Glock barrel vs Storm Lake Barrel

[twoblink]

Like I predicted, a mod had closed my previous thread.

But I really wanted to post pics comparing the two barrels, so here it is:

WIth my G35, 2 shell casings were included. Visible bulging of the shell casing. I took the shell casings and dropped them back into the barrel.

The black (glock) barrel in the image; the casing fits back in.

The stainless (Storm Lake) barrel, the shell casings DO NOT fit in.

When I put a new factory round into the barrels and wiggle it, I have a lot of play in the glock barrel, and no play at all in the Storm Lake barrel.

 

[twoblink]

Case Difference

Here is a shot of my Steyr in its case; and the G35 in its case.

The Steyr Case, vastly Superior.

 

[twoblink]

Gen4 Spring Comparison

Here is an image of the Gen4 springs. The bottom of the glock spring is stamped; and actually doesn't always sit well in the barrel spring well; and is VERY SHARP. The glockstore spring is beefy and seats well in the barrel spring well.

 

[twoblink]

Mag Release Bite

This is where the mag release sits pressed into my middle finger when I hold the glock. Why if I don't deburr the mag release, it cuts into the finger. You can see the file marks I made on the mag release.

 

[tarosean]

No point in keeping something your unhappy with, regardless of the name on the slide..

 

[45_auto]

The Storm Lake barrel has a tighter chamber. Tighter chambers are more likely to cause jams due to dirt or slightly out of spec ammo.

No big deal, sell the Glock if you don't like it. It'll make someone happy to get it.

 

[LiveLife]

Glock "perfection" not for left-handed shooters.

My left-handed father and friends found comfort with M&Ps.

But I am right-handed and would gladly buy your problem Glock and tight chambered SL barrel.

 

[powder]

The factory test fire case does not fit into the storm lake barrel: what's the point of the comparo?

As a left hand shooter the mag release button is in the way: switch it to the other side?

 

[twoblink]

The factory test fire case does not fit into the storm lake barrel: what's the point of the comparo?

What's the point of any comparison then?

The glock barrel has a bit more slack; if I was in combat; I'd probably would pick the glock barrel. The StormLake barrel might have a problem with some ammo; if they are not right right on spec.

If you are going to reload; this might be the reason for KB!. There is noticeable bulging in the case; not a big deal to me if I'm not reloading; but might be something to consider. I don't reload and so I'll defer the effects of glock vs non-glock barrels to someone else.

I'm presenting the facts; I'm not sure why there are just hordes of people telling me to sell the gun. I didn't say I didn't like the gun.

 

[twoblink]

Apparently most can't handle pictures. How do I lock a thread? There's no point in presenting anything on a glock apparently.

 

[Nushif]

From what I gather you bought the aftermarket barrel to prevent a kaboom, no?

So wouldn't a comparison to test kaboominess not involve a round in the chamber with a shot showing the area that is exposed?

Instead you showed that what .... One chamber accepts a slightly oversized bullet and the other one doesn't? Frankly I like oversized chambers because they feed potentially dirty or dinged up bullets, to me that says reliability.

 

[erkman]

Why don't you switch the mag release to the other side? All Gen 4's are capable of this.

 

[45_auto]

There's no point in presenting anything on a glock apparently.

There's pretty much no point in whining about anything, no matter what it is.

 

[Teachu2]

It's not what you say, it's how you say it. Everything you have done to your gun was done to make it yours - and that's your choice. However, none were necessary to make the gun function properly.
1) The factory barrel will chamber correct factory ammo correctly, and fire it safely.
2) The vastly inferior case still does the job. So did the cardboard box and oiled paper S&W shipped in for 70 years.
3) The factory springs work, the aftermarket ones are prettier. Another solution to a non-problem.
4) The mag release - nice that you smoothed it up, but you should try switching it over. Glock designed it that way for lefties - what did Steyr do?

My point is that you could have simply read the manual and flipped the mag catch - and the gun, using all the original unmodified factory-supplied parts, would have performed virtually identically to what you have now. You chose to do your mods without even firing the gun - but your posts make it appear that these were NECESSARY mods. They were not.

 

[powder]

What's the point of any comparison then?

No. You inserting a spent casing, from the factory test rounds received, into an aftermarket barrel does not negate any comparos. It's like dropping a 20 ga. shell into a 12 ga. chamber and taking a picture: who cares?

Buying an RSA from Glockworks, that's the exact same configuration as the OEM, and taking a picture of it? Because the Glock RSA has a sharp edge?

A "vastly superior" foamy case from Steyr? Hmmm....

Sell that damn G35 POC, back to the factory!

 

[Bozwell]

I am not seeing anything superior about one case over the other. No offense, but both look dirt cheap and are nothing to write home about. They're functional and nothing more (and that's fine). The open-style Glock case doesn't bother me because I carry more than 2 mags anyways and have to store them separately regardless of the cutouts in the Steyr case.

As for the guide rod/spring assembly, I don't see much of a difference other than a SS guide rod, and I personally haven't heard about people having problems with plastic ones. Although I agree SS looks better (and I've bought a few myself for CZs), at the end of the day it's a guide rod and you don't exactly see it very often.

At the end of the day, I don't really see the point of this post.

 

[twoblink]

So wouldn't a comparison to test kaboominess not involve a round in the chamber with a shot showing the area that is exposed?

I could, but how much you want to bet that it will be followed by a bunch of "why don't you sell the gun then" comments?

That being said; the bullet rattles a little bit in the glock barrel; not enough to show in a picture. I think the glock barrel is good for what it is designed for; not to be as finicky with bullets. I definitely think the SL will be more picky about the bullet.

SL has tighter tolerances; all that the the picture shows; Like I keep saying, if you reload; then the glock barrel casing might be an issue; but I don't reload so I couldn't say with any authority.

OK..

So I must not be drinking the right koolaid or something; because it seems to me that the fact that there is brass bulge from a spent shell, I'm the ONLY person concerned about it.

You glock koolaid drinkers, carry on, please ignore me and this thread.

The recoil spring is sharp and not machined well. Does it effect shooting? Maybe, maybe not. I would think if you were a REAL glock fan; the proper response is; glock can do better with the recoil spring. The response instead, "Burn him at the stake!"

The SS guide rod looks prettier; and if for no other reason than that; I like it better.

My point is that you could have simply read the manual and flipped the mag catch - and the gun, using all the original unmodified factory-supplied parts, would have performed virtually identically to what you have now. You chose to do your mods without even firing the gun - but your posts make it appear that these were NECESSARY mods. They were not.

Point taken. None of these mods are necessary for the gun to function; they are mods I wanted to do (and have done). Just got a slug plug today. Yet another mod that I have done that I'm sure will bring a bunch of "then why don't you sell your gun" comments..

 

[TimboKhan]

Sigh.

I don't understand. Do you or do you not like your gun? If you do, great. If you don't, I am at a loss of what you expect people to say. Actually, either way I am not sure what reaction you are trying to get. Honestly man, you never say you don't like the gun, but I and virtually everyone else clearly get the sense that you don't.

That being said, I won't close this thread like I did the last one because the signal:noise isn't all that bad yet. Keep it constructive, people.

 

[Nushif]

SL has tighter tolerances; all that the the picture shows; Like I keep saying, if you reload; then the glock barrel casing might be an issue; but I don't reload so I couldn't say with any authority.

It's really not as bad as you make it out to be. My .303 for instance makes brass unusable because of the ridiculously loose chamber, with no ill effect on either accuracy or safety.
And if you truly do get a doublecharge+ I don't think a tighter chamber is on top of your list of things that saved you. In short, I think you're vastly overestimating both the likelihood of a kb and the effect a tight chamber has in making it less catastrophic.

 

[Bozwell]

Twoblink, one suggestion if you don't want people attacking your post as much is to actually make a point in your post. You posted a handful of modifications you did which you admit mostly pertain to personal preference, e.g., you like one case better than the other, you like springs without sharp edges, you like shiny guide rods (I fall guilty to that too), etc. But so what? The stock recoil spring is 100% functional and you can soften any sharp edges if it bothers you. The plastic guide rod is 100% functional even if it's plain (and how often are you seeing the guide rod anyways). The case gets the job done and if you want a quality case, well, you don't have pictures of one in your original post so look elsewhere (both of those are functional but otherwise basic factory cases).

If you're suggesting Glock should sell guns with fancy cases, stainless guide rods, deburred pieces, etc., say so. But realize the consequence is that Glocks would cost more money to buy and expect people to point that out. If that's not your point, well, tell us what point you're trying to get across. Just posting a handful of seemingly random comparisons and not drawing any conclusions from them just leaves people to speculate.

 

[Skylerbone]

Timbo, I can't promise constructive but here goes nothing anyway. Twoblink, I don't like Glocks. I do tip my hat to both their design and reliability and so, while not a fan or owner I can say I've sold them (decades ago), I've field stripped them and I've fired them and I can appreciate them.

T.B., if I may call you that (for brevity not as an insulting reference to a terrible disease) your posting reminds me of a few I've seen regarding a pistol I do fancy, the Colt 1911. As interest in 1911s has reached a fevered pace of late many new to the platform have sought advice about which to buy. As so often is the case folks eager to help offer up their favorite brand and sooner or later Colt is mentioned. At that point all are treated to stories of old rattletraps that clang back and fourth then the name of a "better" brand surfaces that is cheaper, tighter and comes with a Match barrel.

Long preface but similar in my mind. No, Colt isn't the tightest built 1911 on the market but then working from the original print it was not designed to be so. Can tolerances be tightened and accuracy preserved? Certainly can and are by several companies. Can reliability be lost for that same reason? Absolutely, if attention is not paid to all critical dimensions. In that manner Colt gets things right IMO more often than anyone but who doesn't want a Match barrel, fancy frontstrap checkering and ambi-safety for less money? And so it goes that people belittle Colt for merely producing what they have always produced rather than what Sig or Ruger or Dan Wesson produce, much the way we argue here with Sig or S&W or Springfield or Caracal are proffered to have "out-glocked" Glock. It is what it is and the way it is because it is proven to work and not because it will be thought perfect by every end user.

Now about that fired case...I have a confession. Of the hundreds of thousands of rounds I've loaded (including pick ups from Glocks) I've made one real error. While firing off some older rounds one day through my -06 I happened on a batch loaded by my father some dozen years earlier. I loaded the magazine, ran the bolt home and it promptly jammed. I had forgotten that pops had once owned an -06 and had loaded some fire formed casings for a hunt that never happened and he sold it off before exhausting its ammo supply. Different chambers with different dimensions. I pulled the remaining rounds, fully sized the brass and carried on with life.

Final note, I've got a stack of injection molded cases taking up closet space and none get used much beyond the trip home from the gun shop. I won't claim brand X saved money on fancy packaging and spent it on a building a better pistol only that I have no good use for OEM cases.

 

[Teachu2]

twoblink, I'm relatively new to Glocks, having been conditioned to regard them as junk 30+ years ago. Early this year, I decided I needed a 9mm range gun, and the local indoor range was starting GSSF shoots this summer. The G34 (9mm version of your G35) was the obvious choice. Some folks use them for carry, but they are intended for competition. That cutout on the slide helps balance, but it's really there to lighten the slide - which makes the gun cycle slightly faster, for speed competitions. The 17L (and the 24, I think) are the longslides without cutouts.

Because of GSSF rules, I chose to leave the G34 unmodified. After learning to shoot the gun (it's not a 1911 and never will be - so why did I think I could shoot it like one???) I was able to score a 491 out of 500 at this month's event. That was high score in Stock. High score in Unlimited, by a guy with years of Glock experience, was a 493. Seems the stock setup is a lot of bang for thr buck.

The G34/35 was Glock designed for shooting competitions, not beauty pagents. If there was speed or accuracy to be gained with changes in the barrel or RSA, I'm confident Glock would have done them.

 

[JDGray]

Glock has tightened up the chambers quite a bit in the late Gen-3 guns, compared to the early Gen-3s, your Gen-4 must be on the sloppy side. My new G35 does not belly out its brass, and I am thankfull for that as I reload.

 

[HorseSoldier]

There's pretty much no point in whining about anything, no matter what it is.

+1.

If this is a continuation of a locked thread, maybe the fate of that previous thread should be illustrative. I'm in the take-them-or-leave-them camp when it comes to Glock -- and it's a competitively priced service pistol. You want a chamber with no slop down to the nanometer, delivered in a velvet lined presentation box and with every part hand-finished by master gunsmiths, then buy a high end 1911, and be prepared to pay a reasonable price for it.

 

[918v]

My KKM barrel has a .002" larger chamber than my Glock.