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Glock blow-up

7K views 36 replies 20 participants last post by  jdub 
#1 · (Edited)
Does anyone have any info about a Glock blow-up at Willow Slough (Morrocco) Indiana DNR range today? My wife was there today with our neighbors shooting and someone on the range had a Glock that blew up on him. The slide cracked open and the side panels of the grip blew out. The cartridge had seperated at the base and the slug was stuck in the barrel.Also the extractor blew off into the thumb and face of the shooter causing cuts and bleeding. The range master showed my wife the gun and she said it was a total loss including damage to the frame and the slide. Apparently the guy was using hot reloads but it may have fired out of battery. Or he may have shot after having a squib. I understand that leading is also a problem with the Glocks. I don't know the model number or what reloads he was using. Apparently the shooter will be okay but may need stitches.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Leading is a gradual build-up issue with Glocks, not sudden, but, maybe he didn't clean it for 5 or 600 rounds of cast....

My betting money if it fired O.O.B. If you never ever change the recoil spring in them, they WILL, sooner or later, because the trigger cocking it will overpower the recoil spring as it gets tired, and it will "unlock" and fire before the disconnector operates.

To "blow up" a fully closed gun, you have to exceed the proofing pressures, or be right around them a bunch of times to get it to fatigue fail. That's 46,000psi. for 9mmP

Yes, there are handloaders who are that much dumbarse.............., gives the rest of us a bad name...... :(

Then the handloaders who think saving a penny a round on a round that already cost 10-14 pennies is worth using extremely small charges of very fast burning and dense powders (3 or 4 grains of Bullseye, Accurate Arms #2, and others), a double charge is ALMOST optically invisible inside the case (if you even look), put a bullet on it, it's a gun-killer.
At least when you blow one of these up in a steel frame, you don't get hand damage from it, usually also only the barrel and slide die. Blows the plastic wonders right to shreds, and does the hand holding it no favors.
 
#3 ·
At least when you blow one of these up in a steel frame, you don't get hand damage from it, usually also only the barrel and slide die. Blows the plastic wonders right to shreds, and does the hand holding it no favors.
One point to consider. Steel parts will show up on an X-ray while the plastic pieces will be very difficult to find using X-rays. If you have a polymer frame pistol blow-up, you my be carrying the frame pieces in your body for the rest of your life.
 
#4 ·
Nope, no info on yesterday's incident.

Are there any stats available on the Glock's? My buddy bulged the barrel on his 19, or rather a guest shooter did with Remington factory loads.

Thought it might have been a squib, but never really knew for sure.

We replaced the barrel and she's been good to go since.
 
#5 ·
There's been a few factory mistake lots blow up a few Glocks, there's also been badly-made handloads blow some up (either double-charges or poorly crimped (.40 S&W is BAD BAD about pressure spikes from shortening, much worse than others), also been OOB firings blast some too.........

Bulged barrels are usually from a squib. A "simple" drastic over-pressure may blow the chamber, it WILL NOT bulge the barrel part-way to the muzzle. That is from a barrel obstruction.
 
#8 ·
Two different cops on the local PD had Glocks blow about a month apart on their range. They were .40 cal. but I do not remember the model. The follow up investigation blamed it on hot loaded Speer LE factory ammo and something about the chamber being partially unsupported. The PD turned them all in and went with S&W .40 cal. and I haven't heard of any problems since.
 
#12 ·
"Apparently the guy was using hot reloads" Says it all. That wasn't a Glock fault but a gross overpressure.

And that pressure increase from bullet pushback can happen with ANY cartridge where the case is full or close to it. Improperly crimped 9mm Pb and 45 ACP also have big pressure increases if the crimp fails and the bullet gets rammed back into the case, compressing the propellant. Usually this only happens with multiple chamberings of the same cartridge but handloads would be of greater risk here since many loaders use case mouth crimping sensitive to the press setup.

The .40 S&W got its bad reputation strictly from the early .40 pistols designed for 9mm that were quickly reworked for .40, lengthening the feed ramp into the chamber, leaving the same sort of unsupported area as the 45ACP but at twice the pressure. Avoid those older pistols and buy nothing but ones with fully supported chambers.
 
#14 ·
There was a video of a guy shooting a AR 15 and beating the cartridge into battery with the palm of his hand using the foreward assist on Youtube. On top of it all he was using reloads. It can be easily found I am sure but the AR kabooms and a bottomless debate in the comments section goes on about how crappy the AR is etc. etc.. I don't know how you take the time to try and educate people who know it all...
 
#16 ·
Why would anyone shoot lead bullets in a semi-auto pistol?

If you can't afford jacketed bullets, don't shoot! JMHO, .22 lr excepted of course.
 
#18 ·
In the old day I shot tons of lead bullet 45acp loads with zero problems. There's really no reason not to shoot lead bullets in coventional rifling other than barrel leading if your alloy isn't right or you're pushing them at too high velocity. What does semi-auto have to do with it?
 
#21 ·
I have looked at the incident with the AR 15 blowing up, I believe he extracted a crap round, the bullet stayed in the barrel, he used the bolt assist a couple of times later with no luck, thus forcing the bullet down the barrel, until a round was able to chamber, and off she went.
 
#23 ·
West Virginia ...an officer's gun blew up with factory loads at a range during qualifying ?
A news release through all 911's released to all police depts.....
I had gotten a new one 40 cal...wife worked at 911 remembered I had gotten one...
No more info was released?......I sold trader it for a Styre 9mm never got back in the 40's again .
So that's one cal....I don't have to by ammo for!
 
#34 ·
So does a host of other gunmakers, and not just ones with polygonal rifled barrels.

It gives them a warranty out for someone who doesn't clean their Glock after shooting cast.

I have shot, and still shoot, IDPA with literally, HUNDREDS of Glock shooters, handloaders, who feed thousands of cast bullets thru their Glocks every year, without blowing them up.
They clean the barrels every couple hundred rounds or so tho, so buildup is managed by cleaning, it is not sudden (near instantaneous) and severe.
 
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