Glock Reloading

[racerngr1]

I have recently gotten into guns and have a few questions about reloading my G23. Can somebody explain to me about the bullet not being fully supported in the chamber, I don't understand that and I'm a little leary about reloading for it. I have reloaded for it and shot the reloaded ammo and it's worked fine.

The way I'm reloading is:

200 grain Rainer Ballistics RNFP
Alliant Bullseye powder at 4.5 grains
Small pistol primers

My uncle has been reloading his shotgun for years (20+) and has helped me to understand more of what I'm doing. I just want to be safe. I'm almost done with my 200 grain's so I'm switching to 155 grain because I like the 165 Winchester factory ammo best. I'm looking forward to your comments.

 

[ljnowell]

Personally, I dont care for the combo you are reloading. Heavy bullets and fast powder doesnt go well in a 40S&W, at least IMO.

There is nothing wrong with reloading for a glock. Glocks barrels have varying degrees of support in the chamber area. I have seen recent pictures of glock barrels that have a considerable more support than others. This is a problem in the .40 glocks only though. The 40 s&w is a thin case that is operating at its max pressure. Couple that with a lack of case support and bad things happen.

I would continue to reload and enjoy your pistol. I have been shooting lead(yep thats right out of the stock barrel) reloads out of my g21 for a good while now. The only problems I have is keeping enough ammo loaded. It sure loves to eat them.

Keep a close eye on the brass, toss it if it looks suspect. Dont try to duplicate factory loads with fast powders and heavy bullets.

 

[rfwobbly]

Personally, I don't care for the combo you are reloading. Heavy bullets and fast powder doesn't go well in a 40S&W, at least IMO.

+1

The Alliant book I have doesn't even show that load. Where did it come from?

Generally speaking, as the bullet gets heavier, then the powder should get slower. Bullseye is one of the fastest powders out there. IMHO, if you're concerned about blowing out your cartridges cases, then I'd say putting a really fast powder under a heavy bullet that doesn't like to get going is one really good way to get there.

Save the Bullseye for the 155gr, and get some Unique or Power Pistol for the 180 and 200gr.

 

[mousegun380]

+1 on Unique...and a 180gr projectile is fine really

 

[racerngr1]

I'm almost out of 200 grain bullets (I only have 50 unmade and a lot of 155gr I haven't touched yet. So I just wanted to really verify that with the 155gr bullets, I'm not going to blow my hand off.

 

[racerngr1]

+1

The Alliant book I have doesn't even show that load. Where did it come from?

Generally speaking, as the bullet gets heavier, then the powder should get slower. Bullseye is one of the fastest powders out there. IMHO, if you're concerned about blowing out your cartridges cases, then I'd say putting a really fast powder under a heavy bullet that doesn't like to get going is one really good way to get there.

Save the Bullseye for the 155gr, and get some Unique or Power Pistol for the 180 and 200gr.

I was told to use this combo by a very reputable gun store in Orange County, CA who also sold me everything at the same time.

 

[ljnowell]

I was told to use this combo by a very reputable gun store in Orange County, CA who also sold me everything at the same time.

do you have any reloading manuals? I would not accept load data from anyone without verifying it.

 

[racerngr1]

Just the other day I purchased a new Lyman manual from now on to use with the 155gr ammo.

 

[Innovative]

Here's the rest of the story ...

racerngr1 .....

I wrote a tech tip on my website that may answer your questions about handloading for the .40 cal. Glock. The barrel on the left is the original Glock barrel. You can see the cartridge is not well supported.

Read more about it here:

Click here to see handloading tips for Glocks.​

- Innovative

 

[steve4102]

Do yourself a favor and stay away from the super-fast powders and heavy bullets. With fast powders and heavy bullets, Bad things can happen in the 40.

 

[W.E.G.]

Please tell me you are NOT using lead bullets in reloads fired through a standard Glock barrel.

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vceh44UK-8I

 

[ljnowell]

Please tell me you are NOT using lead bullets in reloads fired through a standard Glock barrel.

Many people use lead in glock barrels, myself included. It causes no problems when the person doing it loads properly and keeps his pistol clean

Many of the early glocks were capable of firing out of battery. Build lead up at the chamber mouth. gun stays out of battery over an already unsupported chamber and you get a kB.

The bore of my g21 does not have a leading issue, though I do clean it every time I go shooting.

 

[Schutzen]

Last week I ran 500 .40S&W cases through a Redding GRx Die. These cases were range pick-ups off a police range and fired through mostly S&W M&P pistols but several Glocks were also on the range.

Many of the cases fed right through the Rx Die with no effort, but there were a significant number that required some serious force to push them through. Out of curiosity, I placed several cases against a straight edge. You could see light between the case and the straight edge on some of the cases. After sizing, all were straight with no light showing.

Would they work without re-sizing through the Rx Die? I do not know, but the cost of the Rx die vs. the work of pulling bad loads vs. the free brass off the police range; I'm happy sizing them.

 

[Innovative]

Two reloading tech tips for Glock shooters:​

Glocks will often bulge cases with the .40 caliber. Use a Wilson case gauge to verify case width after resizing your .40 cal. cases. (You can flare your cases in a separate operation.) Never try to fire any round that doesn't fit in the Wilson gauge, and you'll be safe no matter what bullet you go with. 99% of all Glock KBs are caused by firing out of battery (due to this case bulge). I really like using the 155 gr. Speer Gold Dot H.P. bullets in my Glock 27. The accuracy is spectacular, and stopping power is very good, with much less recoil than heavy bullets.

If anyone wants to use lead bullets, try rolling your bullets in motor mica before reloading. That keeps your barrel clean for a much longer time.

- Innovative

 

[Gadzooks Mike]

Please tell me you are NOT using lead bullets in reloads fired through a standard Glock barrel.

Oh let's not start this up again. There is NOTHING wrong with shooting lead bullets in Glock barrels. You just have to match the PRESSURE with the HARDNESS, but you should do that with ANY lead bullet reload.

And cleaning the barrel now and then helps just in case you do get it leaded up for some reason.

Of course you should always carry with you some chicken entrails, a lucky rabbit's foot, and three grams of powdered eye of the Tasmanian flying toad.:banghead:

 

[45ACPUSER]

Wilson does not make a case gauge in 40 SW. Dillon does.

 

[Innovative]

45ACPUSER ......

I got my Wilson 40 S&W case gauge from MidwayUSA, the item number is # 276502.

I'm sure the Dillon gauge is also a good one.

- Innovative

 

[rfwobbly]

There's a lesson here...

Racer -
Well here's the lesson you learned from this....

DO NOT EVER trust a load until you see it in print from an authoritative source. Either in a 1) reloading manual, or in a 2) powder company pamphlet, or on a 3) powder company web page database. And usually you want to have 2 or more of those agree!

Alliant will mail you their "Reloader's Guide" for free JUST CLICK HERE.

I'm not saying your man wasn't trusted, wasn't smart, or wasn't knowledgeable.... We don't do the name calling thing. It's just simply that everyone makes mistakes, and mistakes are not allowed. (As my cowboy friend is fond of saying, "To err is human, to forgive bovine.") I'm certainly glad you took the time to ask. Even the loads I do 3 times a week, I refer back to my reloading notebook before starting. IMHO that's the mentality you need to adopt.


This could have been an expensive mistake. As it is, your bill with us now stands at $37.50. How would your like to pay for that, cash or credit card?

 

[racerngr1]

Racer -
Well here's the lesson you learned from this....

DO NOT EVER trust a load until you see it in print from an authoritative source. Either in a 1) reloading manual, or in a 2) powder company pamphlet, or on a 3) powder company web page database. And usually you want to have 2 or more of those agree!

Alliant will mail you their "Reloader's Guide" for free JUST CLICK HERE.

I'm not saying your man wasn't trusted, wasn't smart, or wasn't knowledgeable.... We don't do the name calling thing. It's just simply that everyone makes mistakes, and mistakes are not allowed. (As my cowboy friend is fond of saying, "To err is human, to forgive bovine.") I'm certainly glad you took the time to ask. Even the loads I do 3 times a week, I refer back to my reloading notebook before starting. IMHO that's the mentality you need to adopt.


This could have been an expensive mistake. As it is, your bill with us now stands at $37.50. How would your like to pay for that, cash or credit card?

I am not going to be using any more of my 200gr bullets, I'll just toss them since I don't have the proper powder to use them. I'm going to start using my 155 gr bullets and doing it as my lyman manual says which will be 5.3 grains (according to the Lyman manual).

This is what it says on the Alliant website for re-loading 40 S & W, but it also says that "recipe" is supposed to be used for lead shot only so I guess it doesn't apply:

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reload...=1&weight=155&shellid=29&bulletid=40&bdid=106

 

[racerngr1]

Also, these are the bullets I am going to be using loaded with about 5.3gr of powder, I buy them in packs of 250 for $31.95. Has anybody used this manufacturer before?

 

[Clark]

The Alliant book I have doesn't even show that load. Where did it come from?

The Alliant book does not show ANY pistol loads for STEEL, but for my Glocks, I just had to make up some loads.