Glock Kaboomed Next to Me Today...

[alienbogey]

....and I missed it happening.

I was shooting in my lane, just concentrating on my own little world and not paying much if any attention to my neighbors. I went to the can and when I came back the shooter next to me was holding a bleeding hand and people were searching for pieces of Glock. Pictures from my cell:







It was a Glock in 40 S&W, the pictures are essentially as it sat after he dropped it. The case in the breech is actually upside down, the base of the case couldn't be found. As you can see a lot of the force went down through the trigger, blowing it out, and out the hole in the right side.

The shooter had a number of lacerations around his right hand where he gripped it; none looked to me to be bad enough to require stitches. The R/O, a medic, bandaged him up and he walked out under his own power with his stuff and what was left of the Glock.

Yes, they were reloads and we picked up a few of his empty cases and there looked like signs of overpressure to us - bulges at the base just above the rim and some what looked like hairline cracks starting.

FWIW.

 

[Impureclient]

It sucks when the "perfection" makes you bleed and maims you. Maybe forward this along to Todd Green and see his take on it.

 

[Carter]

I do believe you're not supposed to use reloads in a glock without aftermarket parts...

(edit)
These pictures remind me that no matter what, there are always random .22 cases lying around when at the range. Live and dead, no matter what.

 

[Cosmik de Bris]

I do believe you're not supposed to use reloads in a glock without aftermarket parts...

(edit)
These pictures remind me that no matter what, there are always random .22 cases lying around when at the range. Live and dead, no matter what.

Like just about every other manufacturer the Glock manual advises against reloads. They are no more prone to exploding from reloads than any other quality handgun. Anyone who reloads knows that you have to be careful reloading 40s. The pressures are high and any mistake in powder or in setting the OAL can result in this.

Cheers

 

[Enachos]

I'm about 99% sure this was a reloading problem... but I wasn't there....

 

[speaksoftly]

Ouch!

 

[armoredman]

I have to be fair, and say if these were bad reloads, no fault can be found with the gun or design. The shooter is lucky the design held together well enough to save his hand/eyes/face/etc., in the face of possibly overcharged ammunition.

 

[REAPER4206969]

It sucks when the "perfection" makes you bleed and maims you.

You Glock haters sure are dense.

Yes, they were reloads and we picked up a few of his empty cases and there looked like signs of overpressure to us

 

[918v]

Glocks work fine with reloads. Some reloads are better than others, however.

 

[Balrog]

It sucks when the "perfection" makes you bleed and maims you. Maybe forward this along to Todd Green and see his take on it.

You must have missed the part where it was said that these were reloads with bulged bases and hairline cracks???

How could that possibly be Glock's fault???

It sounds like it was a perfect storm of mistakes. 40S&W is a high pressure cartridge, Glock chambers (like those on custom 1911s) are not fully supported, and finally you had defective poor quality reloads with potentially cracked brass.

 

[Impureclient]

I am almost positive I saw in the Summit racing equipment and JEGS catalogs that they have custom small transmission shields for this problem.
They are only sold for Glock it seems as that was the only application they had it for.

 

[chicharrones]

I am almost positive I saw in the Summit racing equipment and JEGS catalogs that they have custom small transmission shields for this problem.

That's called a metal framed pistol.

 

[Steve C]

Its pretty common for .40 S&W Glocks to KB. When I say common, I mean compared to the other KB's you see reported. I've been reading about these on gun sites since the early 90's after it was introduced. The early KB reports were from PD using factory ammo. The problem has always been the unsupported chamber with ammo that is relatively high pressure (SAAMI 35K psi). If the brass is weak at or just above the case web due to manufacturing defect or rework from sizing it can rupture. The good news is that while the gun is ruined the shooter generally isn't.

I wonder if the shooter was one of those that used to say "I've shot x-thousands of reloads through my .40 Glock factory barrel without any problem" and forget to add "yet" at the end.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Do we need to reiterate that Glocks have a different chamber where the rifling starts, and it is not design-compatible with lead bullets? With lead ammo use, a small amount of lead builds up at that juncture, ultimately seating the cartridge a little further out over time. This results in a headspace problem, and the case blows. It has happened more with Glock .40 cals for some reason, and this "lead bullet use" problem can be alleviated with the use of a Bar-Sto, or other quality US made barrel (check the manufacturer's specs for lead bullete use). Even if lead bullets were not used in this instance, a catastrophic failure can generally be traced to the previous use of lead bulleted ammo, and a subsequent jacketed round suffers the build-up headspace problem and blows. Glock emphatically calls for jacketed, factory ammo. We all want to use reloads, or handloads, but we still have to be aware of the limitations of the guns, or what we have to do to make them safe for our use outside of the factory specs.

 

[Tacbandit]

Quote:
"It sucks when the "perfection" makes you bleed and maims you. Maybe forward this along to Todd Green and see his take on it."

Like this has never happened to any other manufacturer...pretty narrow-minded view...
This is what happens when you don't follow the manufacturers instructions...Happens to all makes and models of firearms...You need to "know what you're doing", as opposed to "doing what you want". I
hope he's ok...

 

[Balrog]

I filled my Glock barrel with concrete, took it apart and hammered a 10mm round into the chamber, reassembled it, and fired it, and the thing blew up. I can't believe how bad Glocks suck.

Clearly, any gun should be able to handle this.

 

[David E]

I bet the EMT that bandaged up his hand put it down as a "Gunshot wound"...........

 

[armoredman]

I would have to agree with many of the Glock defenders in this thread, because even as a bona fide non-Glocker, I did state clearly that if the ammunition is shown to be badly made/overcharged reloads, then I would not, and could not hold the platform at fault. The best built gun in the world will fail if told to swallow dynamite.

 

[beeenbag]

I can't believe that piece of crap plastic gun didn't hold up to that overcharged, high pressure reload. What kind of junk are they selling these days. I better start carrying my metal frame guns 'cause I can load the powder to the top of the brass, seat my bullet so deep the powder starts pushin the primer out. It can handle it, its metal.

 

[Robert101]

I don't own a Glock. But from the information provided it sounds like reloader's error. It was stated that the back of the case was completely missing. This is a sure symptom of over-charging. With the information provided, I don't see a gun related problem here.

I do reload vitually all of my ammo. I double check each case for the appropriate powder charge.

 

[OYE]

Probably a good thing you missed it happening. We hope he's o.k.. We also hope
he "re-evaluates" whether he should even be reloading.

 

[Handgunner]

It was stated that the back of the case was completely missing.

Where does it say that?

 

[Dave P]

I would call a "not fully supported" chamber a prime candidate for redesign.

With a high pressure round like this??? Must be something I don't understand ...

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I would call a "not fully supported" chamber a prime candidate for redesign.

Right, once you get outside of the parameters, Glock Perfection becomes very unforgiving.

I bet the EMT that bandaged up his hand put it down as a "Gunshot wound"...........

Being as he was the range officer and likely knows a thing or two about guns and gunshot wounds, I bet he didn't just like they don't call it an automotive accident when somebody breaks a couple of fingers installing a new engine.

 

[ProCarryNAustin]

"I would call a "not fully supported" chamber a prime candidate for redesign."

I have seen a lot of guns in my time and I have yet to see any semi-automatic pistol with a fully supported chamber. Some are more supported than others, but given that the .40 is already a high pressure round it is less forgiving to carelessness. That coupled with the sheer number of Glocks out there in .40 may be the reason we hear more about case failures for this platform. Can't think of another brand of pistol that has more .40's in the field than Glock.