Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Glock's and reloads?

I have a Glock 22 that I enjoy very much. I am also an avid reloader and would like to reload for this gun. Everything that I read and been told say that this is a big "no, no" for Glocks.

From what I understand it is a two-fold reason why the Glocks are bad canidates for reloads. Please let me know if I am off base in these statements.

The Glock chamber does not fully support the loaded round. It is possible that an over worked piece of brass could rupture lieterally causing the gases to vent out the side of the case. This makes sense to me but what about new or relatively new brass? How would this differ from factory loads?

The second involves using lead bullets due to the Polygonal rifling. What makes this type of rifling bad for cast bullets? If you clean the barrel throughly each time why would this matter? Obviously there is something that I am not understanding.

I believe that there are aftermarket barrels available that will allow using reloads and cast bullets. Is this true? Also since these are safe for reloads I assume that the chamber fully supports the case. Are these a worthwhile investment or is Glock overly conservative?

On a side note I have shot reloaded cast bullets through this gun. Not many but I had no problems. The barrel has been cleaned and all traces of lead removed. I will defer from doing this again until I am better educated on the subject.

Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Scott

while Id freely admit 90% plus or more of my glock shooting has been with 6" aftermarket barrels on my 10mm and 45acp glocks ,IVE shot thousands of rounds with ZERO problems
Ive generally used stiff but sane loads listed for BLUE DOT in the 10mm with 200 grain hard cast and UNIQUE,or HERCO and a 230 grain hard cast in my 45 acp with well lubed and sized bullets

http://www.lonewolfdist.com/Products.aspx?CAT=4

roadhog - you pretty much have the story straight. The Glock's feed ramp rides the ragged edge of safety, which is why reloaded cartridges are a no-no. Every firing of a cartridge will weaken the brass somewhat. Depending on the gun, that weakening can be almost non-existent, or nearly to failing. The Glock will work the brass in the unsupported area, removing much of the inherent safety margin the brass intristically has on the fist firing.

If you're loading within normal pressures, chances are, you'll never have a problem. Thousands of people load Glocks every day in pure ignorance and get away with it. But let's say you load some ammo that's safe in the winter and then take it out during the summer. You are setting up a situation that could potentially be unsafe.

As for cast bullets and polygonal rifling: A polygonal barrel works by swaging the bullet to a polygon and imparting a twist. To do this, it requires more pressure than normal rifling that cuts or etches the grooves into the bullet, which requires less force. A cast bullet offers more resistance against the barrel because lead wants to adhere to the steel, where a copper jacket is slicker and is less wanting to adhere to the barrel. So immediately at the point of discharge, a cast bullet is engaging much more bearing surface area than a traditional rifled barrel, and that drives pressure up.

This barrel situation is somewhat exacerbated by the cartridges that are fired in the Glock. With the exception of the .45 ACP, all of the cartridges fired in the Glock are fairly high pressure cartridges, which just stresses the brass that much more.

There are some aftermarket barrels out there that say they�re safe for reloads. I�ll let them be the judge. As for an out of the box Glock, I will never fire reloaded ammunition through one; never. There are almost countless incidents of catastrophic failures involving Glocks and reloads.

You may get away with it, but why would anyone who is well informed push their luck?

KG,

Thanks for the detailed response. I was pretty clear on the unsupported chamber but the rifling was puzzling me. It makes sense now.

I guess that I will start looking for another barrel. I agree with you that there is no sense in taking chances. I have found out the hard way that Lady Luck and I don't cross paths often enough.

Thanks for the link 340mag!

I'm the same way, all my luck is bad. On the positive side, that shallow feed ramp that makes your Glock weak in one sense, is precisely why the Glock is do darned reliable. So the weakness is actually a strength. Glock weighed the options and figured for military or law enforcement, new ammunition was almost always the case, and they opted on the side of ultra-reliability.

It wasn't until LE agencies that used reloads started having problems that the whole thing came up. With factory ammo, the Glock could just be the most reliable out of the box pistol in existence. Good luck and enjoy your Glock. And hat's off to you for seeking out the straight scoop on Glocks and not leaving it to your gut.

1st off do you have a Generation III Glock? (finger grooves & light rail). I have a gen III mod 22 & closely compared the chamber support to my H&K USP 40. To my eye it has at least as much chamber support. I have read that the later models have more chamber support. I don't have an older model to compare. I have shot many 'plated'(Berrys) bullets in my H&K 40 & plan the same for my Glock. I load them mid-range & clean after the session and have never had a problem. You can read till your eyes water at glocktalk.com if you want more.

sourdough - No, I don't have any Glock, but I'm contemplating a purchase of a G19, 'cause I've always liked that pistol. IMHO, the people at glocktalk.com are simply in denial, and many have an irrational affection for the Glock. Many refuse to believe that the Glock has, or could even have flaws, when in fact, every pistol has it's flaws. There seems to be a lot of ego tied into their pistols and the defense of the purchase of a Glock.

If, after seeking all the information on reloading for Glock, you feel it's safe; that's your call. If you have decided it's safe to reload for a Glock, I question your objectivity in your decision.

Remember, the FACTORY strongly warns against the use of reloaded ammunition.

I'm not a Glock hater, far from it; I actually want one. But I'm not going to reload for that Glock because of the data available to an objective researcher.

HK .40's have just as unsupported chambers as Glocks. The only reason you don't hear as much about KB's with them is that there are 1/10th as many out there being used and I think the HK's are just a touch less likely to fire out of batter than the Glocks. That is the common opinion out there at least.

I think it was Federal that actually redid their .40 S&W brass specifically because of the Glocks chamber. Glocks are great but they are hard on brass.

I have a Glock 22 and 23. I would never fire reloaded ammo out of them. Just the position I have taken after researching the issue. I'd shoot reload .40's out of my Walther P99's or Beretta but not my Glocks.

Foxbat - Very good post. A lot of people fail to realize the vast numbers of Glocks that are out there and when they hear of problems, they think it's rampant or just a failed design. Actually, the Glock is a very successful design.

As for the H&K's, kB! incidents are not unknown with them either for much the same reasons. Dean Spier's "The Gun Zone" web site documents catastrophic failures in both Glocks and H&K's (as well as other firearms)

It's also true that Glocks will, on rare occasion, fire out of battery, and no kind of feed ramp can cover that one.

Still, I think if you use a Glock as recommended, you'll have an outstanding defensive pistol. Glocks are clearly at the top of the heap, and for good reason. When others fail, most often, it's the Glock that's still running. Where defensive pistols are concerned, that's worth the minor inconvenience of not being able to shoot reloaded ammunition.

I do enjoy my Glock. In fact, the only pistol I enjoy more is my Sig 220. The boxy looks of the Glock took some getting used to but now it has grown on me. I also believe that they are one of the top defensive handguns available. I really want to practice with cheap reloads so I will look into the aftermarket barrels. If the manufacturer stands behind using relaods with these barrels then I will get one.

Thanks to all for their input.