Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Glock 20 and heavy cast bullet loads???

I recently got a Glock 20 to carry while archery elk hunting for bear defense. My question is it necessary to upgrade the factory spring to a 20 or 22 pound spring when using the heavy cast loads from Underwood or Buffalo Bore?

Thanks,
CT

While perusing YouTube one time I stumbled across videos by Gun—Sam? Every time he fired 220 buffalo bore ammunition he had malfunctions. Dropped mags etc.

So yeah, heavier springs or stick with a 200 grain load imo. Test, test.

I believe that ski patrol unit that Glock 20’s uses some 200 grain load.

FWIW, the “gun-Sam” guy is using a g41, which has a very light for caliber slide , with a 10mm conversion barrel . It’s not a reliable setup in all honesty

I don't know if it is necessary, but I did it in my G20. I put a 22 lb. spring and a polished stainless guide rod in my gun and it runs like a champ. Recoil is softer than with the factory 17 lb. spring and with the stouter spring my gun runs everything from the weak 10mm stuff up through 220 gr. @ 1200 fps loads with complete reliability. I don't see a downside to putting a heavier spring in the gun.

That 220 hardcast is a penetrating mofo. It would be an excellent choice for a Woods defense.

Without a comped barrel, I'd be tempted to use the heavier spring, and getting away from the plastic guide rod is a good idea just from a reliability standpoint.

I did the same to my Glock 20 and it runs everything I've put in it.

220s tend to be a bridge too far.

I have done a LOT of shooting, development, etc with both heavy 200s and 220s loads and settled on a hardcast 200.

A lot of people have reported issues with the 220 grain projectiles. I recommend a 20# spring, both for recoil control and to keep the gun in battery a bit longer, as well as keep prevent it from beating itself up during the cycle of operations.

Hey Ted, what do you recommend for a 1911 with your 200gr loads? Mine throws the brass probably 15 feet! Thanks

No, it's probaby not necessary. If your glock functions well with the stock spring, then there is no need to upgrade. I you're flinging empties 30 feet, or have a RTB issues, then a higher weight spring maybe be in order. If your empties are just spilling over the side or you're having occassional hangups, you've gone too heavy. Glock springs are cheap. If you want to mess around with it, then get several in different weights and see how each works with whatever ammo you've decided to carry. I've got 20 and 22 lb sprigs as well as stock springs for my G20 and 21s and keep going back to the stock spring. It's been perfectly reliable with cheap WWB, Gold Dot +Ps,, Ranger +Ps, Buffalo Bore, whatever. Whatever you stick in it, shoot it a lot and make sure it functions well. Ideally it should eject brass and RTB as if you were shooting round ball with he stock spring.

Same thing, a heavier spring. I run 20# spring in my Baer with my heavy loads and it tames it right down and keeps the gun locked up a bit longer. Wolff Gun springs are good to go.

Also you can install a flat bottom firing pit stop. That will also slow things down when shooting heavy loads. Very easy to install and are what most guys use when shooting heavy loads such as hot 10mm, 45+P, .45 Super, etc. The combo of a heavy spring and the FBFPS saves wear and tear on guns that see lots of use with heavy loads.

Thanks Ted!

Mac, what issues have you personally experienced with 220's in the 10mm? I've read internet chatter but have not experienced any issues after a couple hundred rounds of Underwood 220 gr. hardcast at 1200 fps. Nor have I had any issues with the 200 gr. XTP hollowpoint at 1250 fps from my G20.

I've never used 220's, but, as I posted on a recent thread, went to a 20 or 22 pound Wolfe spring to cure extraction problems in my Glock 20 with hot 180 grain xtp/2400 loads. It worked like a charm. Also replaced the plastic guide rod with a heavy steel one. This set up runs all the 200 grain loads on down with no problem and, in fact, it runs .40 S&W 165's and 180's without a problem.

Fails to feed primarily.

This is a twofold problem.

Part of this was the profile of the projectiles.

The other part was that when the 220s were loaded hot enough to produce acceptable velocity, the magazine was not pushing the rounds up fast enough to feed.

This can be fixed by going to heavier mag springs, and trying to fine tune the combo of magazine springs and recoil springs, but the goal was to produce ammunition that a person could stick in a box stock G20 and have it function, as it is supposed to. While I recommend a 20# spring, as it is a very good idea, for the guy going to Montana, Idaho, Wyoming or Alaska on a trip and is only going to ever buy 1 single box of ammo, he should not have to. The gun and ammo should work perfectly. 220s in my experience don't seem to do that, and based on the substantial amount of reports from people, this seems to be the case for many others as well.

The 200 grain flat point feeds very well and has proven to be extremely reliable.



The other thing is that you get to a point of diminishing returns on velocity and reliability.

I found that if I shoot a heavy load 1 handed it (like what may happen in the field) I get results that are different than what guys get on a flat range standing shooting two handed.

Many guys can handle 200 grain loads, slow fire, 1 round at a time from a Glock at 1200 FPS, death gripping the crap out of their G20.

However if you tell them to put 6 rounds in 2 seconds onto a target at 3 yards, they get malfunctions quite often. If you tell them to do it 1 handed, most fall apart.

If you back the same 200 grain load off 50 FPS, to 1150 FPS, the very vast majority of those same guys are now able to control the gun during recoil, gripping it tight enough, not to induce malfunctions.

That is the sweet spot for 90+% of shooters and outdoorsmen who are not experienced big bore shooters. 200 grain bullet at 1150 FPS. I highly doubt a bear is going t know a difference in 50 FPS of penetration and the load is a very deep penetrating one already.

A lot of guys get sucked into "oooh this is the fastest/ heaviest 10mm"', but if it does not work when you need it, then why bother.

Reliability is far more important to me.

Pardon me if this is off-topic, but what is quoted describes my experience with the .460 Rowland. I also have a .45 Super and find it easy to keep controlled rounds on target with a 255 grain at 1050 fps. This seems about the most I am comfortable with using this round. I also have a .460, and have found that even though it's capable of greater performance than the Super, controllability suffers, so lately I've throttled it back to damn near Super speeds.

I just finished converting a Glock 21 (gen 4) to .45 Super, and am finding it to be noticeably softer shooting than my 1911 with a 255 at those speeds. That ugly-ass Glock is growing on me.

All pistols mentioned do have compensators.

I totally agree with giving up some speed for more controllibility

Thank you all for the replies. Think I will get a heaver spring and give it a go.
Thanks, CT

I put a 22 pound spring in mine. When I’m carrying cast bullets I put my 5.15” Lone Wolf barrel in. It has standard rifling and stabilizes the heavy 220 grain bullets better. Watch Hickok45’s YouTube video on shooting heavy cast bullets in the stock G20 barrel. They were keyholing. A real eye opener for me.

Ron

I watched that Hickok video and was a bit worried about the 220's in my gun but I had already bought a few boxes so decided to see how well they would shoot. I shot the Underwood loaded 220 at 100 yards and there was no evidence of keyholing on the target. Underwood bullets have a coating, Hytek or something like that, wonder if that helps accuracy in the factory barrel? So far so good with the Underwood 220's for me, no malfunctions, good accuracy and the bullets kill wild hogs like you hit them between the eyes with a three pound hammer. The 200 gr. XTP has been a good killer from my G20. It is a bit more accurate in my gun than the hardcast. It works well on deer and hogs.

If tge 220 is marginally stabilized then it will tumble in test media and animals. Wet print or ballistics gel will show if it is fully stabile

But you failed to notice that the tumbling problem was with Double Tap 230gr.