Glock 23, .40 cal reloaded brass failure PSA

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:36 am
First time ever I've experienced something like this. I was wearing gloves and eye protection. Very good thing too, I felt "stuff" hit my face!

I had been firing, then BANG! that wasnt right and it stung my hands! I knew immediately something was wrong. I didnt attempt to fire again, I shifted my focus from my target to the gun and noticed the slide hadnt returned to battery. I carefully opened the slide just slightly, enough to see that the round wasnt going to eject as it was still chambered. Then I noticed the rod that the external extractor is supposed to be on sticking out of the side of the gun! The case had burst in the chamber and blew the extractor off!!!

The round that failed was a reload. It had been given to my friend by a guy he works with. But that guy wasnt even the one who reloaded it! A friend of his reloaded it and we have zero clue how many times the brass had been reloaded! The case head seperated from the cartridge in the chamber and with the exception of the extractor, there is no other visible damage. My friend is gonna take his Glock to a gunsmith and have it checked out thoroughly however before replacing the extractor and being used again, and fortunately it isnt his carry gun anymore.

Be careful out there folks. It coulda been worse. Be certain of where your brass is coming from. If you dont know, dont use it. If youre getting reloads from somewhere else and not doing it yourself, are you comfortable in knowing that the reloader knows what he is doin? My friend had more reloaded .45 ACP he was give me. Ball ammo, target ammo... I declined after the failure, not gonna run it through my gun.

You have my feelings on it. You may feel differently. Just that theres always a chance, but there are also ways to minimize the probability.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:39 am
Very sage advice, Rossignol. I think you can apply that to any reloading. Glad you are OK.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:17 pm
ravengunsmith wrote:Very sage advice, Rossignol. I think you can apply that to any reloading. Glad you are OK.


RGS, youre right, it can be applied to all reloading and I hope this post is taken in that spirit. While there are specifics to the Glock 23 .40 among the 1st through 4th gen guns that can make a bit of difference in this sort of case, a failure and cartridge bursting in the chamber of any firearm can be flat out dangerous.

Yup, all ok here! Thank you!
RossignolST
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:56 pm
Thanks for the reminder Rossignol...you're lucky you were wearing eye and hand protection !!
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:44 pm
I agree Shooter! Believe me, I'm more than happy to share my experiences after coming out on the positive side of something like this!
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:36 am
Rossignol, Thanks for the info on the Glock, I am really not up on them, so it is nice to be able get information like this where I can. But yea, anytime you get a breech of some sort, either by case wall failure or a pierced primer, it is never ever good.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 7:59 pm
Man, I'm not familiar with Glocks either, and this in fact was the first time I had ever fired one! :lol:

I certainly dont blame Glock here, clearly the unknown ammo is responsible. I'm also only just learnin about unsupported chambers. The 23 I fired is a Gen 3, but I dont know what kind of chamber it has, only that it doesnt have the ambi magazine release, which in a case such as this, I'm told the rupture in the chamber has on occassion caused the grip to split as well at the magazine release.

I totally agree, in any case it isnt at all good.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:33 pm
Glock barrels are similar to SMLE and No 4 barrels in the sense that the oversize chamber, and support at the 6 o'clock position allows it to reliably chamber everything, but is very hard on brass. That is why using reloads voids the warranty.

I am not trying to start anything, and like Glocks, and own both a 22 and a 27.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:06 pm
Raz, I have heard the same (I'm no glock expert either). Some guys on another forum were discussing Glock "Kabooms" the other day and they mentioned especially the .40 caliber. According to them (and they are pistol guys) the .40 is such a high pressure round that the unsupported chamber of the Glock makes what happened above very possible. It supposedly is more likely with supped up reloads. According to them it isn't as big a problem with the 9mm or the .45, but is much more likely with the .40.

Now remember this is second hand wisdom from the owner of exactly one wheel gun so it may be worth exactly what it cost you to read this, nothing. But it makes sense. A man I know very well who is a well versed gun nut of all kinds tells me that if you ever reload brass that has been fired in a Glock you can tell it when you go to resize it. That unsupported chamber lets it bulge pretty far according to him. That said, I'd like own a Glock one day so I'm not bashing them at all. Just something to think about.

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PostPosted: Wed May 21, 2014 4:56 pm
I carry a Glock 20 10mm, for Bear protection. Glocks are my favorite pistols as I own several of them. The unsupported barrel will cause even Factory ammo to bulge. My advice cause I hand load is to buy a fully supported barrel if you are going to reload. You will get longer life out of your brass. I have purchased several lone wolf fully supported barrels one for each, cause I run my 10 mm at 1600fps using 135gr Barnes. one shot out of each piece of brass for bear loads.
Live life to its fullest, for time is but a fleeting moment!!!!
PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2014 4:57 pm
Let's see a pic of that Glock 20, and the barrel AK !!

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