It is no secret that the majority of KB's can be attributed to improper ammunition, be it reloaded or factory out-of-spec. It is also no secret that Glock’s are among the most popular make of semi-automatic handguns purchased in the United States, so deficiencies will be more apparent with Glocks because of their shear numbers. Glocks have a tremendous following for a reason, they are incredible auto-loading pistols. I won’t mention their attributes since their huge numbers speak for themselves. If Smith & Wesson or Sturm Ruger had as many pistols on the market, their products would probably be at the forefront of the KB hysteria, but unfortunately, by design, they’re not.
I have owned 6 Glocks in my lifetime (2 G21’s, a G36, a G17 & 2 G19’s ) and have used either new or factory reloaded ammunition and just a year ago, my own reloaded ammunition. As a new reloader, I was as careful as humanly possible to load each round as perfectly as I could, to check, double-check and triple-check. I have yet to experience any failure with my Glock pistols. All were purchased NIB, no factory rebuilds or otherwise.
Failures can occur with any pistol at any time, but catastrophic failures cause exceptional concern. Catastrophic failures may also happen to any pistol at any time, and the causes may be from one or several factors combined, ammunition + metallurgical impurities/weaknesses + improper care and maintenance + new design technology. Some claim that the unsupported portion of the chamber of Glock barrels is the leading cause for case rupture which contributes to the catastrophic failure of the weapon. New technology takes us to the edge of what was previously accepted as a safe and durable margin. But it also includes special attributes such as in a pistol’s case, durability, less weight, smaller frame and larger magazine capacity. However, if the weapon is utilized as planned by the designers, using “perfect†ammunition under “perfect†conditions their margin of safety or expected operation is reduced to obtain the “desired†aforementioned qualities.
In layman’s terms I am saying that in my opinion, an aluminum or polymer framed pistol is not as durable as a steel framed weapon under all real-world conditions, under controlled conditions the “reality“ is made malleable. A product will be portrayed by their producer to be a certain “some-thing†and perform “perfectly†as they have tested it under their “abusive†testing procedures in an environment they have created to duplicate the “real-worldâ€. However there are instances that occur in the real-world which they either have not considered or cannot duplicate. I am not saying that pistols designed with alloys or polymers won’t last, but that under certain conditions, might not perform as expected. Those “conditions†may never be experienced by 99.9% of their owners. But in the instance of that owner, that 0.1%, that the particular “condition†exists for that one moment in time when their survival hangs on the proper operation of a design, that we would want it to operate as we expect it to. It would be foolish to say that failures did not occur with all-steel pistols during periods of dire need, but do we need to take the chance?
After all this being said, I will probably keep my two Glock 19’s and just shoot the h*ll out of them whenever I can to help alleviate my “unwarranted†concerns. I do plan to buy a SA 1911 GI model soon, but have also added either a CZ75B or a Browning HP to my list of “wanted†pistols to have the peace-of-mind of an all-steel 9mm pistol. As ironic as this world is, there’s nothing to say that after I buy my all-steel pistols that one day I’ll find a problem with it or a crack and my entire case will have been blown to smithereens. As a side note, the most KB’s I’ve seen have been with Glocks and revolvers (hot reloads). I do not remember seeing KB pictures of any steel or aluminum alloy pistols. But as technology advances and we weave it into the future and discover it’s strengths and weaknesses we eventually conclude through successes and failures what is steadfastly durable and what fails and the conditions they’re exposed to when the successes and failures occur. It’s just a shame in which the way is determined, the tragedies and losses that occur when that one unrealized condition presents itself to cause an unwanted condition or failure.
Yes, I’ve been told I think too much.
I have owned 6 Glocks in my lifetime (2 G21’s, a G36, a G17 & 2 G19’s ) and have used either new or factory reloaded ammunition and just a year ago, my own reloaded ammunition. As a new reloader, I was as careful as humanly possible to load each round as perfectly as I could, to check, double-check and triple-check. I have yet to experience any failure with my Glock pistols. All were purchased NIB, no factory rebuilds or otherwise.
Failures can occur with any pistol at any time, but catastrophic failures cause exceptional concern. Catastrophic failures may also happen to any pistol at any time, and the causes may be from one or several factors combined, ammunition + metallurgical impurities/weaknesses + improper care and maintenance + new design technology. Some claim that the unsupported portion of the chamber of Glock barrels is the leading cause for case rupture which contributes to the catastrophic failure of the weapon. New technology takes us to the edge of what was previously accepted as a safe and durable margin. But it also includes special attributes such as in a pistol’s case, durability, less weight, smaller frame and larger magazine capacity. However, if the weapon is utilized as planned by the designers, using “perfect†ammunition under “perfect†conditions their margin of safety or expected operation is reduced to obtain the “desired†aforementioned qualities.
In layman’s terms I am saying that in my opinion, an aluminum or polymer framed pistol is not as durable as a steel framed weapon under all real-world conditions, under controlled conditions the “reality“ is made malleable. A product will be portrayed by their producer to be a certain “some-thing†and perform “perfectly†as they have tested it under their “abusive†testing procedures in an environment they have created to duplicate the “real-worldâ€. However there are instances that occur in the real-world which they either have not considered or cannot duplicate. I am not saying that pistols designed with alloys or polymers won’t last, but that under certain conditions, might not perform as expected. Those “conditions†may never be experienced by 99.9% of their owners. But in the instance of that owner, that 0.1%, that the particular “condition†exists for that one moment in time when their survival hangs on the proper operation of a design, that we would want it to operate as we expect it to. It would be foolish to say that failures did not occur with all-steel pistols during periods of dire need, but do we need to take the chance?
After all this being said, I will probably keep my two Glock 19’s and just shoot the h*ll out of them whenever I can to help alleviate my “unwarranted†concerns. I do plan to buy a SA 1911 GI model soon, but have also added either a CZ75B or a Browning HP to my list of “wanted†pistols to have the peace-of-mind of an all-steel 9mm pistol. As ironic as this world is, there’s nothing to say that after I buy my all-steel pistols that one day I’ll find a problem with it or a crack and my entire case will have been blown to smithereens. As a side note, the most KB’s I’ve seen have been with Glocks and revolvers (hot reloads). I do not remember seeing KB pictures of any steel or aluminum alloy pistols. But as technology advances and we weave it into the future and discover it’s strengths and weaknesses we eventually conclude through successes and failures what is steadfastly durable and what fails and the conditions they’re exposed to when the successes and failures occur. It’s just a shame in which the way is determined, the tragedies and losses that occur when that one unrealized condition presents itself to cause an unwanted condition or failure.
Yes, I’ve been told I think too much.
