Glock 9mm Blow Up!!! (From post about Sig Mosquito)

[silent_killer]

I didnt want to hijack that thread, so for those who requested them. Not very clear pics at all, but you can definatly see the damage.

And I was wrong, it wasnt a glock 45, it was a glock 9mm.

For those that didnt catch my post that was in the Sig Mosquito thread. I stated that I take my Sig Mosquito to the range as a backup, extra, or for some friends and their little ones to borrow. (I stated earlier that the gun jams regularly). Another member quoted me and said "I don't let friends shoot my guns if I know the guns will fail. It's embarrassing. I only let them shoot guns that work." Then I replied saying, no its embarrasing when you borrow a buddies glock, that was just bought 2 days prior (brand new. I believe it was a glock 17), first time at the range, and had been cleaned pre use. I was the first to fire it, made it through one complete mag, then 2 shots into the second mag you see the results. Now that my friends is embarrasing. I could of been hurt pretty badly had things been worse, but that was a life message telling me never to own a glock. I am sure they are great guns, and I am sure you guys/gals with them have little or no problems, but after that experience with me, glock lost my vote.

Enjoy!

 

[SR_]

Were you shooting factory loads or hand loads? Looks like a squib first round with a second round fired while the first bullet was still lodged in the barrel.

If factory ammo, send the ammo (fired case and the rest of the box) and the barrel to Glock and I think they take care of it for free. If reloads the cost is something like $130 - but they also inspect the gun, replace the barrel, and overhaul the gun (not necessary with a new gun but not a bad deal if you have a gun with a number of rounds). A buddy just had this problem (ammo problem). Glock was very fast at getting everything fixed.

I'm not a big time Glock fan. Just thinking this is really an ammo problem.

Oh, what amazes me is how well modern handguns are designed. They can take the abuse and are designed to blow the mag out and all pressure following down the handle. More times than not, folks are not seriously injured when stuff like this happens.

 

[silent_killer]

This barrel is ballooned soo horribly, that I could not remove the slide, actually I couldnt even move it forward or back. We took it to my gunsmith, and he practically had to beat the slide off with a hammer, he didnt think it was going to be salvageable, but he managed to free the slide, and a replacement barrel did the trick. The gun is still firing fine to this day, but just goes to show, some things still get by the good old QC, something was seriously wrong with this barrel from the factory, I cannot imagine a fault round triggering this damge.

The ammo being used for any that are interested was Hornady.

 

[SR_]

Call Sig about your Mosquito - I hear they have a preference for high end .22 ammo. However, if you're the original buyer, you should be able to get them to send you a shipping label and they will look the gun over for you. That's too expensive a gun to put up with jams.

 

[silent_killer]

I have tried almost every ammo under the sun, I bought the gun brand new, it has done it since day one, and I take very good care of my weapons. I have heard stories like this from almost everyone that owns a Mosquito. Its one gun I must say that doesnt follow the normal qualities of a Sig.

Winchester Super X, and CCI have proved to be the 2 best going through it for me, for the least amount of jams, and most consistent grouping.

Mine is the orginal Mosquito, when they first came out, its not one of the new line. It wasnt too pricey, I paid $275 for it with an extra mag.

 

[Ken Rainey]

Glad you weren't hurt but we need more info please....such as was it Hornady factory ammo or just Hornady bullets used for handloads? .... If factory loaded ammo, was Glock and/or Hornady contacted? .... I read that the barrel was replaced and all was well, so did the factory provide the barrel and repairs or the gunsmith??? I find it hard to believe that the barrel just ballooned on it's own , which is what it appears you're implying by the post??? And even if the barrel did fail in some manner, most people know that Glock (or most any other company) would replace it for free no matter the age of the pistol but certainly on a new one like SR_ said....IF it wasn't the ammo's fault..... and if it was the ammo's fault, then the ammo company would pay for any repairs needed...so fill us in on ALL of the details please....

 

[SouthpawShootr]

Is there still a bullet in the barrel?

The gun is still firing fine to this day, but just goes to show, some things still get by the good old QC, something was seriously wrong with this barrel from the factory, I cannot imagine a fault round triggering this damge.

As SR already noted, the characteristics of the damage are classic symptoms of a squib load with another fired behind it. If a barrel ever made it out of the factory like that, the gun wouldn't function period. You wouldn't have gotten to the second mag.

The fact that it was premium factory ammo makes no difference whatsoever. Bad loads happen with factory ammo as well, just not as often as with (some people's) reloads.

 

[R.W.Dale]

The pics indicate an ODVIOUS ammunition related failure, Showing a textbook example of what happens if another round is fired behind a squib.

Rather than cursing Glock you should be praising them for making such a robust firearm that spared you any injury.

 

[DENALI]

Interesting failure, it almost looks like the bore was obstructed but the photo's are to blurry for me to say for sure, but it looks like the barrel was obstructed and then fired and there you go. I also don't believe for one second that this is a failing that can be blamed on the pistol itself but it's immpossible to say from my vantage point. Glad you're ok but I also think there's more to this event then meets the eye..

 

[silent_killer]

Ok, it was Hornady Factory ammo. After having the gunsmith overlook the weapon, my buddy (cousin actually) then purchased a replacement barrel on his own (not through the gunsmith)

Sorry I was not trying to imply that the barrel just magically ballooned on its own with no cause. I was just thinking more of a factory defect in machining, maybe bad bore (too tight) and a less powerful round (deemed as squib) would of jammed, then another round right behind it, (impact causing the ballooning). I guess I just wasnt figuring a premium factory load to be squib.

I am sure you fellas have seen this more than I have (as this was my only encounter ever) so I am not denying anything from you, you guys are probably right, I was just thinking to far past the point being I used premium loads (which I shoot Hornady all the time and have NEVER had a squib round) and just went straight to the other piece of hardware.

As this was not my gun, my cousin did what he chose, I know he bought the barrel himself, so whether he was or was not aware or thought of contacting the Ammo/Firearm co. He did not. Although I do remember throwing the idea at him of contacting Glock.

 

[Ken Rainey]

Well Ok then....now we're gettin' somewhere....it wasn't the gun, it was the ammo....and if your cousin still has the barrel and the rest of that box of ammo, he can contact Hornady and they will most likely pay for his repairs ....

 

[DENALI]

I missed the part about life lesson's and owning or shooting Glock's! This was shooter induced and who ever was actually shooting the pistol and induced the kaboom can thank there lucky stars it was a Glock they were shooting...

 

[silent_killer]

I have the barrel, he let me keep it as a memento you could say. As for the box of rounds, that was finished that day in my Para... She definatly ate the rest up...

Shooter induced? I guess I shouldnt of grabbed a glock that day, didnt know by picking it up, that was going to happen.... Guess next time I will just throw the bullet.

I didnt realize that when a squib load goes off, and the CARTRIDGE EJECTS and new round loads (with no appearance of fault, that a round was stuck in the barrel)

Did I pull the trigger? yes. From the sounds of the post your confusing ignorance with accident. If I know a fault has happened, I am not going to induce more damage purposely. With 20 people shooting next to you indoors, no physical gun problems whatsoever from the outside, I am going to continue shooting. The squib load in no way felt or acted like one, the gun fired, cartridge ejected, round loaded, trigger, then boom, obviously if there was any physical problems like the slide no closing, the second round would not off had the chance to go off.

 

[Ken Rainey]

Nope, not shooter induced....sounds like the pictures look: like it was the ammo..would have happened in any pistol it was fired in - if the sequence of shots was the same. You must have been far enough away from the target to not be able to see (or hear, if shooting steel) the hits as you were firing or either shooting very fast....again, glad you weren't hurt.

 

[DENALI]

So you understand that this was shooter induced, am I right?

 

[DENALI]

Fair enough, but the shooter still fired the obstructed pistol or am I missing something?

 

[silent_killer]

Ken Rainey - Correct, could of never seen the target to of known, shooting at 40 yards. Pull in after each mag, I couldnt see a half dollar at that range, much less a 9mm round. lol....

 

[SR_]

Glad you were not hurt.

While not common, it does happen that a squip round has enough umph to work the slide and eject the casing while still leaving the bullet in the barrel.

It happened to a good friend of mine at an IDPA match. He's a safety officer and one of the best safety officers in the country was running the stage. Neither noticed the change in sound indicating a squib. It is something you try to listen for as a Safety Officer.

 

[Ken Rainey]

No, you're right about that...the shooter did fire it. I almost had a similar incident one time while trying out a few light handloads made for me by a guy that loads (almost professionally you might say) for my BHP...pistol fired, and then failed to load the next rd (empty brass was ejected) ... I tried to load another rd into the chamber, same thing - the slide wouldn't close completely..well, it was time to leave so I just put the pistol up to examine later that day thinking that it was a "pistol problem". What had happened was that a squib had just barely entered the rifling with the base of the bullet blocking the way for the next round to fully chamber (Thank the good Lord) .... it acted like a normal light load had fired - I was shooting at a target far enough away that I couldn't tell exactly where the hit was in the black. Yep, stuff happens...

 

[cslinger]

Hey Glocks definitely have a pretty generous chamber and have been known to KB from time to time especially in .40 and .45, there really isn't any denying this and the fact is given the sheer number of Glocks on the market it doesn't seem to happen a whole hell of a lot but enough for people to be aware of.

What happened to you is a classic squib load that was followed up by another round. Not the fault of the shooter per say as it would be very easy to miss this especially without any kind of obvious malfunction. It was a bad round of ammo, whether the bullet itself was out of spec or the powder charge was too light.....who knows but I cannot see this as being the Glock's or the shooter's fault. I personally would file this under sh@t happens and playing with contained explosives can be a tad dangerous from time to time, course my drive to the range in Nashville traffic is exponentially more dangerous IMO.

Sorry this happend to you and I can totally understand the psychological desire to stay away from Glocks because of it, but my gut and my eyes tell me this was all the ammo's fault.

I had a Kabo....ahhh really a Ka-Pop with a DPMS .22 AR and it scared the bejezzus out of me, think nose to charging handle. I shyed away from the gun for quite some time before I starting shooting it again. I got a bad .22 round, my first in 10s of thousands of .22 rounds. Still scared the hell out of me and even though this can happen with any gun I still get a tiny bit nervous shooting that .22 AR nose to charging handle even though it was not the gun's fault.

Chris

Ohhh and for an example of shooter error, well that is when some idiot fires a .40 caliber round through his .45 caliber 1911................twice
This happened to uhhhh, well this guy I uhhh know very well, he and I are very close........like brothers, twins you might say but certainly NOT me, nope not me.....

 

[DENALI]

It's to bad you don't have any of that ammo left, that would be lesson #1 and I'm more than certain Hornady would've ante'd up for you....

 

[41magsnub]

I don't think it is getting through. It does not matter what gun it was, a squib load is a BAD thing. If it is stuck in the barrel the following round will do damage like what you have seen. There is still enough pressure sometimes to cycle the action on an autoloader which means you had no way of knowing other than the lack of a hole in the target that a squib happened.

All that happened here is you won the bad luck (maybe good luck?) lottery and got a bad round from a premium MFG. As others have said it is likely Hornady would reimburse for the damage and probably throw in some ammo if you contacted them, especially if you happend to have the empty box so you could provide a lot number.

 

[silent_killer]

Appreciate all the help and comments fellas. Maybe I will give Glock another try, whether or not I will ever buy one, will come with time, but after hearing all this talk, and realizing my own over accusation of glock itself I need to allow another try. As for the ammo, I still use hornady to this day, so I still have trust there, everyone makes a mistake now and then, especially with the millions and millions of rounds out there, just by a sole mfg.


I will soon try to get some good High Quality pictures up when I get a chance, so you gurus can have a better look at the damage.

 

[cslinger]

Appreciate all the help and comments fellas. Maybe I will give Glock another try, whether or not I will ever buy one, will come with time, but after hearing all this talk, and realizing my own over accusation of glock itself I need to allow another try. As for the ammo, I still use hornady to this day, so I still have trust there, everyone makes a mistake now and then, especially with the millions and millions of rounds out there, just by a sole mfg.

Hey I wouldn't blame you for not ever using either product again, stuff like this can be a bit traumatic, but I think it is good that you understand that this was most likely not a firearm flaw and just a single bad round out of millions of good ones. Stuff happens.

Take care, glad you were not hurt, glad you are still shooting, stay safe and SIGs are better anyway.

Chris

 

[Doug S]

The Glock didn't blow up, it's a bulged barrel, which can happen with any firearm. Downright, silliness to insinuate that it had anything to do with the Glock. Like someone mentioned be very happy that the barrel was strong enough that it didn't blow up in your face. I recommend that you go out and buy one of them stout Glock pistols ASAP. All of that said, get a 9mm, not a 40 caliber .