There may be issues with relatively soft cast lead bullets that can foul a factory Glock barrel's polygonal rifling faster than they would the barrels of most other handguns, causing a sharp increase in pressure after a certain point (and quicker than most would expect). There are people who shoot unjacketed cast lead bullets in Glocks with their stock barrels, but either the lead is hard enough to keep things safe or they thoroughly scrub their barrels after every session. The notion that one cannot shoot cast lead bullets in Glocks at all is a myth, but at the same time there are real reasons to be cautious and know what you're doing (or just have good luck
).Yes, apparently Glock reconsidered and now their .40 S&W barrels have fully supported chambers. This doesn't seem to have impacted reliability noticeably, and it doesn't for other guns that have fully supported chambers.
Make no mistake about it--ANY gun can blow up as a result of poor reloads, or even with a perfectly loaded factory cartridge that suffers from bullet setback from repeated chambering, for example.
What's different about Glocks is that originally their stock .40 S&W barrels had chambers that left quite a bit (in the view of many) of the case unsupported, and this apparently lead to a slightly increased risk of case failure, one specific manner in which pistols can explode in one's hand. The bulges visible in the cases of cartridges fired in .40 S&W Glocks indicate additional stress, and there is no denying this fact. But despite this fact, using new brass from factory-fresh rounds, the additional risk is practically negligible. It only became an issue of note when using reloads, even good ones, because brass can only take so much abuse before failing. The issue was still blown out of proportion, but it was an issue, and it was serious enough to cause Glock to modify the barrels, and now it's not an issue at all in new Glocks.
It was a problem and it has been corrected. The M&P's chamber, by the way, has always fully supported the cartridge case, although I'm sure that a few have blown up for various reasons, and it still happens to Glocks, too, but at least it's not because of a lack of case support for either of these guns now.
Well, I still take steps to avoid bullet setback, especially since I use 180 grain .40 S&W rounds. My rather conservative rule (I think) is that no defensive round is chambered more than once before it is set aside for range practice, and that no FMJ training round is chambered more than once, period. I'm probably going overboard here, but it doesn't hurt much while an exploding pistol does.
I don't think so. If Glocks were as bad as some of you make out they would have gone the way of Jiminez and Bryco. I have had several thousand rounds, perhaps more than 10,000 or more, through my G23, and way more than that through one I sold. I do shoot reloads through them, though never lead. I also shoot with a lot of guys who reload for them and they have never had a problem. I also know a guy who blew up a Ruger Black Hawk in 45 Colt. Maybe all Blackhaws are weak too. I am currently thinking about buying a third G23 just because I can get a real good deal on them right now.