Help!!! Is this normal? Please give me your thoughts
- Thread starter davehk
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SDC
Member
Perfectly normal, and nothing to worry about; all it shows is that a little bit of the copper jacket of the bullets has rubbed off inside the bore, but if it bothers you, you can use a bronze bore brush of the proper size to clean it out.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
That has got to be the roughest Glock barrel I have ever seen!
Chatter marks in the rifling is picking up copper fouling bad!
Not only that, but Glock has always used polygon rifling, and you can't even see those pronounced lands & grooves in a Glock factory barrel. They are as shiny as a mirror inside and do not foul like that.
That looks like a very rough after-market barrel replacement to me.
rc
Chatter marks in the rifling is picking up copper fouling bad!
Not only that, but Glock has always used polygon rifling, and you can't even see those pronounced lands & grooves in a Glock factory barrel. They are as shiny as a mirror inside and do not foul like that.
That looks like a very rough after-market barrel replacement to me.
rc
Thanks SDC...
RC should I address this to Glock? Its brand new. I just bought it recently from Cabelas about 4 weeks now. I also have a HK USP with polygon rifling and it has a mirror shine bore. When I saw this in the Glock I did not know if if it was normal or not. (first Glock I have owned)
RC should I address this to Glock? Its brand new. I just bought it recently from Cabelas about 4 weeks now. I also have a HK USP with polygon rifling and it has a mirror shine bore. When I saw this in the Glock I did not know if if it was normal or not. (first Glock I have owned)
"RC should I address this to Glock? " No, I have no clue what is expected to be found after magnifying something 25 times, I am a human magnet to dirt, I am the only one that does not live in an environmentally sterile environment, I would expect my barrels to look like that after cleaning, and again, I make my own bore snake type cleaning equipment, after cleaning I do not use shades to cut down on glare but the system I use works, and then there is 'Do not shoot lead in the Glock' Because it will buil;d up?
F. Guffey
F. Guffey
Nushif
Member
Another reason:
Also something to look into ... were you shooting non-jacketed bullets?
[edit]
Right ... no, you weren't. In that case I dunno either. I've never really shone a massive light at my bores and magnified it. 8)
Also something to look into ... were you shooting non-jacketed bullets?
[edit]
Right ... no, you weren't. In that case I dunno either. I've never really shone a massive light at my bores and magnified it. 8)
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rcmodel
Member in memoriam
He said he only shot 200 rounds of Winchester factory FMJ.
Go back to Cabalas and look at another Glock for comparison.
Like I said, I have never seen a Glock barrel that rough.
But my one and only Glock Model 23 is about 15 years old.
It was shiny like a new penny when I opened the box, with no tool marks visible even under strong magnification.
And it remains so today, no matter whether I shoot FMJ, or my lead bullet reloads.
Maybe they don't make barrels like they used too?
rc
Go back to Cabalas and look at another Glock for comparison.
Like I said, I have never seen a Glock barrel that rough.
But my one and only Glock Model 23 is about 15 years old.
It was shiny like a new penny when I opened the box, with no tool marks visible even under strong magnification.
And it remains so today, no matter whether I shoot FMJ, or my lead bullet reloads.
Maybe they don't make barrels like they used too?
rc
deafdave3
Member
I thought they didn't use this in a .45.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Beats me.
I ain't no Glock expert.
I bought one, and that was enough to satisfy my curiosity!
rc
I ain't no Glock expert.
I bought one, and that was enough to satisfy my curiosity!
rc
Mac's Precision
Member
RC,
I just went and examined my brand new Glock 29 10mm. It has a barrel like a mirror. The rifling is perfect and rounded from land to groove in the typical Glock shape. The finish is literally polished to a high sheen that is reflective quality like a mirror. It has been fired and cleaned and shows no copper fouling or residue in the barrel.
Something is up with that barrel in the picture. I have never seen a Glock barrel that rough....ever. It also doesn't have the traditional Glock hexagonal rifling. All Glocks have right hand twist Hexagonal six sided rifling except for the 45 ACP and GAP pistols which are octagonal 8 sided. It looks like it has actual cut rifling. The thing I can't figure out is it has two wide lands with a skinny one between. Odd for sure. Glock lists the 9mm, 40 and 10mm as hexagonal where as the 21, 30 and 36 are noted as having octagonal rifling. Either way....that barrel looks rough as heck in comparison to every other Glock I have seen.
Edited to add: I just had a Glock 30 in for a night sight install and full cleaning. That barrel in the 30 didn't look like that. It does have octagonal rifling..but is slick as a whistle and shiny.
Cheers
Mac.
I just went and examined my brand new Glock 29 10mm. It has a barrel like a mirror. The rifling is perfect and rounded from land to groove in the typical Glock shape. The finish is literally polished to a high sheen that is reflective quality like a mirror. It has been fired and cleaned and shows no copper fouling or residue in the barrel.
Something is up with that barrel in the picture. I have never seen a Glock barrel that rough....ever. It also doesn't have the traditional Glock hexagonal rifling. All Glocks have right hand twist Hexagonal six sided rifling except for the 45 ACP and GAP pistols which are octagonal 8 sided. It looks like it has actual cut rifling. The thing I can't figure out is it has two wide lands with a skinny one between. Odd for sure. Glock lists the 9mm, 40 and 10mm as hexagonal where as the 21, 30 and 36 are noted as having octagonal rifling. Either way....that barrel looks rough as heck in comparison to every other Glock I have seen.
Edited to add: I just had a Glock 30 in for a night sight install and full cleaning. That barrel in the 30 didn't look like that. It does have octagonal rifling..but is slick as a whistle and shiny.
Cheers
Mac.
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I don't have access to the FBI firearms ID data, but I have never seen rifling like that in a Glock or any other pistol. I would send those pics to Glock USA and ask them to comment. The barrel looks like it was hammer forged (a process Glock uses) with a poor quality mandrel having tool marks.
Jim
Jim
Thanks for the replies. I called Glock today and the guy I talked to didn't seem like he wanted to help me. I will try again tomorrow and maybe email them pictures or take it to a gunsmith and see if they have any answers for me. I am no gun expert but I know for a fact this doesn't look right. I did magnify the picture so people can get an idea of what I'm looking at but this is visible with the naked eye when shined with a light. It looks almost like lead inside the groves but how would that be possible when all I shot was Winchester FMJ bullets?
I'd clean the barrel really well before getting bent out of shape. I had some really bad fouling in my Glock 21, once. It looked not unlike that, and I also thought there might be something wrong with my barrel. It looked worlds different once cleaned.
I believe some of the factory "FMJ's" are actually plated, now. I seem to recall some iffy wording on Blazer Brass a couple years back, which was what I was shooting when I had the fouling issue.
Even a normal, thorough cleaning wouldn't remove the fouling near the muzzle. So make sure to soak some Hoppe's before using a bronze bore brush. I actually resorted to reversing a shotgun bore brush through mine. And whadya know, the factory mirror finish was there underneath the crud.
I believe some of the factory "FMJ's" are actually plated, now. I seem to recall some iffy wording on Blazer Brass a couple years back, which was what I was shooting when I had the fouling issue.
Even a normal, thorough cleaning wouldn't remove the fouling near the muzzle. So make sure to soak some Hoppe's before using a bronze bore brush. I actually resorted to reversing a shotgun bore brush through mine. And whadya know, the factory mirror finish was there underneath the crud.
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Z-Michigan
Member
AFAIK, mostly based on comparing commercial ammo to purchased Berry's and Rainier plated bullets, Federal (red box at Walmart) and Blazer Brass are now using plated bullets for FMJ handgun ammo. All the Winchester I've bought seems to have a true jacketed bullet, but I haven't bought any Winchester FMJ in a year or more so perhaps it changed.
I doubt that fouling is the problem, but it would only take a few minutes of time to clean the barrel thoroughly to find out.
One time I shot some cheap, awful Phillippines lead round nose (LRN) ammo through a conventionally rifled S&W M&P pistol barrel and quickly got horrible lead fouling. The bore looked terrible, and somewhat like the photos above. But it came out with about two hours of scrubbing and penetrating oil. I'm never using cheap LRN ammo again...
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Whatever it is, the chatter marks from a rifling cutter visable in the bottoms of the grooves are not from powder or bullet fouling, or hammer forging used to make Glock barrels..
rc
rc
JohnBT
Member
That is such an odd looking bore. If you figure it out, please post the answer.
John
John
Be advised Glock will NEVER admit that there is a problem with their products. They are perfect. You were limp wristing the poor thing. I find it hard to believe that Glock produced that barrel. It is possible that it is simply clogged with some type of fouling though I've never seen anything like that in a handgun barrel. It almost looks like plastic wad fouling in a shotgun bore. Maybe give her a GOOD cleaning with a GOOD brush.
Okay I called Glock today and they ask me to email pictures to the warranty department. Sad thing is that I called yesterday and left a message for them to get back to me ASAP and no one called me. I went to Gander Mountain and talked to the gunsmith today. He said that it is not a problem some new guns usually do that but eventually it will wear itself down. (Huge relief) I also went to the local Joe's sporting goods too and talked to another gunsmith which is a Certified Glock Armorer for the past 15 years and he said that its normal too.. For me not to worry about it.. He also said that he does most inspections for the local PD and a majority of them carry Glocks and had never seen one come in for warranty work. Also he mentions that he rarely does 50 dollars worth of warranty work ever year on Glocks. I don't know if this guy was a Glock fanatic or what but he was very confident in what he told me. Me personally I was never a Glock fan myself but I am a fan of Hk and quality work. If I pay 600 dollars for something and would have to trust with my life or family in a self defense situation (God forbid) I want a good quality gun and reliability. I only purchased this pistol because of concealability, reputation, and price. If it wasn't for that I would carry a HK full time but as clumsy as I am I will probably end up dropping a $1000 gun in the mud when getting in and out of my vehicle.
Well, even if it's just fouling, you should still clean it out and probably find a new brand of ammo. With most factory ammo, you should be able to shoot a thousand rounds and it still wouldn't look like that.
Oh, and:
Oh, and:
You do this with your Glock, and it will still work. And it will still look like new once you cycle it through the dishwasher.
Al Thompson
Moderator Emeritus
Dave, get some Flitz metal polish for your clean up. Just use a Q-tip to load up the chamber and a tight fitting patch on a jag for the bore. I usually adjust my grip on the cleaning rod to just allow the very end of the patch to protrude from the muzzle after a full stroke. Retain that grip and polish the barrel. Should take 40 or so strokes. Use a clean patch to catch the left over polish and see what you have.
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