Reloading Glock-Fired Ammo?

[TGO David]

Well... good luck with all of that.

[Guest Grout]

Interesting talk on this subject here www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=70951

[cadillacdude1975]

just order a lone wolf or a KKM drop in replacement barrel. those companies (there are a few more too) have addressed this issue with the drop in replacement barrels. the unsupported factory barrel the glocks came with have been known to be one of the root causes in the infamous KB! you hear about. just replace the barrel, they are about 100 to 250 bucks depending on who makes it and all that jazz.

[Marswolf]

Resizing the brass will take out the bulge, but brass acts like copper. You know how an annealed coil of copper tubing is easily bendable, but after you make a few bends it hardens and will break rather than bend? That's called work hardening.

When you resize the brass, it pushes the metal back into shape, but it weakens that location.

The reloaded round probably won't end up in the unsupported position the next time it is shot, but it might. Reloading that brass a number of times ends up with several weak areas and make it much less safe.

As Tungsten has said, brass is cheap so why take the chance?

[Marswolf]

just replace the barrel, they are about 100 to 250 bucks depending on who makes it and all that jazz.

Or just spend that money up front for a gun that has a better supported chamber.

[TGO David]

Or just spend that money up front for a gun that has a better supported chamber.

I was waiting for that.

[Magiccarpetrides]

hahaha....So besides ND's and Unreloadable ammo what else can we blame on Glocks ;-D

[Oh Shoot]

hahaha....So besides ND's and Unreloadable ammo what else can we blame on Glocks ;-D

United States import/export trade deficit, contributing to weakening US dollar vs. the euro.

- OS

[strob2000]

hahaha....So besides ND's and Unreloadable ammo what else can we blame on Glocks ;-D

High gas prices and hurricanes. ha ha

[SpacemanSpiff]

Was at the range today with RISC777 and he had his .40 S&W Sigma. Since I'm a reloader, I picked up the brass and noticed that the brass bulged similar to the brass fired from a Glock. The Sigma is S&W's copy of the Glock, so does that also mean that the cartridge is not fully supported as well, leading me to believe that this "Glock fired" topic is also relevant to the Sigmas?

[Guest RISC777]

SpacemanSpiff, take a look at the Hornady and Fed Premium cases to see if they bulged any, please. Just a curiousity thing.

[musicman]

From what I've seen, pretty much all .40 bulges a little bit. However, I would guess that if you were to pull a few samples from the looser glock chambers and a few samples from the Sigma, and other better supporting chamber designs, you'd see the glock brass bulged to a greater extent.

The Sigma has a much better design in regards to chamber support. I used to own one, and my neighbor had a G23. dropping rounds into the barrels and looking at them was simple proof of that. I'm sure you can find a google image of this very thing.

HOWEVER, that does not negate the fact that brass that has been glock-fired and already shows a bulge has been stressed more than some otehrs. That stretching, and susbsequent squeezing back down to size in your dies is working that brass and making it more brittle, and less able to stand up to the loads it was designed for. There is now more of a tendency for a case failure with that brass. Will it blow up on the next firing? Probably not, by at least 99%... but do you wanna chance it?

To be honest, I started my reloading journey with the .40 round. I don't have a .40 anymore, hence, no more loading for it. Before I did my reasearch and read up on it, I loaded whatever the heck I got my grubby li'l brass-scroungin' hands on. Lots of this was severely bulged, Glock-fired brass. (also known by the rectangular firing pin marks on the primers, versus normal round marks) Thankfully, God and physics kept me from a KB of any kind during those days. There are many who have shared this experience, and continue to load glocked brass in .40. Unfortunately, there are also quite a few accounts of those who were a little less lucky. I have decided now that if I ever load .40 again, it will be with non-glocked brass. And since I have not started swilling the glock kool-aid, I doubt it will be a problem for me on subsequent firings and loadings either. (M&P for me!!)

Hope that helps!

Sorry for totally just writing again what the other wise folks (miss you Mars) have alread said, but I agree with 'em!

Edited September 25, 2008 by musicman