Glock Kaboomed Next to Me Today...

[dogrunner]

Well, all you Glockaholics can continue to sing praises to the Holy Gaston, but the truth is in the puddin'! NO other series of commonly available, supposedly of high quality, defensive weapon has had the track record G's have amassed. That ranges from the K' boom issues to the AD that seems emblematic of the product.

Never in way over thirty years as a LEO and later a CLEO did I note the raw number of officer involved AD's that followed the use of that product. All that said it'd only take a few cheap modifications to make that gun what it should have been from the git go.

Rant on, I refused to carry or own one, still do, and forbade my officers to use one as a primary duty gun during my tenure........yeah, I know, I'm an old fogy of a dinosaur, but really fellas, I LIKE my fingers, toes and other anatomical appurtenances.

 

[easyg]

Never in way over thirty years as a LEO and later a CLEO did I note the raw number of officer involved AD's that followed the use of that product.

Hey, don't blame the gun just because some cops lack trigger-finger discipline.

If one keeps their finger off the trigger until the target is in their sights, then they will NEVER have a negligent discharge from a Glock.


As for the K'boom....

It could happen to any gun.
Especially if one is shooting improper reloads or defective rounds.

I carefully inspect each bullet that I load in to the magazine, whether I'm loading a Glock or any other firearm.
I'm always on the lookout for dents, bulges, cracks, deformations, bullet set-back, etc....

 

[dom1104]

See thats whats so great about Glocks.

First you buy a glock, then you buy metal sights, then you buy a aftermarket barrel, THEN you can shoot it.

I kid, I kid.

I hate to see incidents like this, turns people off of the shooting sports.

be safe people.

 

[Hangingrock]

Negligent reloader’s ammunition creates over pressurization event destroying firearm. The Kaboom & Glock is more of an attention getter.

 

[Hatterasguy]

Ouch!

Without knowing more it looks like he screwed up his handloads.

It can happen to any gun, even with factory loads. I have seen a couple AR's blow apart from bad factory ammo.

 

[W.E.G.]

Look guys...

Its just this simple.

Good ammo must be used in a Glock.

Bad ammo is definitely more likely to ruin your day if fired in a Glock.

More unsupported chamber = more chance of a kaboom.

 

[Philo_Beddoe]

I personally know two people who had their glock 40's blow up on them with reloads.

It seems to me that if you are reloading for a Glock 40, you should be extra careful.

Link to glock kabooms

http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

 

[Handgunner]

Looks like the new ones are better.

 

[Manco]

It seems that .40 S&W is also more prone than most calibers to the effects of bullet setback, so one had better make sure that the bullets in their reloads are nice and snug.

 

[John Wayne]

Were they handloads or commercial reloads? There is a big difference...and granted most manufacturers advise against reloaded ammunition, but sometimes indoor ranges mandate that you shoot their (usually overpriced, often remanufactured) ammunition.

If a defective commercially manufactured or remanufactured round was at fault, the shooter should sue the manufacturer for a new gun and damages.

If negligently-produced handloads were the cause, the shooter can only blame himself (or whoever loaded the ammo).

If the ammunition proves to be ok, the shooter should take up issues with Glock.

I have inspected fired .40 S&W cases from Glocks and I would not feel comfortable owning one in this caliber. The other calibers are similarly lacking in support, but are safer (in my mind) for various reasons. 9mm has a thicker, tapered case and doesn't operate at as high a pressure, 10mm has much thicker brass, .45 ACP is a much lower pressure round, etc.

I am personally new to Glocks, having just bought a G30 in .45 ACP. I am not saying it's junk, but I have not been overly impressed with it thus far. It still seems to be a good gun, but you definately shouldn't believe all the Glock hype.

 

[ndindy]

I was with the PD for about a decade, carried a G23 and then the dept issued g35 so I carried it. I carried a 'pistol expert' rating for 6 of those 10 years, shot cases and cases and cases of ammo between basic quals, regular range days, and all the advanced classes I went to. Stood on the line with 30 other cops at a time while they fired cases and cases of ammo through their g35's and never saw a problem. It took a dozen instructors to come to a consensus that the glock was the best weapon to issue before it happened. One of which was an old fogey, who if you weren't carrying a wheelgun you were an idiot in his eyes.

OTOH I've seen good rifles blown to pieces by bad reloads taking eyes and entire hands with them. I've seen cheap firearms go to pieces with factory loads, including 1 pistol I personally owned. Fortunately it failed in a way I escaped injury, only destroying itself.

Every 'good' firearm designer expects their weapon to fail. And a 'good' designer finds a way to make the failure as safe as possible. Glock and many other manufacturers realize that with a failed cartridge you have 2 options. Try to seal it up inside so the entire slide and barrel assembly blows up like a little bomb, or route the pressure out in a way to minimize injury. More often than not it's routed through the trigger and mag well.
If I recall correctly at least 3 rifles I own has the same routing for excess pressure.

So the guy who was shooting apparently unsafe reloads walked away with all his finger intact and minor lacerations from an "unsafe" pistol when he very well could have walked away with stumps because the pistol actually failed and turned into a mini-bomb.

Sounds to me the pistol performed exactly as it should have.

FWIW before I'm labeled a glock fanatic, I own 3, a 1911, 3 or 4 ruger revolvers, a kahr, used to own a kel-tec (the failed pistol mentioned) and a half dozen other makes of pistols. I'm not exactly a 1 pistol person. I reload for everything, except .40. 40's get factory new regardless of the pistol they're going in. And factory load or reload, you check your cases to see how the pressure is being handled. If you see a problem you stop shooting. Finding 1 bad brass is bad enough, finding all your brass bad and still shooting that's just how we thin out the herd.

 

[dom1104]

I am somewhat skeptical that "explosion routing" has anything to do with pistol design by any company.

 

[JTQ]

I'm always amazed when I read about a Glock, especially a 22/23, that kabooms with reloaded ammunition (usually lead bullets). If you are posting it on the internet, don't you have some internet experience and haven't you ever heard of Glock 22/23 kaboom problem? Do you just have to see if you can do it?

We even have another thread here started by stoney1666 and there are bunches of posters telling him he can go ahead and shoot lead bullets in his stock barrel. Why would someone give that recommendation?

I think Glock makes a pretty good pistol, but you've got to follow the directions, at least a little.

 

[KBintheSLC]

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

No need to be a hater when it was stated quite plainly that...

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.

A kaboom can happen in any gun with overloaded ammo. The .40 doesn't give you a lot of room for mess-ups when reloading. As stated here...

the .40 is already a high pressure round it is less forgiving to carelessness

 

[ndindy]

You may be right Dom. Probably the same reason car designers don't say "what if" and design in seatbelts, bumpers or airbags. I mean, why think about what would happen if you had a bad driver?

There's KB's in every caliber I've ever heard of, almost always reloader error. The .40 is a popular round, lots of them out there. Lots more room for failure than with a wildcat no-one shoots.

 

[KBintheSLC]

Never in way over thirty years as a LEO and later a CLEO did I note the raw number of officer involved AD's that followed the use of that product.

IMO, that is more a testament to the poor level of training and discipline suffered by vast numbers of LEO's today. If you can't keep your finger off the trigger until go time, you should not carry a gun for your day job.

 

[Tacbandit]

Quote: from KBintheSLC
"IMO, that is more a testament to the poor level of training and discipline suffered by vast numbers of LEO's today. If you can't keep your finger off the trigger until go time, you should not carry a gun for your day job."

Well said...Seems you either love 'em or hate 'em...even with the intense dislike and the
venom that is spewed by the haters, the following that Glock has is probably unmatched by any other manufacturer across the board in general. So much of what is negatively spoken about Glock pistols is done so by people who have little or no experience with them, and who really don't know what they're talking about. Even with the bad-mouthers, they still seem to have a lions-share of the L.E. market......can't be too bad..
__________________

 

[Blackhawk30]

The gun looks like it was modified.The finger grooves were removed and the grip was stippled.I wonder what other mods were made and did they contribute to the kaboom?
His handloads or range bought handloads.

 

[ndindy]

Quick edit, the finger grooves are there, they're just not easy to see. Stippling looks like grip tape to me, covering all but the points from the angle of the picture.

 

[jenrob]

You hear more glocks doing this than any other cause there are more glocks out there to do it. A good gun at a reasonable price.

You want to play around with danger you are going to get bit. Any chamber with as little support as a glock shouldn't be reloaded for. although I do it but only on once fired brass. After that it all goes thru the XDM.

I had a Kimber Ultra CDP series 1 45ACP do the same thing as in the first picture. Blown out side. The chamber on it was just like the glock. So it happens to all just don't hear about it as much with a $1000 dollar pistol cause the just are not as many out there.

The pictures above showing the chambers on a Glock and XD. Our Glock looks about like that but our XDM is even less so than the XD shown.

You want to shoot a glock with reloads it's as simple as reduce your loads or buy an aftermarket barrel or better yet do both. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Roswell_Kid]

"You want to shoot a glock with reloads it's as simple as reduce your loads or buy an aftermarket barrel or better yet do both. Better safe than sorry."

Not bad advice.

I can't understand why anyone would go above the book numbers reloading. Want more power? Buy a more powerful caliber.

 

[CombatArmsUSAF]

Yep, definitely sounds like a problem with not paying attention to what you're doing when reloading. I really hope this guy thinks twice next time before plays around with charge levels.

Also, I wonder if these are reloads that were bought from someone?

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

some guns are more forgiving with an overcharge. Someone I know shot one in his 1911 and it blew some parts out destroying them but he just replaced them and was GTG.

Glock on the other hand you need a new gun.

 

[easyg]

some guns are more forgiving with an overcharge. Someone I know shot one in his 1911 and it blew some parts out destroying them but he just replaced them and was GTG.

Glock on the other hand you need a new gun.

In my opinion, only a fool would just replace some damaged parts and continue using any gun, including a 1911, after a k'boom.
The metal frame could have damage that is hard, if not impossible, to detect with the naked eye, or even with a microscope.

The smart thing would be to send it back to the manufacturer and have them determine if the frame was safe.

 

[Quickstrike]

Could be from constant rechambering of the same round also. The bullet wedged back into the case will increase the pressures on an already high pressured round.