Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Reloading for Glocks

With the Glocks unsupported chamber, I got to wondering about using reloads. I know its a bit "iffy" with the higher pressure chamberings like the .40S&W and the 10mm, but I'll just be reloading the Glock 21 in .45ACP.

Is there anything I need to watch out for or do differently when reloading for my G21? COAL, etc? Or can I just reload em same as I been doin for my 1911?

I know about the no lead bullet thing with the polyagonal rifling, and thats not a issue cuz I use all jacketed/electroplated bullets.

So...???

I have put over 7,000 rounds though a Glock 30 .45 with no issues. Stick to jacketed bullets and reasonable loads and you will have no problems. I would avoid the plated bullets myself, but they might be worth a try if you get the accuracy you want. I load .45 ACP for the Glock, a Gold Cup and a Commander and they all work fine with the same loads.

We have also put at least that many reloads through my wife's Glock 17 in 9mm. No problems there either.

I think most of the "headline" problems with glocks occurred with the .40 Caliber.

If I was going to do it, I'd use fairly new brass. The unsupported area gets worked pretty hard during firing then resizing and might give way sooner than it would in a gun with a fully supported chamber. .45 acp is the only caliber I'd even think about doing it in.

The best solution is to buy an aftermarket replacement barrel with a fully supported chamber and standard rifling. Then you can shoot what ever you like in practice, including lead. You could even use the aftermarket barrel for practice only and keep the factory barrel installed for carry/home defense.

Google the phrase "glock kaboom" and you will find plenty of info on this subject. Interestingly enough, the .45 acp Glocks rank only slightly below the .40's in KB incidents. The only two KB's that I have witnessed both involved Glock 21s. The first one was a barrel rupture using 230gr swaged lead round nose bullets and Bullseye powder. The shooter pulled the bullets on the remaining ammo and measured the powder charge weight, but none of the charges were over maximum. The second was a ruptured casehead with factory standard pressure 230 jacketed ball (Winchester white box if I recall correctly). I will not recommend that you disregard Glock's recommendation to not use reloads in their product. I will tell you that have shot thousands of rounds of reloads, including hard cast lead loads, out of Glock 22 and a Glock 20 and have never had an issue. I sorted my brass inspected my brass religiously looking for defects and signs of high pressure, and never pushed reloads beyond the mid-range level. Barrels were cleaned after every shooting session, but I never encountered any leading problems, even after 300 round+ sessions. Hot loads were loaded with new brass only. I no longer have the G22, but if I did I would load jacketed bullets only and to the mid level velocities only. The G20 still gets a regular diet of hard cast mid-range reloads. Hot hunting/carry loads are still loaded in new unfired brass. I personally would not reload for a G21, which is why I don't have one.

I recommend you do the homework, and google as recommended. After reading the issues related to reloading for a Glock, I'd be surprised if you were still interested in reloading for a Glock.

Life is short, and there are just too many other guns to reload for. If you want to shoot a Glock for less money, buy a .22 conversion unit and use that. But don't push your luck on a known safety issue.

But again, do some hard research and you can come to your own conclusions.

I'm only reloading for target/plinking purposes. No need to shoot hot/warm loads. It shouldn't be any different then using regular factory ammo.

I'll just have to be as careful as I usually am, and just keep an eye on things for problems.

Appreciate the input, its been taken into consideration.

Get an aftermarket barrel (KKM, Firedragon, etc.).

Pics coming fast of what an unsupported Glock chamber can and will do with reloads. It doesn't have to happen often, just once, and that'll be enough for ya.....

Here are the pics.

FWIW, this was once fired Federal brass, WLP primers, 180 gr. Nosler JHPs, and a below book max charge of 2400 (IIRC).

We (as in myself and coyotewallace, who had the "pleasure" of touching off THAT round) believe a couple things contributed to the problem. A couple of the Federal once fireds had a hairline crack at the web. This one likely did as well, but escaped notice. Also, we suspect that (after measuring the COAL of the other rounds in that magazine that were unfired) the bullet slipped the crimp and began slightly compressing the charge. Last, of course, was the unsupported chamber, as the separation went DOWN at that point.

Pics:













[img]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b165/VAnimrod/HPIM1126.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b165/VAnimrod/HPIM1127.jpg[/img]

Sorry about the crap quality of the pics, but I think you get the idea....

I think the assessment of the bullet breaking crimp and being pushed back is the correct one. 10mm operates at rifle pressure so compressing a charge in such a manner h'ain't no good thing to do.

Ouch.... been pondering about reloading for my new Glock 26..... will have to figure in cost of after market barrel.... guess I wanted to cast 9 MM bullets if I set the Dillion up anyway..... still have to shoot a lot of ammunition to even break even...

Just read the Lone Wolf barrels are made in China... been looking for reviews of after market barrels... anyone with experience with the different brands?

KKM.....

If LWs are Chinese, I won't run them, nor will I recommend them any longer....

Storm Lake barrels are also quite good.

Her1911, If you know what you are doing and have experience as a reloader than reloading for glocks is a non issue. Glocks use a polygonal barrel so stay away from lead bullets. A G-21 is easy to reload for and can reload the brass many times over without any problems.
I have a Glock 20 10mm and reload for it using the stock barrel. I load using Max loads of 9.5 grains of Longshot and 180 grain XTP with a CCI 300 primer. No problem.
My buddy loads for all of his glocks with thousands of rounds without issue and all using stock glock barrels. He loads both the 45 and 357sig rounds. If you want more accurate information head over to www.glocktalk.com to the reloading forums. You can get good info there. Esox357.

Just got off the phone with Lone Wolf Distributors. They flat out stated that their barrels are NOT made in China. Wouldn't or didn't say where they were made, but were adamant that they were not Chinese made.

Good info; though I was wondering how long it'd be before someone started off the "if you know what you're doing" stuff (insinuating, of course, that either myself or Chuck didn't know what we were doing..... nor anyone else that has had similar issues with Glocks.... or anything else).

Good to know that we didn't have to wait long.

Vanimrod, we are on the internet so it is hard to tell how experienced everyone is here. I did not read all the posts prior to responding, only passing on my experience as a reloader that has reloaded for glocks.
There is risk to everything that we do in life and nothing is a 100%. I have not had any issues reloading for glocks and only wanted to refer the poster of this thread in the right direction. It was not in any way meant to say others were inexperienced or were wrong.
So relax. Esox357.

Clear enough.

FWIW, as stated, I/we believe that the unsupported chamber was only one contributing factor to the incident, and the most minor at that (in fact, it may have actually be a GOOD thing, as any full support may have led to a worse case separation). The biggest problems were the probably hairline crack, and certainly the bullet slipping the crimp backwards to compress the load slightly.

Either way, the only damage was a very bad bruise on Chuck's finger from the other damage: a broken magazine release. The magazine release snapped in half, and blew out.... that was it; no other damage to the G20 at all. That, imho, is pretty impressive.

Im glad no one was hurt worst. That is unfortunate for sure. The mag release is a simple/cheap fix. Glocks are pretty tough to "break". Take Care Esox357.

get an aftermarket barrel that has a fully supported chamber then go for all the reloads you want, that's my suggestion.