason I keep a separate box for "known" once-fired 40S&W brass for near max/full power loads using PowerPistol/Universal/WSF/AutoComp. For mixed range brass with unknown history, I use lower pressure target loads (start-to-mid range load data) using W231/HP-38.
Am I OCD? Probably, but I have not experienced any KB in my 40S&W Glocks (Gen 2 G22, Gen3 G22 and Gen3 G27) the past 17 years. If you shoot a lot of reloads in 40S&W, I highly recommend the use of aftermarket barrel with tighter and fully supported chamber. The tight chambers of Lone Wolf barrels do not allow bulging of the cases and minimizes work hardening of brass. I consider them my ~$100 KB insurance.
Also, resizing the spent cases takes much less effort and based on my experience (over 200,000 40S&W reloads), tighter chambers seem to extend case life.Be safe, but do enjoy your Glocks!
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