Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Blew my Glock up

It is pure speculation without being able to observe anything. Bullet setback could be a cause. Many things can be a contributing factor to that that do not get considered too often.

Dirty dies is one thing that rarely gets discussed, but most could use maintenance. When running progressive presses and loading any decent volume they need to be maintained. Most don't do regular maintenance. Most dies contain built up crud in them and especially when using hard cast bullets with lube, the build up happens faster.

My toolheads get pulled on a regular scheduled interval and I use 99% alcohol (I buy it by the case) and a bunch of swabs to clean them to make sure they are free of buildup as it does not take much to affect the overall length. I go through a very specific cleaning routine to ensure that the machines are extremely clean.

In the case of Dillons (being the most commonly used progressive) another thing is the powder funnels in the powder station. Most use some manner of lube on cases when doing high volume, and depending on the mix, it can cause some powder buildup in the powder drop. This is one of those areas that does not get checked often enough by some folks and then they have inconsistent throws.

I have torn down a few powder stations for guys and shown the individual the blockage before. It is normally caused by the lube from the cases. Mine get cleaned constantly while loading. You will get inconsistent powder charges otherwise. For example, you may go from a standard charge of 10 grains and then the buildup starts slowly reducing charges, and you get charges of 9.7, 9.8, 9.8. 9.9, etc, then you can go one way or another. The powder may dump in a clump, and you get a 13 grain charge instead of a 10, or you get almost no powder at all.

It pays to be super diligent and have a very clean press.





My 1100 thats dedicated to heavy 9mm gets torn down to the frame on a regular basis:




All of this is to show and to say that it is very easy to have an inconsistent powder charge and not know it if you are not on top of various aspects of press maintenance.

There can be lots of reasons why Dennis' incident happened.

There may have been an unknown barrel obstruction. A piece of dirt, branch, etc. Various things.

I was at a range years back with a concrete pad and an agent dropped some factory .45 rounds from his hand. One dropped on the nose and it pushed the bullet back into the case. I saw it and picked it up. The
guy was not a "gun guy" and did not know that it was not a good idea to shoot the round. Bearing in mind it was a .45 230 grain round, it likely would have not been an issue, but the point is that lots of things can, and do happen.

That is a good example of setback and excessive pressure. In the case of .40 and 10mm, they don't really have much room for error, especially when it comes to the top end. performance rounds. Any sort of setback at all, and I would not shoot them.

Longshot, the powder Dennis was using is a very low pressure powder and is very forgiving. You can get excellent velocities and not see much in terms of pressure. It is one of the better powders out there in terms of upper end performance in semi autos. It also meters very well. Some powders don't but it is one of the better ones for precise metering. The actual intended charge weight of the load does not sound like an issue at all.





Back to the topic of the LEE crimp dies

I too use LEE crimp dies and they are great for making very consistent ammo. I use an assortment of other dies. Some may be standard Hornady or RCBS or a Wilson or Redding Micrometer, but I very much prefer the LEE for crimp dies. Especially for revolver ammo. Their roll crimp dies are the only way to go for heavy hunting ammo in revolvers.

Hope this helps.