Glock .40 cal kabooms?

[gl19gobang]

Are Glock .40 cal kabooms likley to happen or is it operater & poor ammo choice error? I got a 23 back in June and so far so good, but just wondering.

[DWARREN123]

Seems to be bad reloads in most cases for the Glocks. Check around and you will find other brands with this problem also and even other calibers, same thing bad reloads in most cases.

[Randall53]

Check up on the "Glock Smile".  There are lots of articles about this on the net and If I'm not mistaken, are not caliber related. It is a reloading issue.

[Omega]

Are Glock .40 cal kabooms likley to happen or is it operater & poor ammo choice error? I got a 23 back in June and so far so good, but just wondering.

I've had mine for over 25 years with hundreds of reloads (cast) through it as well as hundreds of factory rounds with no issues.  I never had an AD, never had any issues that were the fault of the gun.  It was on recall so I sent it back to Glock and they replaced most of it except the receiver and barrel but I never experienced any issues before that and I took it through it paces even dropping it a few times.  If you are truly worried, get an after marker barrel for it that has a supported chamber which some say is the source of the issues and gives you that Glock "Smile". 

[Duck]

There are probably just as many instances of the other calibers kabooming as there is the .40's. The 9's and .357's can have poor neck tension on the case's design leading to bullet setback. I would say most of the .40's cases have to do with overly stressed brass that has been reloaded too many times and pushed to too high of pressure. Combine that with a week supported chamber from the early .40 models and you get a blown out case.

[leroy]

I would opine that if you use factory ammo, it won't be a problem... We are readers and I'm pretty picky about reloading semiauto reloads... We fully resize all brass, we use essentially factory duplication loads or a bit hotter with proven reloads... We use factory barrels; so i use jacketed bullets... I always seat the bullet then taper crimp the case a couple of thousands... We've had no problems with 40 or 357 sig using this approach...  

 

Hope this eases the worry a bit...

leroy

[Jonnin]

you can blow up any gun if you put your mind into it.  GLocks are well made, I give them that.  And if they had a bad run of guns that blow up, I think they would do a recall and be open about it before someone got hurt BADLY and sued them into the poorhouse.  

 

so, the answer is...  most likely, operator error OR ammo manufacturer problem.   Operator error includes using lead followed by copper jackets, replacing the barrel with aftermarket, making and using bad reloads,  having some other barrel obstruction,  and more.   Factory Ammo kaboom defects are rare but DO happen.   

 

Remember, to kaboom, you need a *substantial* load.  Like, almost 50% or more above the SAAMI pressure max, and more likely, more than a couple of those.  Or you need a barrel obstruction.   And a barrel will expand and bulge before it bursts, so you  can ruin the gun without injury on a mild "kaboom" condition.   

Edited November 7, 2014 by Jonnin

[dcloudy777]

It's mostly a problem with the very early Glock .40 guns.  Glock cut every corner possible to "beat" S&W to market with a gun chambered in Smith's own cartridge, and didn't really do they should have to develop the guns.  Quite a few blown up guns resulted. 

Edited November 7, 2014 by dcloudy777

[frankmako]

i have been shooting the glock 40 since 1998.  i also reload for it.  i do use a aftermarket barrel for the cast lead reloads.  the first glock 40 barrels made many years ago did not give full case support.  so when you reload the brass that came out of the gun you could have a problem if you did not full length resize the brass.  but i have never seen one blow up or had one blow up on me.  i got several of the first made and they got a boat load of rounds through them.  the newer glock 40's have better case support over the gen 2 and some older gen 3 guns.  i look at it like this,,,, if i shoot cast  lead reloads in any of my glocks, i use a aftermarket barrel from kkm and/or efk.  if i shoot factory ammo i use what barrel that is in the gun at the time.  if i shoot fmj reloads i use what barrel that is in the gun.  i know some that shoot cast lead in the factory barrel without any problems.  i don't, i do not want to take the chance. but i have never seen one blow up from leading of the barrel.  yes, they are out there, i just have not been around to see first hand or know anyone that has.  i have only heard of it on the internet.  so use your new glock with ease of mind.  it is not going to blow up on  you.  

[gl19gobang]

Thanks to all of your replies. I only use factory ammo ,so as everbody said, it should be ok. Nothing was going to stop me from shooting it, I guess I just watch too much youtube and was wondering if the chances were high that it would happen.

[tnhawk]

I've had a .40 Glock for several years have never seen a reason to worry, as I use factory ammo or my own reloads.

[deerslayer]

I got a Glock 35 three years ago and had plans to shoot lead bullets in it, so I put a KKM barrel in it  The factory barrel seemed to have quite a loose chamber, much looser than my 34.  This was a new gen 3 gun.  It seems that half the kBs are 40, and half of those are Glocks.  This could be due to the shear number of Glocks out there,  On the other hand, Glock chamber support (or lack of) gets knocked a lot, but there are many makes that lack chamber support.  If you shoot only jacketed factory loads, you have little need to worry. 

[TN-popo]

We have about 100 Glock .40s in our inventory (G22, G23, and G27).

The Dept typically shoots/quals 5-6 times a year (this doesn't include officers shooting on personal time).

Some of them are over 15 years old.

I'm the armorer for them.

 

Not one Kaboom since they were adopted in the mid-90s.

 

Current issue duty round is the Federal 180gr HST (Speer 180gr Gold Dot is also authorized).

Practice ammo is 180gr Blazer, American Eagle, or Lawman (mostly Blazer).

Edited November 9, 2014 by TN-popo

[Jonnin]

It's mostly a problem with the very early Glock .40 guns.  Glock cut every corner possible to "beat" S&W to market with a gun chambered in Smith's own cartridge, and didn't really do they should have to develop the guns.  Quite a few blown up guns resulted. 

I had forgotten about that.  That was late 90s era IIRC?   A web search or 3 finds a fair # of problems from the unsupported cases.   Of course, theres a LOT of glocks out there so same % of failure is a lot more guns.

[deafdogdief]

It's mostly a problem with the very early Glock .40 guns. Glock cut every corner possible to "beat" S&W to market with a gun chambered in Smith's own cartridge, and didn't really do they should have to develop the guns. Quite a few blown up guns resulted.

Have to disagree
I've called a few reloading vendors such as Lee Precision and Sierra. It's not from cutting corners. On the Lee dies paperwork they specifically state to ensure the chamber is supported and make notes about Glock .40's.

In the early design for that caliber they designed the chamber for cycling reliability by cutting into the chamber. While this pisses some reloaders off, it is merely a function issue they have since changed. According to these people that I had called in the past they said the newer designed barrels support the case more. If you find bulged cases you can rework them with a bulge buster, but it'll shorten the case life. May want to find some other cases to reload for yours instead of those. Head separation doesn't sound fun. The incidents of the kabooms I have read were from ammunition failure due to reloading. It's is hard to find accurate info on these kabooms because there is so much slander online without the facts. Edited November 23, 2014 by deafdogdief

[dcloudy777]

Have to disagree
I've called a few reloading vendors such as Lee Precision and Sierra. It's not from cutting corners. On the Lee dies paperwork they specifically state to ensure the chamber is supported and make notes about Glock .40's.

In the early design for that caliber they designed the chamber for cycling reliability by cutting into the chamber. While this pisses some reloaders off, it is merely a function issue they have since changed. According to these people that I had called in the past they said the newer designed barrels support the case more. If you find bulged cases you can rework them with a bulge buster, but it'll shorten the case life. May want to find some other cases to reload for yours instead of those. Head separation doesn't sound fun. The incidents of the kabooms I have read were from ammunition failure due to reloading. It's is hard to find accurate info on these kabooms because there is so much slander online without the facts.

 

I don't disagree... I didn't state it clearly in my original post.  The original Glock .40 chamber (with a larger portion of the case unsupported) isn't entirely to blame for most of the early Glock .40 ka-booms... it's more of a case of "tolerance stacking"... the deeper ramp cut basically decreased the reloader's margin of error.

 

I still stand by my opinion that Glock didn't due its due diligence in bringing their .40 S&W guns to market.  They wanted to beat Smith so badly that they compromised R&D.  The fact that they later made changes that made most of the "problem" go away illuminates that.

[Currently]

My coworker experienced a KB doing a mag dump with his glock last year. I don't think he was using reloads. He was left high and dry with no recourse... soured him so much that he sold all his glocks.

[deafdogdief]

My coworker experienced a KB doing a mag dump with his glock last year. I don't think he was using reloads. He was left high and dry with no recourse... soured him so much that he sold all his glocks.

I don't understand. What happened?

[Tedro2022]

Are Glock .40 cal kabooms likley to happen or is it operater & poor ammo choice error? I got a 23 back in June and so far so good, but just wondering.

You should give it to me for testing. I'll return it to you if/when it kabooms on me... :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sybo]

Currently, sounds like a squib from an underpowered or a "no-loaded" round. You said mag dump right? I have actually had a squib with factory ammo, and NO I didn't pull the trigger a second time and I do have all my digits!

[Patton]

Squib loads are more common with factory ammo for sure. Separated case cartridges are more common with reloads. I have never seen one happen before me, but local police departments have had to stress the importance of ceasing fire when a pop but no kick occurs do to a huge amount of them over the last couple of years on the police range.

[Omega]

My coworker experienced a KB doing a mag dump with his glock last year. I don't think he was using reloads. He was left high and dry with no recourse... soured him so much that he sold all his glocks.

There should of been a recourse, the gun should of been sent back to Glock and the ammo mfg should of been notified.  One or the other would of made it right.

I have only had one squib, but that was with a reload.  Used a cleaning rod to clear it, and continued with the rest.  Never had an issue since.  

Edited November 25, 2014 by Omega

[sybo]

I concur with Omega, I would have pursued this and received a new gun.........

[Grayfox54]

Around 15 years ago I personally witnessed a Glock ka-Boom. In this case the gun was a 9mm using factory ammo. Myself, the Rangemaster and a couple of other seasoned shooters all examined the gun and agreed that it appeared to have fired before locking completely into battery. The gun was ruined, but thankfully, the shooter only recieved minor injuries. 

As I recall there was some discussion going around about that time about wear on certian parts which would allow this very problem to occur. 

It wasn't my gun, I didn't know the owner and I'm not a Glock guy, so I have no idea what the final outcome was. 

 

[Cruel Hand Luke]

The .40 is a high pressure cartridge to begin with. Glock KBs are due to over pressure. These are caused by either....

 

1. Weak brass that blows out at the 6 o'clock position where chamber is unsupported. It could either be brass reloaded too many times or a specific lot of brittle brass. 

 

2. Bullet setback increasing the pressure to above safe levels. Most common with 180 grain bullets. This why we don't rechamber the same round over and over again.

 

3. Continuous use of soft lead bullets with no cleaning. Barrel leading leads to higher pressure as the .40 bullet is trying to exit a .39 caliber hole.

 

4. filthy chamber (generally from lead bullets) not allowing round to go all the way into battery , but far enough to still fire. 

 

5. Double charging the case during reloading. 

Edited November 26, 2014 by Cruel Hand Luke