Keyholing?

[Keith]

Ok. I did a search and only came up with one thread from last year involving keyholing.

Here's the deal. I had a friend stop by today asking about his new Glock 35. He's trying out different loads in it and states that one of them, some unknown FMJ,was keyholing occasionaly. My only suggestion was that he was maybe overcrimping. Is that about the only thing that can cause this? The only other experience I have with this is when I bought some Winchester bulk 165 grainers from WalMart. I would get a keyhole about every 10-15 rounds fired through my Glock 35 using that factory ammo. I stopped using it and went back to my reloads and never had a problem again.

He wants to bring the gun and his loads over for me to look at this weekend. Other than crimp, I don't know what else to check out. Other than telling him to try a different bullet. I already told him to try a different bullet. I'm just wondering if it's as simple as his gun doesn't like those bullets?

Edited February 3, 2006 by Keith

[ima45dv8]

You might mic the heads he's loading with and make sure they are the right diameter for his barrel.

[Sean Gaines]

You might want to do more research on this,But I think I remember reading that keyholing is due to overcrimping. Especially with plated bullets were the plating starts to come off when the round goes off, or exits the barrel and your getting somewhat of a fan comming out instead of a round projectile.

[iainmcphersn]

I've had keyholing issues with a Glock 17 and 19 using plated bullets. They worked OK in my buddie's Bulgarian Hi-Power clone though.

[dajarrel]

I have had the experience of keyholing when I have pushed a bullet too fast. Particularly lead but it could very well happen to plated. You might want to crono the load or just drop the load by a couple of tenths.

FWIW

dj

[blackdragon]

Plated bullets and crimping= Key holeing!

Ivan

[kevin c]

I think he said FMJ's were the style of bullet involved.

I've also heard that underdiameter bullets can tumble.

[cottyw]

How much crimp is too much? My KKM barrel likes allot of crimp and occasionally I get a flier. I pulled a couple of bullets and they have a noticeable indent but the plating is not separating from the bullet. If I don’t give the bullets a heavy crimp the gun doesn’t function reliably.

Will

[Keith]

We took everything to the range on Saturday and determined that the bullets he was having problems with were indeed West Coast plated bullets, not FMJs. They did not seem to be overcrimped, though. I still watched about half of them go through the target sideways.

I also took my Zero hollow point loads and my Rainier plated bullets with. They both flew straight and true through his gun. Problem solved, I believe.