Glock kaBooms

[elktrout]

I know this subject has been raised numerous times in various places and that fact and fiction often seem to blend together.

What are the facts? Please save me the gun shop legend stuff. Are there actual, trustworthy sources of well documented cases available for review? If so, where are they?

I am considering a G19 for my wife, but I hesitate to buy one until I am satisfied this issue is not extant.

Also, I had a G26 (bought new) about 8 years ago. It jammed consistently with Speer Gold Dots and some other hollow points. How does the 19 compare?

 

[9mmepiphany]

Most of the problems that Glock has experienced have been with the .40 caliber models (specifically the G22) and have been addressed with a series of fixes.

The G19, like the G17 and G26, is chambered in the original designed spec of 9mm and is not known to exhibit a tendency to KaBoom.

While I am not a huge Glock fan, I have a G19 as part of my regular carry rotation and I also use it when teaching...a good handgun instructor is never platform specific, I'll teach whichever gun a student comes to me with

 

[Trent]

One way to avoid a kaboom... Don't shoot cast lead bullets out of a Glock, or any other polygonal barreled handgun.

Polygonal barrels deform bullets to fit more than a conventional barrel, causing more bearing surface than a conventional rifled barrel. Significant amounts of lead deposit can build up after only a few shots (depending on the lead alloy used), causing a constricted bore and potentially dangerous over pressure.

I didn't know this, and somewhere around a decade ago, I bulged the barrel on a G17 after a couple hundred lead reloads were shot through it. "That last shot sure sounded funny", and kind of hurt ... the slide bound up halfway through extraction. Fortunately I learned my lesson without losing fingers or worse. Got a new barrel, and it was good as new. Put upwards of 20,000 rounds out of it after that without issues. Tough guns.

I've got somewhere north of 40,000 rounds out of my Glock 21 over the last 13 years, never have issues with it. I hose the action down with powder blast about every two thousand rounds or so, drop a touch of oil on the moving parts about every 500 rounds, run a bore snake through it after each shoot (if I remember, usually I don't), and I've scrubbed the copper out the barrel every once in a blue moon. Pretty forgiving weapon, all things considered. Only part I've ever had "fail" on it was a recoil spring, it got a bit sluggish as it wore down. You can tell when it needs replaced because the slide will momentarily "hang" full rearward, and will feel more sluggish on chambering... a few bucks for a replacement and back to new it feels.

I wouldn't worry about reliability at all with a Glock. It's one of the more forgiving and reliable weapons out there.

This being said, glock 9mm's can be quite picky on cartridge overall length because of the fairly steep feed angle. I fought this on my G17 making reloads. When I was working up a golden saber load in my G17 it would only tolerate a .002 window of variance on overall length. Any shorter or longer, it wouldn't feed reliably. When I worked up FMJ rounds, it was quite a bit more forgiving, it took up to a .01 variance in overall length. Speer, the style that has the sharp, wide hollowpoint, forget about it. I can't get those to feed in anything reliably except my Ruger P95DC, it'll literally eat anything..

 

[GLOOB]

How many guns do you think Glock sell each day? How much money do you think Glock is worth? Now how many underemployed, ambulance chasing lawyers do you think we have in the United States, alone?

If there were any problem with any caliber Glock, they wouldn't be selling them to civilians, police, and military users by the truckload. The .40 SW Glocks are a big portion of sales.

The Glock 22 was one of the first popular .40 SW pistols. When a new cartridge comes about, there will be plenty of hand loaders trying to see just what it can do. There may also be some ammunition makers who miss some details (Federal changed their .40 brass to make it stronger). So some guns blew up. If you shoot factory ammo and know how to maintain a gun, you shouldn't have any worries.

 

[HK-Freak]

How many guns do you think Glock sell each day? How much money do you think Glock is worth? Now how many underemployed, ambulance chasing lawyers do you think we have in the United States, alone?

If there were any problem with any caliber Glock, they wouldn't be selling them to civilians, police, and military users by the truckload. The .40 SW Glocks are a big portion of sales.

The Glock 22 was one of the first popular .40 SW pistols. When a new cartridge comes about, there will be plenty of hand loaders trying to see just what it can do. There may also be some ammunition makers who miss some details (Federal changed their .40 brass to make it stronger). So some guns blew up. If you shoot factory ammo and know how to maintain a gun, you shouldn't have any worries.

^^^This

I'd be shocked if there were more than a handfull of cases where Glocks actually KB'd using quality factory ammo (except possibly something like +P+ Buffalo Bore).

 

[Hk Dan]

My 9mm GLOCKs are not sensitive to OAL. I load to max OAL and they are fine. They also take factory ammo, which is shorter, without heistation. I wonder if your crimp wasn't the problem?

 

[ny32182]

GLOOB nailed it.... there are MILLIONS of Glocks out there. Occassionally someone will do something stupid with one.

If 60% of drivers on the road drove red cars, there would be more accidents with red cars. That wouldn't mean red cars are more prone to being involved in accidents.

 

[ny32182]

I've also never found an OAL my Glocks don't like. If it will fit in the mag (and, I've found with a handful of inconsistently shaped bullets), or even if it won't, my Glocks will feed RN and TC bullets I've tried. This is something you need to test for yourself though.

 

[ForumSurfer]

I'm a 1911 guy. I bought a glock 19. I would have bought a springfield xd, but they just don't make them in a 19 size. I wish somebody did (Are you reading this Springfield, Beretta, etc?!).

My 19 has ate everything I fed it. I've ran all the cheapo over the counter local gun store brands, hand loads (jacketed of course) and several brands of hollowtips through it. It goes kaboom every time I pull the trigger. Well, it's a 9mm...so I guess it's more of a kapow.

The 19 will work better than most people shooting it. I know that was the case with me until I got in a bunch of trigger time.

My first bit of advice would be to make sure she shoots, likes and wants a 19. Go rent one and let her put 100 or so rounds through it. I've always let my girlfriends, wife (divorced) or whatever you call them pick out their own weapons...even if I'm not a fan of what they pick out.

 

[jem375]

google glock kabooms

 

[FLAvalanche]

The fact is that it happens. It's happened quite a bit. It's happened to law enforcement agencies and civilians.

However, almost, if not all, have been caused by .40 brass being reloaded too many times and becoming weak (mixed with a poorly supported chamber) or by overcharged reloads and factory loads. And overcharged ammo is way out in front as being the major cause.

And please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think any have been caused by overleaded polygonal rifling.

 

[W.E.G.]

What happen???

 

[Strahley]

ANY gun can kaboom. If you're not buying her a G19 because you're worried about it kabooming, then don't buy her any gun

 

[Steve C]

.40 Glocks have had KB problems since they where first introduced with both factory and hand loads. I'd read about the first .40 Glock KB's 6 months after they came on the market on the old BBS (Bulletin Board Systems), pre-internet. Same thing when the .45 ACP Glock 21 was introduced as it had the same problem as the .40 S&W, an unsupported chamber.

In all the years since their introduction I can only remember reading about one KB in a 9mm Glock and that one didn't have a picture.

Search the web, lots of pictures and articles on the issue.

It probably doesn't happen any more than Ford SUV roll overs caused by Firestone tires did on a unit rate basis, but it does happen.

 

[writerinmo]

In the early .40 caliber design, the case wasn't fully supported, which led to some blowouts. The problem was fixed, and while I am not a rabid Glock fan I don't believe that the problem continues to exist and wouldn't hesitate to buy one if they changed the grip angle on it a tad.

 

[John Wayne]

Here is the definitive source on the Glock kabooms:
http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

Lots of good info. Author appears slightly biased at some times but acknowledges that it can happen to any gun.

In many cases, a specific brand of factory ammo caused most of the kBs. In others, it was handloads/cast bullets in polygonal barrels, etc. There was one case of a 9mm Glock kabooming with factory ammo.

It can happen to any gun. Modern Glocks with factory ammo are no more susceptible to it than anything else produced.

 

[burley]

Google Glock kaBOOMs? Want to have some fun? Google M&P kaBOOMs. It seems all I can find is other people wanting to know if a .40 M&P has ever kaBed. Weird.

 

[JohnBT]

"Modern Glocks"

Compared to what, antique Glocks? They're all modern and a new design and they're still being tweaked; even the Glock 17 is newer than the CZ-75 for instance and I was 25 when that came out.

 

[Carter]

...a good handgun instructor is never platform specific, I'll teach whichever gun a student comes to me with

Sadly the last handgun instructors I had preached over and over use no other handgun except the one you carry. Almost to the point where it seemed if you practiced with anything else you were stupid.




I hesitated about getting a glock 22 as well because of this issue. However, it seems to be a rare case, and usually resulting from some user error.

 

[daorhgih]

Re: Trent.

"" Polygonal barrels deform bullets to fit more than a conventional barrel, causing more bearing surface than a conventional rifled barrel. Significant amounts of lead deposit can build up after only a few shots (depending on the lead alloy used), causing a constricted bore and potentially dangerous over pressure. [citation needed on this, please.]

I didn't know this, and somewhere around a decade ago, I bulged the barrel on a G17 after a couple hundred lead reloads were shot through it "" Gaston specifically NOT to use re-loads in any Glock. There's a reason.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Sadly the last handgun instructors I had preached over and over use no other handgun except the one you carry. Almost to the point where it seemed if you practiced with anything else you were stupid.

I hesitated about getting a glock 22 as well because of this issue. However, it seems to be a rare case, and usually resulting from some user error.

I have heard that before and what it tells me is that they don't understand the true nature of trigger control. I always encourage student to get .22lr conversion kits for their carry guns for practice

I have a G22, which I go for a killer price. I hardly shoot it at all, anymore when I found it just didn't work for me as well as the G19...I should sell it.

I have considered making it a dedicated .22lr platform...just to get more practice with the Glock trigger feel

 

[MacDuff]

My G19 and G26 have been reliable since new with a variety of 125grn factory Hollow-Point loads. I am not afraid of Glocks in 9mm. I saw and early G17 used with "Major-Power" loads in competion. Those loads exceeded safe standards but the Glock held up.

 

[dlee4697]

A Glock 19 with factory ammo. You cant go wrong. Glocks are some of the most reliable pistols in the WORLD. Use factory loads for Practice and carry you will be fine. Even if you reload responsibly you will be fine.

These are the standards that Glock had to meet in order to get the first generation Glocks into service with the Austrian Army:
The design has to be self-loading.
The pistol must fire the NATO-standard 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge.
The magazines would not require any means of assistance for loading.
The magazines must have a minimum capacity of 8 rounds.
All actions necessary to prepare the pistol for firing and any actions required after firing must be done single-handed, either right- or left-handed.
The pistol must be absolutely secure against accidental discharge from shock, stroke and drops from a height of 2 meters onto a steel plate.
Disassembly of the main parts for maintenance and reassembling must be possible without the use of any tools.
Maintenance and cleaning of the pistol must be accomplished without the use of tools.
The pistol's construction may not exceed 58 individual parts (equivalent of a P38).
Gauges, measuring and precise testing devices must not be necessary for the long-term maintenance of the pistol.
The manufacturer is required to provide the Ministry of Defence with a complete set of engineering drawings and exploded views. These must be supplied with all the relevant details for the production of the pistol.
All components must be fully interchangeable between pistols.
No more than 20 malfunctions are permitted during the first 10,000 rounds fired, not even minor jams that can be cleared without the use of any tools.
***After firing 15,000 rounds of standard ammunition, the pistol will be inspected for wear. The pistol will then be used to fire an overpressure test cartridge generating 5,000 bar (72,518 psi) (the normal maximum operating pressure Pmax for the 9 mm NATO is rated at 2,520 bar (36,550 psi)).[7] The critical components must continue to function properly and be up to specifications, otherwise the pistol will be disqualified.***
When handled properly, under no circumstances may the user be endangered by case ejection.
The muzzle energy must be at least 441.5 J when firing a 9mm S-round/P-08 Hirtenberger AG.

 

[Messenger Guard]

I have personally blown one up. I don't blame the weapon. The facts were it was a model 35 (40 S&W). It was a heavily used range gun and I have no idea as to the maintenance but I suspect it was poor. I was using my reloads ( I know what Glock says) which were not at max pressures with copper jacketed bullets. I fired over one hundred rounds through a Sig P226 which was well maintained. I suspect the perfect storm came together on this weapon. The weapon was not clean (this shop has the "it's a Glock, it will do anything under all conditions"). I suspect my reloads were put together using inferior brass (I recall seeing a recall later on AMERC I think). The 40 is a hot loading despite the short and weak nonsense bandied about. It's parent 10mm cartridge runs high pressures and so does the 40. The Glock has a generous READ unsupported barrel compared to many other pistols. This is a blessing and a curse. It will eat anything short of an ashtray crammed down the barrel but the case head is unsupported compared to others. The actual Kaboom was case head failure. The case head took the extractor out the side of the gun. Luckily I'm a lefty. I put the fault on my using weakened 40 brass. I feel factory ammo would greatly minimize this happening. I feel the issue is a non issue in the 9mm unless someone were using Hertenburger sub gun ammo or some other over pressured loading. Another "cure" which I have used is to get a broach cut rifled barrel with greater chamber support. This allows for practice with lead and supports the case head but loses some of that "it eats like a Billy goat" kind of feeding.

 

[wow6599]

Early glocks chambered for the 40S&W rd had poor chamber support. the 40S&W is a high pressure cartridge (35,000 psi) and "kabooms" are had with the two combinations.....overloaded rounds and lack of case support.
Any gun can fail in these scenarios.