Looking for a target load for the Glock 21. Thinking of possibly a 200 grain bullet with WST? Also would like a good load for hiking/woods.

200gr cast SWC with 4.0gr Bullseye is a classic.

^ not in a Glock.

Most all the classic cast bullets for the 45 ACP are now available with Hi Tek coating, which reportedly is fine in Glocks.

I think yondering is using kkm barrels, which as a general rule, i have done too. I haven't in the 21. But, i am mostly powdercoating these days and i wouldn't hesitate to run that hensley and gibbs 200swc with that coating through a glock.
Having said that and with the cavat i probably won't ever run out of the above bullet, i have cast the last few times with 228grain round nose, just so they will feed in just about anything, with powder coating applied.
mostly 231 powder used or unique.

I've shot many , many LRN 200's in Glock , but SWC don't feed well if at all in Glock's , My favorite plinking load is 200gr LRN and 5gr Red Dot

I was thinking Berry's plated bullets or another target bullet. I will probably stick with FMJ bullets? Thanks.

Fmj yes Swc no.

LOL, don't tell that to my Glocks! I've fired many thousands of rounds of that load in my G21, before and after I started powder coating.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet about Glocks and lead. Most of it is pure ignorance, from people repeating what they heard from other ignorant people.

When bullets are sized right, OEM Glock barrels generally lead less than aftermarket barrels in my experience.



I use the OEM Glock barrel in my 21. It's extremely accurate, and I've never seen any reason to change it for an aftermarket barrel. (I don't have a 45 suppressor, that would be my only reason.) The factory barrel also feeds just about anything.



There's something seriously wrong with your Glock if it won't feed SWC bullets. Maybe you are using some sort of aftermarket barrel? The factory barrels feed them flawlessly; if you have problems it's the mag or your load.

My G23's, G30 and my son's G21 all ran fine with conventional SWC reloads FWIW.

I use SWC bullets (lubed, powder coated, or jacketed) in 9mm, .40 S&W, 10mm, and 45 Auto Glocks. The only issues I've ever had were due to aftermarket barrels, and they were resolved by adjusting OAL.

Many run lead in a Glock with no problems whatsoever, but it is against the recommendations of glock inc. Of course, so are reloads, so take that fwiw.

I had my friend order a new barrel with conventional rifling for his Glockamole Model 21, so he could safely shoot my cast bullets. Just one more thing to not like about the tupperware gun.

Don

I have heard mixed reports about the 21 shooting and not shooting the SWC. It seems some do very well and others will not.

Anyone know of any deals on 200 grain or 230 grain FMJ bullets?

i shot a 23 for years with lead bullets without issue until i learned that i shouldn't shoot lead bullets for years or i would have problems. i finally bought a kkm barrel.
Having said that i think a lot of it has to do i cleaned the barrel all the time, and after not that many lead bullets at a time.

4.3 grains of Clays and a 200 grain SWC.

I have MANY tens of thousands of rounds of that load through various G21s I have owned and never ever had an issue.

Nice Mackay! See if my pistol will run them? I'm thinking it should.

I've ran hundreds of 200gr cast SWC through my G21 as well, without issue.

I was loading 5.0 gr Green Dot, and 6.0 gr Unique.

For full power woods loads with 230 grain bullets, anyone have any favorite powder? I was thinking WSF or would Clays or other powder push a 230 grain to safe pressure and decent FPS?

Any of you guys know of best buys out there since I don't cast my own bullets?

Of course it should, that's what we've been telling you. The "conflicting reports" are from people who are guessing and repeating stuff they read online.

As to "full power" loads, depends how heavy you want to go, but Clays is a poor choice there. Clays is great for target loads because of it's fast burn rate.

WSF works OK for, grain for grain is almost a duplicate of Unique but meters better; this is a good one for standard power 45 loads.

Power Pistol or Blue Dot are where it's at for the heavy 45 Auto loads, if you're planning to hot rod it a little. Depending on the bullet, my G21 will handle a 230gr cast up to 1,050-1,100 fps with a Blue Dot load.

You do not need an aftermarket barrel for any of the loads discussed above, the OEM barrel is excellent and of much higher quality than most of the aftermarket options. Do watch your brass for bulging if you hot rod it though. The signs are pretty clear if you work up carefully.

Thanks, not hot rod'n it just thinking a 230 grain JHP say Gold Dot or Golden Saber at 1000FPS should work fine for my needs otherwise I will buy some buffalo bore?

I shouldn't even mention this but it will confirm how much of a fossil i am.
I ran across about ten boxes of those speer 200gr flying ashtrays a few years ago. Yeah i know, better stuff out there yada yada yada.


but with a good dose of power pistol they are uber awesome

I wouldn't have a problem using them!

Personally, I like 8.0gr of AA#5.

Don

Those are cool bullets! Great find.

Yeah that'll do, and you can definitely get there with your G21. Work up carefully of course, and use powders in the burn rate range between Unique and Blue Dot, with slower being better.

I do not think it is a general problem with the SWCs in the Glock 21, but my 30SF will not run 200 grain SWC rounds that work fine in 1911, M&P and Springfield XDs platforms. I have tried charge weight and COL variations to no avail. I gave up trying to make a magic SWC formula for just this gun. The rear of the extracting case catches on the flat part of the front of the top bullet in the magazine and leaves a semi-circle mark. This does not happen with round nose or hollow points rounds. Some have stated on other forums that it has to do with the geometric changes needed to make the short frame version of the 30, which results in a different relationship between the slide and frame, but I cannot speak to that assertion.

Factory barrel and mags, or aftermarket parts?

Thank you all. See what I can do with this 21?

Two ways, totally stock and also with a KKM barrel. Factory mags, 9 and 10 rounders. I gave up, not worth it.

That is odd. I have not met a Glock yet that wouldn't run with SWC bullets, although I have seen a very similar issue to what you describe in the XD with the top mounted extractor. You're the first I've heard with first hand experience of that in a Glock, everyone else seems to be repeating what they heard from someone else.

If you want a factory hot rod try a Corbon 165gr @1250fps and almost 600ftlbs. It's a hand full..

My statement was from my glock 30. It will not run swc ,I would have assumed the feed ramp was the same on a 21 but ??

6.0grs Unique with 200swc, and 6.5grs Unique with 225 TC hard cast for my "woods" loads.

I did buy a couple pounds of Clays at Mackay's endorsement to ease up on my Unique consumption, but haven't shot any yet.

Apparently not. Although, I've used several 30SF and one 30S that all ran fine on my SWC loads (200gr cast SWC & 4.0gr-4.3gr Bullseye depending what I'm loading for). If I ran into the extraction issue described above though, first things I'd try are making sure the extractor doesn't have gunk built up in it, and bumping up the load slightly to increase slide speed. Don't know if that would help in yours or not? I rarely clean my Glocks though and haven't had problems so the extractor gunk seems unlikely to be an issue.

For sure though, the G21 is the easiest of the lot to run with any bullet you want, including full wadcutters if the load is tuned right.

Mine a fail to feed issues, Now thinking about such I might try a stronger recoil/slide spring spring length would be the biggest difference and weight of the slide momentum.

A feed issue is very surprising. Got a picture of your loaded round? A picture of the feed issue would help too; does it nose dive, or hit the side of the chamber?

You could certainly try a different recoil spring, but I doubt a stronger spring is what you need. The round should flow right in the chamber, it shouldn't need a stronger spring to force it past a hang up.

give me a couple days and I can get some pics. It's been a year or more since I tried them If I remember right the stuck nose up. I tried lenghts too long too short and every where in between.

10-4

When you get a chance to look at it, compare to these pics and figure out what is different. Maybe these will help.

Here's my 21, slide locked back with top round seated fully in the mag. Note how the round is pretty much aimed right into the chamber already. This is the Lee 200gr SWC, very similar to the H&G #68.


Here's the first point of contact with the feed ramp; the nose just barely touches before entering the chamber. These feed like dropping marbles in a funnel. Yeah, it's dirty, but it doesn't matter.


The little 9mm has to ride up the feed ramp farther, but still no issues. This is the Lee 105gr SWC; it's a very short round.

Ok tried again to night, Data I have shows COL from 1.170 to 1.230 depending on which manual you look at. at anything from seating shoulder to the 1.230 ammo "jams" against top part of chamber. Lenghten out to 1.290 and ammo chambers fine (10rounds) using mag. release , Than firing rounds cases tend to catch on the "bullet shoulder " and won't eject.

The OAL with cast bullets doesn't mean anything useful unless we're both talking about the same bullet, which we aren't, so I can't do much with your measurements.

What bullet are you using, and where is the SWC shoulder relative to the case mouth? It's hard to tell in your pictures but that first pic looks like the shoulder is at or below the case mouth, which will certainly cause problems.

Got a clearer picture of the loaded round?

Look where the SWC shoulder is relative to the case mouth in my first pic above. What do yours do when seated the same way? Ignore the position of the nose and OAL, pay attention to the front edge of the front driving band.

case length to driving band ..955 anything shorter will not chamber and then these will not extract without grabbing the driving front of the driving band with the empty case

I got a lot of picture 3 with my 30SF. Sometimes the case would get farther out but still not fully eject. I don't experience the issue with round nose or hollow point profile bullets because, apparently, the empty case can ride all the way over the top bullet in the magazine rather than getting hung up on the flat shoulder. I get the impression that the spacing is very tight between the case being ejected and the top cartridge in the magazine.

In picture 3, I think you may have an extractor issue. Check it carefully to see if it's worn, chipped, loose, or has gunk built up underneath. It should rip the rim off the case before allowing that condition, if the extractor is working right.

Picture 2 really looks like a magazine related issue. Are these old mags, or maybe stored loaded for long periods? Pic #1 shows the round with a pretty straight shot into the chamber, you should not end up with any feed issues from that.

It's hard to diagnose from a few pictures, but those really look like issues caused by malfunctioning parts, ejector and magazines specifically.

Well no on all accounts does the same thing with 3 different mods the extractors almost new same way if the plunger and spring I've been load ing and working on this kind of things for 40 years. Guess I just got an individual gun but didn't read the rulebook.hope that didn't sound ungrateful for you trying to help I appreciate the gesture

I don't think I'd write it off to just an "individual gun"; something isn't right there and you shouldn't be having those issues. There is a problem and a solution, but it's hard to tell what it is without having the gun in my hands.

I have shot thousands of the H&G 68 205g hard cast lead through a variety of Glock .45ACPs and struggled getting them to feed properly until I looked into the OAL and started lengthening it little by little until they feed, fired and extracted perfectly.

I messed around with the crimping and the powder charge to no avail in solving the feeding problem until I "got me some book learnin" and adjusted the OAL. No set formula worked for all guns and each gun is a different beast. I ended up going with the longest OAL that would function through the mags to end up with one OAL for all the .45 shooters I had.

1911's were much easier and didn't require hardly any fussing.

Great bullet. I had a 3# coffee can of MO Bullet's version loaded over 5.0 of W231 for 826 fps from 5" 1911's. They fed fine through a G21 and my old G30. Just a FWIW.

My solution was to forget about SWCs in my gun, buy jacketed 9mm bullets cheaper than .45 ACP lead bullets, and shoot the heck out of my Glock 19. For self defense purposes I use hollow points in my 30SF, with an occasional Buffalo Bore 255 +P hard cast. Those feed and function 100%.

I had a Para 14-45 that was a Canadian stock shooter that a Local police armorer did some customizing for me and he recommended that H&G 68 cast bullet with 4.3g of Bullseye for an accuracy load. It was probably around 755fps although I don't remember accuractely. He was skilled in his craft and spot on with his recommendation of that load, a wee bit dirty but very very accurate. I would mentioned how accurate but it would be questioned by some.

Through a client of mine I ended up with a bunch of large bars of linotype and upon meeting a local caster at a gun show he was anxious to trade for those bars. I ended up with about 8,000 H&G 68 bullets and a couple thousand more for a 44 Mag plus about 3,000 .45ACP 230g round nose, I traded a lot of bars!!!!!. Out of a necessity to shoot those bullets I was lead to buy the G30. Great decision and very happy with that model.

I run 200LSWC in my G21 with 4.4 g of WST, no problems with feeding but they will not feed in my G30.
Finally gave up and switched to a 200 g Truncated cone, feed fine.

What brand of bullet you using for the truncated cone?

i just saw this. And me having fired a bunch of those swc keith H&G68 style bullets in a springfield XD. Never a problem.
I should add the one problem i did have was in a sig220. Adjusting the O.A.L. solved that issue too.

Sorry for the delayed response been out of town.
I use Penn Bullets for all of the cast Bullets I buy.
https://www.pennbullets.com/45/45-caliber.html

No problem, thanks for the link. I took my Glock out today and shot it for the first time with White Box Winchester. I shot at 16 yards in 25 degree weather with wind gusts at Dollar General Shaving Cream Cans. I didn't do as well as I should have but did manage to "kill" 2 of the 4 bottles while freezing. Can't wait to start reloading for it.

I'm shooting them out of 1911's, but I have always run 230gr FMJ's with 5.3 grains of ww231. I can have FMJ's delivered to my door for $119/1,000, which is within $10-$15 of what I would have to pay for coated lead. I don't mind paying a small premium for FMJ's, not that there is anything wrong with coated, plated, or plain lubrucated lead.

Good to know K1500. That's not bad pricing at all.

I think I paid around $90/1000shipped last time I bought them.