My g35 gen4 kaboomed

[obsessiveshooter]

I thought I would post here what happened over the weekend. I was halfway through my second stage of a match when a shot did not make typical recoil but instead sent an intense shockwave through my hand. The gun was locked up. The mag release and was blown apart and fell out of the frame and the trigger was gone. The magazine had to be yanked to be removed. My strong hand was stinging pretty good but it wasn't bleeding.

I gave the pistol to the RO and I sat down and a buddy checked me for any other injuries. I was fine. The RO was able to get the slide back and he found that a case had blown apart right in the spot that you would normally see a bulge in Glocked brass.

My guess is that I had a piece of brass that had been weakened through being shot in an unsupported chamber, and that weak spot lined up with my feed ramp and I sort of won the lottery. I don't think it was a double charge.

I put in an old trigger and trigger bar I had and a different magazine release from the junk drawer. I shot a hundred rounds yesterday and everything seemed to work fine. But now I feel like I'm rolling the dice every time that I pull the trigger. Right now I'm leaning towards getting a new aftermarket Barrel so that I can have a fully supported chamber.

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[Absocold]

Glocked brass, I'd never shoot .40 reloads in a barrel that didn't have a full chamber. Period.

[9x45]

Even the aftermarket barrels have some ramp in them. It's almost impossible to know what caused a case rupture or a KaBoom after the fact. You  had a case rupture because a KaBoom will split the barrel and slide, and rupture the frame along with blowing out the mag release and mag. I had the same issue on a G34 years ago but took 3 stitches to my right middle finger from blowing out the mag button and magazine.. No other damage to the gun. It was not Glocked brass, or over charged, and it was all once fired same head stamp brass. as I pulled and weight the rest of the 100 or so rounds. But is was bullet setback, I found 7 rounds that were between .030" and .090" short to OAL nominal. Setback to .090" would have doubled the pressure. The bullets were a well known plated brand which I have not used since then. 

And the good thing, even when you completely KaBoom a Glock, is that it blows most of the shrapnel downward, unlike KaBooming a 1911 or a SIG or HK. Experienced first hand while chasing Major 9 power floor back in the 70's.... Think that's the expression Hammer (to) Head came from, not the shark.

Edited October 17, 2016 by 9x45

[9x45]

My buddy blew up his duty issued G21 running "gun show" reloads whose name rhymes with a popular laxative and major west coast airport. It completely destroyed the weapon, and we had to take him to urgent care to dig some frags out of his face and stitch up his right hand. Worst part was explaining it to his Sargent..... This wasn't his weapon, but it had the same amount of damage.

 

https://www.northwestfirearms.com/attachments/glock4-jpg.226603/

 

 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2016 by 9x45

[obsessiveshooter]

Is this really what I'm risking shooting a glock? This is making me want to move on to a new pistol.

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[SCTaylor]

Sorry to hear about your luck OB! 

 

'it happens. It can with any gun. My Gen 4. G35 has a supported chamber, compared to pictures of older Glock 40's. I don't think you're playing a waiting game for it to happen again.

Can you give us a picture of the barrel w/ a round inserted? Mine looks much like the "2009" stock variant below.

 

[Absocold]

Stock Glocks and .40 reloads seem to not play well together.

 

In before uberGlockMaster69 and his 50 disciples chime in to naysay from the peanut gallery. Say what you will, Glock .40's just explode a lot. XD's too. Not sure why it's mostly those two I see more regularly than others. Maybe they're just the most used so the law of averages applies. /shrug

 

I know a guy who loads and shoots the same brass out of his stock Glock .40 over and over until it splits with no issues. But he's a cheater, he roll sizes it.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Might be a bullet pushed into the case - sent pressures sky rocketing?

Fast powder & heavy bullet?     Dangerous, unless there's no danger

of bullet set back (need to U-die it or roll size the brass).     

[3djedi]

My guess is it's crappy reloading. Either yours or someone else's. Can you say double charge?

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[obsessiveshooter]

I guess it's possible I made a bad load, but other than a few high primers I've never made a double charge or squib in the many thousands of .40 I've loaded. I shoot 180 gr. Coated lead over 4.3gr titegroup. 172 PF. I never have leading in the barrel.

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[cheby]

too much crimp could do that

[IHAVEGAS]

On 10/17/2016 at 11:14 AM, 9x45 said:

And the good thing, even when you completely KaBoom a Glock, is that it blows most of the shrapnel downward, unlike KaBooming a 1911

Have only watched it happen once (Les Baer 45 acp, bullseye double charge) so perhaps in other instances things would have been different.

The wood grips broke , magazine blew down out of the gun, shooter was fine. Upon receipt of the gun for inspection the manufacturer reported that the gun was fine as well. It was interesting that it sort of stair stepped the first 3 or four bullets in the mag, top bullet was pushed way down in the case, 2nd was not so far down, etc..

Standing behind, there was an obvious smoke cloud when the round was fired. 

[obsessiveshooter]

too much crimp could do that

I've regularly checked crimp- it's always just barely noticeable on a pulled bullet.

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[obsessiveshooter]

Have only watched it happen once (Les Baer 45 acp, bullseye double charge) so perhaps in other instances things would have been different.

The wood grips broke , magazine blew down out of the gun, shooter was fine. Upon receipt of the gun for inspection the manufacturer reported that the gun was fine as well. It was interesting that it sort of stair stepped the first 3 or four bullets in the mag, top bullet was pushed way down in the case, 2nd was not so far down, etc..

Standing behind, there was an obvious smoke cloud when the round was fired. 

I'm sure that guy was relieved he didn't ruin his LB!

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[9x45]

4 hours ago, obsessiveshooter said:

I'm sure that guy was relieved he didn't ruin his LB!

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Yea, blowing up a Glock is like crashing a Hyundai, not a Benz..... I'll bet Glock frames only cost about $12 to make. 

[3djedi]

It's pretty hard to imagine a glock blowing apart on a 172PF load. What did the case look like?

Do you run a progressive press or a manual index type?

Perhaps bullet setback? Can you put a loaded bullet (bullet first) against a hard surface and push as hard as you can without the OAL length changing?

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[Dr Mitch]

You can cull cases before you have a web blowout; there will be an odd asymmetrical bulge in the brass at that area.  It requires some case sorting and extra focus at station 1 when loading.

 

case blowouts happen.

[obsessiveshooter]

It's pretty hard to imagine a glock blowing apart on a 172PF load. What did the case look like?

Do you run a progressive press or a manual index type?

Perhaps bullet setback? Can you put a loaded bullet (bullet first) against a hard surface and push as hard as you can without the OAL length changing?

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The case split exactly where you see a bulge in Glocked brass, along the circumference. I'm reloading on a progressive. And I did check to see if I could push the bullets on and get setback- I couldn't get it to go in at all. I load to 1.13 for OAL.
Here's a pic of a loaded round in the barrel:

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[SDM]

On 10/17/2016 at 0:14 PM, 9x45 said:

...But is was bullet setback, I found 7 rounds that were between .030" and .090" short to OAL nominal. Setback to .090" would have doubled the pressure. The bullets were a well known plated brand which I have not used since then....

So something about the plated bullets themselves was causing setback issues?  

[SDM]

On 10/17/2016 at 0:14 PM, 9x45 said:

...But is was bullet setback, I found 7 rounds that were between .030" and .090" short to OAL nominal. Setback to .090" would have doubled the pressure. The bullets were a well known plated brand which I have not used since then....

So something about the plated bullets themselves was causing setback issues?  

[IHAVEGAS]

3 hours ago, SDM said:

So something about the plated bullets themselves was causing setback issues?  

Some discussion about possible causes and cures on that thread. 

[9x45]

SDM, yes, some of the plated bullets were actually seating deeper in the cases. Very little resistance when placing a bullet at the seating station after belling. Since then I always check for a "snap" condition.

[peterthefish]

Just to add my $.02 here - could be your load OP? A lot of .40 major loads are over SAAMI pressure which is typically not a big problem. However, a hot load with weakened brass and poor case head support does occasionally add up to a case head separation (which Id distinguish from an actual kaboom).

Definitely doesn't sound like a double charge, setback could be an issue, but what kind of brass was it? Load data doesn't look hot but could have dropped a slightly heavy charge on a bullet seated a little deeper with a piece of AMERC brass holding it all together.

[CHA-LEE]

The risk is in using mixed range brass for your reloads. There is no telling how many loads the brass has on it or how beat up it really is until it fails in the gun. Glock's have unsupported chambers which does promote weak brass to fail due to the "Bulge" issue.  

You have been shooting Limited on the "Cheap" with a Glock long enough. Its time to move up to a 2011 like everyone else in the Division and put this kind of drama behind you.

[cheby]

1 hour ago, CHA-LEE said:

The risk is in using mixed range brass for your reloads. There is no telling how many loads the brass has on it or how beat up it really is until it fails in the gun. Glock's have unsupported chambers which does promote weak brass to fail due to the "Bulge" issue.  

You have been shooting Limited on the "Cheap" with a Glock long enough. Its time to move up to a 2011 like everyone else in the Division and put this kind of drama behind you.

This.

Glock is a great timmy pistol. It is an okay production gun as well. That is pretty much it