Glock Brass Users Beware

[garyb]

Just a heads up: A while back I ran into a problem with my reloads, which I sorted out because of a suggestion on this forum. I was training with a buddy who uses a glock and picked up some of his brass. I had reloaded some of his brass and started to have some failure to feed problems that really jammed the brass into the chamber. Hard jam that really concerned me. I quickly discovered that the glock brass tends to bulge at the foot of the body, near the head just a few thousands of an inch. It is just enough of a swell that does not get removed during the resizing. It causes NO problem when fired through the glock, but is a major problem in my PM40.

I now check my brass much more carefully prior to loading. I also check each round. I remove the barrel from my PM40 and slide each round in the chamber to make sure the round easily slides completely into the chamber. It may seem like an unnecessary step, but prevents jams and failure to feeds when I am in competition. The rounds jammed so hard, they were very difficult to remove and made me feel bad for the reputation of my little sweetheart PM40. I did not want to damage her either. My buddy blammed my PM and was disappointed to learn it was his brass. His come back was that his glock was not as sensitive to loads. True, but better to know the cause and prevent it to restore complete reliability. Now that the issue is discovered, My PM is back to 100% reliability. Check your brass if you are having any failures.

[MW surveyor]

garyb - the rounds fired through a glock are easily identified due to the striker/firing pin impressions. Once you've seen them, you'll know not to use them for your reloads in the PM40.

The reason that the Glock is not sensitive to the reloaded ammo once fired by it (a glock) is that the location on the case is exactly where the round is unsupported.

[Bawanna]

Wonder if they make a low base sizer die like for some rifle calibers that are used in semi auto's.

Person might be able to get one made too, so it sizes all the way down to the head.

[OldLincoln]

I thought the Lee Factory Crimp die resizes all the way.

[dkmatthews]

OKAY! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed this!

It's only happened to me with about 4 or 5 rounds out of the hundreds and hundreds that I have reloaded and shot through one of my Kahr pistols. I couldn't figure out why these few rounds (it seemed random) wouldn't go fully into battery in the Kahr but worked just fine in the Glock.

I don't see how it could "damage" the Kahr, but it could certainly damage the operator's ability to stop a threat.

Thanks for pointing out the issue and figuring out the root cause!

[Charlie98]

I used to save my buddy's Glock .40 cases, but scrapped them when I saw what they looked like. To make a pistol cartridge resizer a 'full-length' die, they would have to position the carbide sizer ring almost at the very base of the die. I suppose it could be done, but I wonder about the durability of it.

I have the same problem with .45 Colt brass fired through my Winchester Trapper carbine; even after resizing the case bulge is still fairly evident. I have a set of nickle brass I use exclusively for the Winchester so I don't have chambering problems with the rest of the .45 Colt guns.

[Bawanna]

Yup, I have that same issue with 45 Colt too. I loaded a couple hundred before I noticed the bulge. Worse on some brands than others.

[Micha2u]

Lee Precision offers a solution to the bulge you describe at the link below:

http://leeprecision.com/case-conditioning-tools/lee-bulge-buster-kit/

[dkmatthews]

That Bulge Buster Kit is awesome news for many -- too bad it doesn't include 9mm (and apparently not .45LC).

[MW surveyor]

Hey, if enough people write into Lee, I'll bet that they would make bulge busters for a lot of different cartridges/cases.

[AIRret]

I wouldn't have had a clue as to what was happening with the reloads had you not shared this information. Reading these threads is going to make reloading (for me) safer and will give me better results.
THANKS

[BEARDOG]

Lee Precision offers a solution to the bulge you describe at the link below:

http://leeprecision.com/case-conditioning-tools/lee-bulge-buster-kit/

From the LEE website about the Bulge Buster and Glock...

"Glock Cases: We do not recommend "fixing" cases fired in pistols with unsupported chambers, because there is no way to make them safe once they have bulged. The case wall is thinned where it bulges, and resizing the outside of the case back down to the correct diameter does not restore the case back to its original thickness. If this case is fired in a pistol with an unsupported chamber again, and this thinned section of brass happens to line up with the unsupported part of the chamber, there is a high probability that the case will rupture."

This is a well known issue with reloading Glock 40 brass..."Kaboom"... and the reason I don't and won't own a Glock in 40 S&W, never pick up strange 40 range brass and don't buy 1X fired 40 brass. YMMV

[RRP]

This is a well known issue with reloading Glock 40 brass..."Kaboom"... and the reason I don't and won't own a Glock in 40 S&W, never pick up strange 40 range brass and don't buy 1X fired 40 brass. YMMV

Is the "bulging" problem specific to the Glock chambered in 40S&W, or do Glocks, chambered in other calibers, behave similarly?

[BEARDOG]

Is the "bulging" problem specific to the Glock chambered in 40S&W, or do Glocks, chambered in other calibers, behave similarly?

I can tell you my G26 (9mm) does not cause it. I use my 9mm brass in my Kahrs and Glock and Beretta with no issues.

I would say from what I have read it is mainly 40 S&W Glocks... and some guys will tell you that the newer ones don't do it???

I wouldn't worry about it too much in any other caliber.(but do your own research to be sure)... I would like to buy a G30 (.45) sometime myself. ;)

[OldLincoln]

I think you can guy an after market barrel from someone like Lone Wolfe that has a fully supported chamber. Well, what they call fully supported, but at least more supported.

[AIRret]

Does anyone have a picture of one of these Glock cartridge bulges that you could post?
Thanks

[MW surveyor]

Here is an extreme example (AKA - guppy belly) Most aren't this bad.

BTW - Google is your friend!

[garyb]

The buldge I've experienced is not very apparent. I've attached some photos, but I am not sure it can be seen clearly. This type of bulge will not allow the bullet to go completely to battery, causing a failure to feed and hard jam. The best way I can see to prevent this is to avoid using brass from glocks and then to simply pull my PM40's barrel and place each round into the chamber to be certain it slides in easily and completely. Otherwise, each piece of brass would need to be sized and measured to spec. I simply won't use bulged brass and because there remains a possibility of picking up someone elses brass on the range, I make it a habit to do what I said in bold print above. Hope this helps, but if you have better, realistic suggestions...I am always ready to learn something of value here. Thanks guys and gals.

[AIRret]

Thanks MW Survey and garyb for the pictures and suggestions.

[Bongo Boy]

My understanding is that Glocked brass isn't much of an issue outside of 40SW. Have folks seen it in other calibers as well?

Redding offers their G-Rx push through die also, similar to the Bulge Buster, but it's only offered in 40SW as far as I know. I assume the 'G-Rx' tag is suggestive of 'Glock prescription'.

Redding also offers a non-push through set of dies, their dual-ring sizers, that have a base ring and neck ring, positioned one above the other of course. The lower ring is slightly larger and sizes all the way to the base, but not excessively. The upper ring does the upper portion of the case as any normal sizer would. Don't know if this would do any good on Glocked brass though, and is not marketed as a solution to that problem. They look to be available only in 40SW and 45ACP for the auto calibers, and a 1/2 dozen revolver calibers.

The other circumstances where I've seen Glocked brass is actually in 1911 platforms built for 10mm...Delta Elites, specifically. Apparently, to get the long 10mm to feed on that frame they have to take out a lot of chamber to get the needed clearance. Surprisingly, I've not heard of it in the 10mm Glock, and I've certainly done my fair share of reading up on that one.

There should be some sort of fine or citation for manufacturing guns that do this to brass, as though it were some sort of throwaway product like used Kleenex. :mad:

[SDGlock23]

Glocked brass isn't just a .40 issue, it's with the 10mm as well, even the .45 ACP to a lesser degree. To add, it's not just Glocks that put some belly on the brass, the worse I've ever seen was a S&W SD40, it was far worse than any of my .40 cal Glocks. I guy whose brass I saved was shooting an M&P 40C and it put some belly on the brass too.

I resize my .40 brass (and 10mm when I used to load for it) in a Lee die because it sizes a little further down then does the Dillon die. The Lee Bulge Buster Kit works very well, although honestly I never had an issue with the brass just using the Lee resizer. The bulge buster kit gets out any remaining swelling, plus it also works for the .45 ACP too. I've never had an issue with my reloads in my CM40.

[BucketBack]

I make empty brass with my Glock 19