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Kaboom


dmedley

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I am not one to spread myths of Glocks going kaboom, but since this was broadcast to law enforcement agencies from another le agency it is probably a reliable source. In Winter Haven, FL they have had two instances where a G-37 went kaboom with an officer being injured in one of the incidents. In both cases they were using Speer "practice ammo" 45 GAP 200gr. I have no idea what it is about this combo. I have not heard of any other incidents with the 45 GAP. Both incidents happend in January. One in 07 the other this year. Perhaps they got a bad batch of barrels or ammo.

Edited by dmedley
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Well......Glock took the 45 from a low pressure cartridge to a high pressure cartridge by shortening it. The slightes bit of bullet setback can do that. Probably some ammo that was loaded and unloaded in the gun by some rookies and shot. Could also have been poorly sized brass by Speer. Seen it happen in plenty other Glocks.Especially the 22 and 35 when they came out. More than likely......not the guns fault.

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Came off of NCIC computer. They were wanting to warn other agencies and see if anyone had had a similar problem. Hmm... even google does not search NCIC. Did not mean to stir up crap. Thought someone here may have knowledge of similar problem. There is not a whole lot of agencies using 45 GAP. Could be for good reason.

Edited by dmedley
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I got $5 that says it's a bullet set-back issue.... Have seen messages like this for 9mm and 40 in NCIC before, but departments out there seem to rush to blame the gun if it's a Glock for some reason... Have seen NCIC messages of S&W 9mm guns kabooming about two or three years ago. They figured out it was bullet setback. It's a bad problem in departments that don't have good firearms instructor sections or don't listen to their instructors when they tell them to rotate out their ammo.

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I got $5 that says it's a bullet set-back issue.... don't have good firearms instructor sections or don't listen to their instructors when they tell them to rotate out their ammo.

....there it is. +100

Jim M

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It came out on the NCIC as a admin message from that department wanting info if anyone else had had similar problems and a caution. A similar one came out a few years ago about the G21 blowing up and after a lot of drama the lot of ammo was found to be at fault. I am gonna put my two cents in that this is the case again. Otherwise these problems would have shown up sooner in the GAP models since they have been out for several years. I have seen a few KB's in my time and all of them were ammo related. Not to say that there couldnt be a gun problem but that is just my experience.

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I got $5 that says it's a bullet set-back issue.... don't have good firearms instructor sections or don't listen to their instructors when they tell them to rotate out their ammo.

....there it is. +100

Jim M

That makes sense or knowing how my fellow officers care for their weapons it could be a build up of donut goo in bore. :rolleyes:
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Sorry dmedley, no disrespect intended. I have family, a Detective with the Chandler, AZ PD. Bullet set back is a big deal easily attributable to chambering the same round over and over. It makes sense that duty weapons and ammo are very susceptible to this. I hope all departments are aware of this and take appropriate action to eliminate the issue. KB's are bad. Kb's in your line of work is going to suck large.

Jim M

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I got $5 that says it's a bullet set-back issue.... Have seen messages like this for 9mm and 40 in NCIC before, but departments out there seem to rush to blame the gun if it's a Glock for some reason... Have seen NCIC messages of S&W 9mm guns kabooming about two or three years ago. They figured out it was bullet setback. It's a bad problem in departments that don't have good firearms instructor sections or don't listen to their instructors when they tell them to rotate out their ammo.

Big +1

Reading through this thread, I was coming to the exact same conclusion - and you beat me to it!

It is funny to me that set-back has been well understood for decades in the USPSA and also in the IDPA communities, yet it seems to be "news" among many "expert" LEO training officers.

Considering that GAP is mearly a shortened .45 ACP with a slightly thicker web, it should come as no surprize that it is more sensitive to set back than other calibers.

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  • 2 weeks later...
It is funny to me that set-back has been well understood for decades in the USPSA and also in the IDPA communities, yet it seems to be "news" among many "expert" LEO training officers.

Not so strange. USPSA people have been hot-rodding their guns for over twenty years. With the old pf of 175, the Supers were super-sensitive to bullet setback, as were the .40s later. I wasn't shooting when the pf went down to 165, but I assume that had something to do with it. Meanwhile, LEOs were using factory ammo and stock guns. If that combination now leads to exploding guns, maybe huge labels warning to rotate (or measure!) your ammo should be posted around the station, or on the ammo, or on the gun. Of course, with every conceivable (and many inconceivable) dangers now meriting a warning label, probably no one would take another one seriously.

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I got $5 that says it's a bullet set-back issue.... Have seen messages like this for 9mm and 40 in NCIC before, but departments out there seem to rush to blame the gun if it's a Glock for some reason... Have seen NCIC messages of S&W 9mm guns kabooming about two or three years ago. They figured out it was bullet setback. It's a bad problem in departments that don't have good firearms instructor sections or don't listen to their instructors when they tell them to rotate out their ammo.
Is the bullet set to far in when it is manufactured?

I don't get how rotating the ammo would affect this.

BTW, my para 1640 used to feed rounds so rough by slamming them into the bottom of the feed ramp I could read various amounts that the bullet was being driven into the case. Never had a case blowout luckily.

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I got $5 that says it's a bullet set-back issue.... don't have good firearms instructor sections or don't listen to their instructors when they tell them to rotate out their ammo.

....there it is. +100

Jim M

That makes sense or knowing how my fellow officers care for their weapons it could be a build up of donut goo in bore. :rolleyes:

That's funny... CDNN sells complete used Beretta top ends for the 96 models that came off police guns for people who want to shoot .40 from their 92's. You can always spot them because the bores are completely pristine, night sights are dimmed out, with plenty of holster wear and donut crumbs on the outside..... seriously, the one I got had a bore that looked like new.

Edited by bountyhunter
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Huh? I bought a police trade in Remingtin 870 barrel w/night sights off of Ebay!

Strange thing is it had a shiney bore, dimmed night sights, and all sort of outer gun rack wear...

It was even kind of discolored like it had sugar on it??

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I got $5 that says it's a bullet set-back issue.... Have seen messages like this for 9mm and 40 in NCIC before, but departments out there seem to rush to blame the gun if it's a Glock for some reason... Have seen NCIC messages of S&W 9mm guns kabooming about two or three years ago. They figured out it was bullet setback. It's a bad problem in departments that don't have good firearms instructor sections or don't listen to their instructors when they tell them to rotate out their ammo.
Is the bullet set to far in when it is manufactured?

I don't get how rotating the ammo would affect this.

BTW, my para 1640 used to feed rounds so rough by slamming them into the bottom of the feed ramp I could read various amounts that the bullet was being driven into the case. Never had a case blowout luckily.

By rotating ammo, I'm sure he meant rotating the ammo in the magazine or with ammo that is going to be fired for practice. The idea is to not have the same round repeatedly chambered everyday, which will eventually result in bullet set back. To understand how this happens, you have to realize that for LEOs and military folks who carry often, they'll chamber around when they get on duty/go outside the wire, then unload and clear their gun at the end of the day/get back to base. If they just chamber the same round over and over again, the bullet gets pushed back into the case.

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What do you mean by rotate out ammo?

As in leaving ammo sitting for too long and just using what comes in?

Just curious as I am about to go to our dept's range to start practicing more with my g22...

See the post immediately above.

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I got $5 that says it's a bullet set-back issue.... Have seen messages like this for 9mm and 40 in NCIC before, but departments out there seem to rush to blame the gun if it's a Glock for some reason... Have seen NCIC messages of S&W 9mm guns kabooming about two or three years ago. They figured out it was bullet setback. It's a bad problem in departments that don't have good firearms instructor sections or don't listen to their instructors when they tell them to rotate out their ammo.
Is the bullet set to far in when it is manufactured?

I don't get how rotating the ammo would affect this.

BTW, my para 1640 used to feed rounds so rough by slamming them into the bottom of the feed ramp I could read various amounts that the bullet was being driven into the case. Never had a case blowout luckily.

By rotating ammo, I'm sure he meant rotating the ammo in the magazine or with ammo that is going to be fired for practice. The idea is to not have the same round repeatedly chambered everyday, which will eventually result in bullet set back. To understand how this happens, you have to realize that for LEOs and military folks who carry often, they'll chamber around when they get on duty/go outside the wire, then unload and clear their gun at the end of the day/get back to base. If they just chamber the same round over and over again, the bullet gets pushed back into the case.

I didn't know they had to unload and clear every day. Since they are licensed to carry anywhere, it would make more sense just to leave it loaded.........

I agree, rechambering the same round a lot is a dumb idea and will drive the bullet into the case.

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Huh? I bought a police trade in Remingtin 870 barrel w/night sights off of Ebay!

Strange thing is it had a shiney bore, dimmed night sights, and all sort of outer gun rack wear...

It was even kind of discolored like it had sugar on it??

The ones with the raspberry filling residue are a lot harder to clean.

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I didn't know they had to unload and clear every day. Since they are licensed to carry anywhere, it would make more sense just to leave it loaded.........

I agree, rechambering the same round a lot is a dumb idea and will drive the bullet into the case.

The only time I unload my duty gun or back up/carry gun (G22/G23) are when I go to the rang eto practice with them. At our Dept, you cannot show up to the range hot, so I unload my gun in the safety area of my trunk as soon as I get there, including all the mags. After practice, the range master will usually let me load all my mags and mark the guns hot and holster them before I leave. I have no idea which round was the one chambered, but I guess I need to start paying attention. Since I have 2 guns that have qualed with, the dept has given me 100rounds (50 per gun, I carry 46 on my work belt). I don't know if they ever trade them out.

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I didn't know they had to unload and clear every day. Since they are licensed to carry anywhere, it would make more sense just to leave it loaded.........

I agree, rechambering the same round a lot is a dumb idea and will drive the bullet into the case.

The only time I unload my duty gun or back up/carry gun (G22/G23) are when I go to the rang eto practice with them. At our Dept, you cannot show up to the range hot, so I unload my gun in the safety area of my trunk as soon as I get there, including all the mags. After practice, the range master will usually let me load all my mags and mark the guns hot and holster them before I leave. I have no idea which round was the one chambered, but I guess I need to start paying attention. Since I have 2 guns that have qualed with, the dept has given me 100rounds (50 per gun, I carry 46 on my work belt). I don't know if they ever trade them out.

I remember back when I was beating my head against my stinking Para 1640 (recurtting the feed ramp to get it to feed), I was hand cycling ammo to test the feed from magazine. I would just use my calipers from nose-to-tail on the rounds and anytime somebody slipped a little, it went into the "practice ammo" box that got shot next at the range.... a couple of those suckers REALLY slid when the slide slammed them into the vertical Para feed ramp.

Anyway, I would think it would be easy for you to get some cheap calipers (I see digital ones all the time for $20) and keep an eye on the carry rounds overall length just to see if anybody slipped.

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