Glocked Brass?

[JayJayJay]

Now I am worried. I ordered a Dillion 550B yesterday with .40 S&W Carbide Dies from Dillion. I only shoot Glock. I purchased a brand new Glock Gen 3 about 4 months ago. Can you guys explain to me what Glocked brass is. I been reading the forums here and it seems some of you are having an issue resizing brass shot out of a Glock. I called Dillion today and they told me I had 30 days to get my money back if I had a problem. Well I don't want to send it back, I want it to work! He also told me that the newer Glocks do not have that problem. Should I get a aftermarket barrel? Will this fix the problem I may have? Please explain all of this because I am all worked up and I don't even have the Dillion here yet. I placed some of the shot brass in the stock barrel and it fit just fine. I did notice a slight bulge on the case just above the notch were the primer is at.(not sure what are it is called).

Jay

[hankfan79]

Jay,

Even though I don't have the facts on "glocked" brass...don't send the press back. You will regret it. Dillon prices never come down and they ALWAYS go up every year. This small problem should not keep you from reloading. If anything...you could by a conversion barrel, sell the gun for another, or anything. KEEP THE PRESS!!

Also good info found here

A small search will reveal alot. I figured I would do it for you before someone jumps on you about it.

Edited April 11, 2011 by hankfan79

[Corey]

The idea of "glocked brass" is that they (glocks) have a weaker chamber support and when the gun fires, the case expands a bit too much and its hard to size the brass back down to where it needs to be to rechamber it. There are many ways of taking care of this including undersized sizing dies or a push thru die like th G-RX from redding. seems to only be a problem in the .40S&W. the other calibers dont have near the problems.

[bbbean]

Some Glocks have a slightly larger than spec chamber mouth (presumably to help with reliability). This can result in a slight bulge at the bottom of the case that *may* cause a problem with *some* non-Glocks that have a very tight chamber. The people who have problems with this are generally 1911/2011 shooters who are using police range brass or other once-fired brass, and even in these cases, the problem typically shows up in less than 10% of the brass.

You probably won't have an issue. If you do find that some brass gives you a problem, there are several relatively easy and inexpensive fixes available.

BB

[GrumpyOne]

Some Glocks have a slightly larger than spec chamber mouth (presumably to help with reliability). This can result in a slight bulge at the bottom of the case that *may* cause a problem with *some* non-Glocks that have a very tight chamber. The people who have problems with this are generally 1911/2011 shooters who are using police range brass or other once-fired brass, and even in these cases, the problem typically shows up in less than 10% of the brass.

You probably won't have an issue. If you do find that some brass gives you a problem, there are several relatively easy and inexpensive fixes available.

BB

What he said....

[sdm74]

I have been having a few problems with bottoms of 9mm brass being bulged. Is that also from glocks?

[G-ManBart]

As always, a search will often answer your question before you get all worked up...in fact, in this case, it's such a common question there's a sticky about it here:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5593&view=findpost&p=68706

Aside from that, I'd bet there are at least 50 threads on Glocked or bulged brass....below are just a few. I have to disagree with Barry...if I take once-fired brass that was shot in Glocks, and don't run it through a U-die 100% of them won't work in my 1911s or 2011s....they will usually work in my Glocks (but not 100%).

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=112705&view=findpost&p=1278943

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=110729&view=findpost&p=1257032

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77804&view=findpost&p=900695

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=83881&view=findpost&p=968819

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51655&view=findpost&p=592089

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=50248&view=findpost&p=574185

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=65410&view=findpost&p=759244

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=65157&view=findpost&p=756333

[JayJayJay]

Jay,

Even though I don't have the facts on "glocked" brass...don't send the press back. You will regret it. Dillon prices never come down and they ALWAYS go up every year. This small problem should not keep you from reloading. If anything...you could by a conversion barrel, sell the gun for another, or anything. KEEP THE PRESS!!

Also good info found here

A small search will reveal alot. I figured I would do it for you before someone jumps on you about it.

Thank you, I did a search but most of what I read was hard to understand because I am brand new at this. Thanks for all your help guys.

[SteveZ]

A fairly simple solution exists to remove the bulge from Glock'ed brass using the Dillon dies. I don't shoot a Glock 40 but I do end up reloading a lot of "Glocked" brass for my STI using this modification...and have NEVER had a feed failure due to bulged brass:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11063&hl=carbide

[blaster113]

A fairly simple solution exists to remove the bulge from Glock'ed brass using the Dillon dies. I don't shoot a Glock 40 but I do end up reloading a lot of "Glocked" brass for my STI using this modification...and have NEVER had a feed failure due to bulged brass:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11063&hl=carbide

interesting alternative to the U-Die

[Pro-Pain]

I have been having a few problems with bottoms of 9mm brass being bulged. Is that also from glocks?

What do you mean bulged? Sticking out farther after they've been fired? or after you reload?

Glocks are easy to tell if they fired a round. When a round goes off in a Glock, for a brief instant the pressure sends the case shooting back and slamming into the breech face. Since glocks have a rectangular hole, there will be a rectangular box around the firing pin strike.

The primer bulging out a bit might be from when the brass is initially shot, in those micro seconds it goes backwards, and the soft metal gets pushed back into the firing pin/striker channel, taking the shape of that.

If that's round, or a halo around the firing pin hit, it's not from Glock.

Unless smiths are swaging that chamber now...

[ParaGunner]

A fairly simple solution exists to remove the bulge from Glock'ed brass using the Dillon dies. I don't shoot a Glock 40 but I do end up reloading a lot of "Glocked" brass for my STI using this modification...and have NEVER had a feed failure due to bulged brass:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11063&hl=carbide

interesting alternative to the U-Die

Yes indeed, I think I might try this.

[sdm74]

I have been having a few problems with bottoms of 9mm brass being bulged. Is that also from glocks?

What do you mean bulged? Sticking out farther after they've been fired? or after you reload?

Glocks are easy to tell if they fired a round. When a round goes off in a Glock, for a brief instant the pressure sends the case shooting back and slamming into the breech face. Since glocks have a rectangular hole, there will be a rectangular box around the firing pin strike.

The primer bulging out a bit might be from when the brass is initially shot, in those micro seconds it goes backwards, and the soft metal gets pushed back into the firing pin/striker channel, taking the shape of that.

If that's round, or a halo around the firing pin hit, it's not from Glock.

Unless smiths are swaging that chamber now...

By that I mean fat at bottom of case and wont drop into barrel. Thought that was "bulged"

[Graham Smith]

All brass will expand a little when fired, that's why it has to be resized. If the brass is not sized down enough and if the chamber is extremely tight, you will get jams loading and jams extracting. Also in order to fit a cartridge into a chamber at an angle, there has to be a small area at the bottom of the chamber where there ramp is that is more "open", as it were.. As a result, all chambers are a little bit less than "fully supported".

Early Glock .40 models got the chamber a bit looser and the open area at the ramp a bit deeper than they need to be. As a result, brass shot through a Glock was prone to having a bit more Guppy Belly than ammo shot through other guns. Hence the name Glocked Brass and the mistaken rumor that Glock chambers were not fully supported. The design was changed and what you get now from a Glock is pretty much the same thing you get from most pistols on the market.

If you shoot a Glock or not, it's pretty much a non-issue any more.

[sdm74]

You could see the bulge easily with your eye. Could it be from 9mm major?

[Warhammer4k]

Now I am worried. I ordered a Dillion 550B yesterday with .40 S&W Carbide Dies from Dillion. I only shoot Glock. I purchased a brand new Glock Gen 3 about 4 months ago. Can you guys explain to me what Glocked brass is. I been reading the forums here and it seems some of you are having an issue resizing brass shot out of a Glock. I called Dillion today and they told me I had 30 days to get my money back if I had a problem. Well I don't want to send it back, I want it to work! He also told me that the newer Glocks do not have that problem. Should I get a aftermarket barrel? Will this fix the problem I may have? Please explain all of this because I am all worked up and I don't even have the Dillion here yet. I placed some of the shot brass in the stock barrel and it fit just fine. I did notice a slight bulge on the case just above the notch were the primer is at.(not sure what are it is called).

Jay

First thing: Don't panic! Your equipment is fine, there's no reason to return it without even trying some loads.

I don't know about the "newer Glocks," but bulged brass absolutely was a problem with a Glock 20 SF (10mm Auto) I bought a few years ago.

It's one I solved by buying an aftermarket barrel, as well as new 10mm brass. Someday, I will get around to "de-Glocking" my older 10mm brass by pushing it through my Lee factory crimp die (same idea as the Redding G-Rx) with a generous amount of lube. Meanwhile, I use a Lone Wolf aftermarket barrel in my Glock 20 when shooting reloads. The Lone Wolf barrel has a tighter chamber with more case support compared to the original barrel, so it doesn't cause "Glock bulge" of the 10mm brass. Most (all?) of the aftermarket Glock barrels (Storm Lake, KKM, etc.) are like that. I suppose the "match" chamber might contribute to greater accuracy, but I was mostly interested in better case support for longer brass life and the conventional rifling. The conventional rifling lets me shoot cast lead bullets (read: cheap!) worry-free.

You MIGHT end up needing to use something like the Redding G-Rx. Only way to find out is to reload some of the brass that's been shot in your Glock.

Use of an aftermarket barrel is up to you. Again, wait to see whether "Glock bulge" is going to be a problem, before rushing out and dropping $100+ on an aftermarket barrel.

You do have a case gage, right? A .40 S&W case gage will show you which rounds are going to slip right in, and which ones might not. The good news is that Glocks have very generously-cut chambers, so even most of the rounds which won't fit in the case gage should still chamber. Identifying which rounds are "gage-able" and which ones aren't allows you to segregate them, so that you have reloads which you know will work (e.g. for competition) and those which only "probably" will (better for practice/plinking).

You might get lucky, and find that all your reloads easily slip into a .40 S&W case gage. Again, you won't know until you try it.

If you don't want to buy a case gage, you can remove the barrel from your Glock and use that as a sort of go/no go gage. I find it much more convenient to use the case gage, rather than have to disassemble my Glock 20 every time I load 10mm.

[cjennings]

Jay

Send the press back... do it now... but order a super1050~~~

Just kidding, well kind of. +1 to all the posts above. I work a Military and LEO training center and load countless glock fired brass from the range. Rarely if ever have any issue in my HKs, Sigs M&Ps or Glocks.

[G-ManBart]

I have been having a few problems with bottoms of 9mm brass being bulged. Is that also from glocks?

What do you mean bulged? Sticking out farther after they've been fired? or after you reload?

Glocks are easy to tell if they fired a round. When a round goes off in a Glock, for a brief instant the pressure sends the case shooting back and slamming into the breech face. Since glocks have a rectangular hole, there will be a rectangular box around the firing pin strike.

The primer bulging out a bit might be from when the brass is initially shot, in those micro seconds it goes backwards, and the soft metal gets pushed back into the firing pin/striker channel, taking the shape of that.

If that's round, or a halo around the firing pin hit, it's not from Glock.

Unless smiths are swaging that chamber now...

This is absolutely NOT how the gun/cartridge relationship works. The extractor holds the case against the breach face, so it doesn't go "shooting back and slamming into the breach face". If it's moving more than a couple of thousandths, something is wrong. The case is, however, pushed against the breachface harder when the case is under pressure (powder burning/expanding/etc), and that forces some of the primer material to be impressed with the shape of the firing pin hole, which is rectangular on Glocks.

With any semi-auto pistol, the chamber is larger than the cartridge is (otherwise it wouldn't feed/chamber reliably). When the round goes off, the case expands to make up that difference...which causes the brass to bulge. Glocks (particularly in .40) are cut more generously, so the brass gets bulged a little more, but not even as much as with some other, similar, guns. R,

[1fng]

While I don't have a Glock in .40, I do reload brass that has been shot from Glocks and other pistols with slightly generous chambers. That means I deal with 'glocked' brass.

I'm currently using a Redding GRx before putting the cases thru my 650. It is great, and rounds that fail to guage are virtually nonexistent. The downside is that it takes much more time to reload, as I have to put cases through the GRx in a single stage press.

The EGW (and/or Lee) U die has worked well for me, too. It is much faster, because the U die can be used in my progressive press, and makes loading much faster than the GRx, then 650 process. BUT, I do have more rounds that fail to guage. Not a lot of rounds, but more than I'd like.

If you decide to get an aftermarket match-type barrel, you might have more problems with 'glocked' brass. Here's why: I almost always end up with a few pieces of brass that were shot from someone else's gun that get mixed up with my brass at the range. These pieces of brass will need to be sized to fit your now tighter chamber. The only way to keep that from being an issue is if you can guarantee that you don't end up with any brass that you haven't personally shot...

+1 to you won't know til you try. Maybe load a few and guage them/barrel drop them and see what you will need???

[Anopsis]

I run across Glocked brass on the order of about a dozen per 500. I think 99% of it would feed & fire fine, but it won't pass my case gauge. Most times one more pass through the dies and it's good to go.

[McGlock]

EGW die all the way.. Haven't experienced the issues guys talk about running it on a progressive press.. Have heard issues of alignment or crushed brass due to less belling on the die..

[Pro-Pain]

I have been having a few problems with bottoms of 9mm brass being bulged. Is that also from glocks?

What do you mean bulged? Sticking out farther after they've been fired? or after you reload?

Glocks are easy to tell if they fired a round. When a round goes off in a Glock, for a brief instant the pressure sends the case shooting back and slamming into the breech face. Since glocks have a rectangular hole, there will be a rectangular box around the firing pin strike.

The primer bulging out a bit might be from when the brass is initially shot, in those micro seconds it goes backwards, and the soft metal gets pushed back into the firing pin/striker channel, taking the shape of that.

If that's round, or a halo around the firing pin hit, it's not from Glock.

Unless smiths are swaging that chamber now...

This is absolutely NOT how the gun/cartridge relationship works. The extractor holds the case against the breach face, so it doesn't go "shooting back and slamming into the breach face". If it's moving more than a couple of thousandths, something is wrong. The case is, however, pushed against the breachface harder when the case is under pressure (powder burning/expanding/etc), and that forces some of the primer material to be impressed with the shape of the firing pin hole, which is rectangular on Glocks.

With any semi-auto pistol, the chamber is larger than the cartridge is (otherwise it wouldn't feed/chamber reliably). When the round goes off, the case expands to make up that difference...which causes the brass to bulge. Glocks (particularly in .40) are cut more generously, so the brass gets bulged a little more, but not even as much as with some other, similar, guns. R,

Good catch G-man!

[kalaur]

Here are a couple photos of some glocked brass. Top two are 45s, bottom one is a sized 40. Notice just *how big* that bulge is, second photo you can see how lopsided the mouth of the case is, there is over 20 thousandths of difference between the high side and the low side.

[sfpmb]

I am also pretty new, been loading 4 months for 9 major. I just got my 40 conversion and put it on my 550. I have been saving brass (about 15k so far). I would say 90% is glock fired. I have loaded 1000 rounds so far and only one did not case Gage. 100 of it shot through my sti and zero problems. I don't seem to have any issues with the 550 dies. Is this a some people have it - some people don't type of problem?