Armory Sponsor
Posted: 4/24/2013 12:33:41 PM EDT
|
This morning I witnessed a Kaboom, not mine. The shooter ended up with a blood blister at the base of his trigger finger, nothing else.
The weapon was a Glock 36 firing reloads. A portion of the case was blown out and the gas went down the grip destroying the magazine and doing some damage to the receiver. The upper appears to be fine. The bore is clear. I recovered the case and there was a hole in the case exactly where the round is unsupported in the Glock. There was no bulging, just a hole. Although the reloader is new he is being tutored by an experienced reloader. They say that all charges are weighed. The brass is supposed to be once fired Winchester. I am not absolutely sure of the charge or brass history since I didn't observe them but have no reason to doubt.They are using a 230 grain jacketed bullet and I do not know the powder charge. Many hundreds of these rounds have been shot with no ill effect, The case is very interesting. There is a hole in the case about the width of the feed ramp and about half as high. There is no sign of bulging. It looks as if there was a weak spot in the case that gave way. |
|
Had my G21sf blow up in my hand 3 years ago using factory reloads from ATI.(American Tactical) Primer was flat like a pancake, and when I observed the two cases that were fired just before the one that kaboomed my G21, the primers on them were also flattened with overpressure signs.
These were way overcharged as far as I'm concerned. My slide was stuck shut, and would not budge, the frame had a big crack in it, magazine in 3 pieces, and the trigger group was completely destroyed, and the barrel was cracked. All that Glock could salvage was the slide. Everything else was replaced brand new at $172. My hand was black, and blue for a couple days, and I pulled a piece of plastic shrapnel out of my cheek. I am still apprehensive about loading my own for the Glock, but I learned my lesson about buying reloads, even if they are factory or using someone else's . Never again. Every one I read about here who is carful, who reloads for their Glock has never had this happen to them, so this gives me some confidence to maybe try loading for the Glock someday. For now I only load for my other pistols 
|
|
Mine was a result of a double charge.
Glock 23 40cal. Same as described by the original poster. Blew a hole in the case at the unsupported part of the chamber. Blew the magazine down the mag well and shredded the top of the magazine. Cracked the trigger. (Hurt the finger and super heavy muzzle flip told me something went wrong.) Hairline crack in the barrel. (Too hard to see with the naked eye.) Dillon 550. Failed to seat a primer. Thought I could just counter rotated to seat the primer, didn't realize that I was doubling a charge on the one forward of it. No room (pressure wise) for a double charge on a 40 cal. Plastic receiver of the glock didn't help. Hot gases forcing their way out of every orifice of the gun. Hence the broken trigger assembly. Lessons: Don't assume. If you see powder leaking on your press or in your bin, Stop! If you have a squib load, Stop! You might have a double charge in that batch. If you are distracted, Stop! The 650 was chosen partly because it can't counter rotate... |
|
There's two types of people that walk away from a KB.
Those who are accountable, remedy the occurance from happening again and move on. Those who blame everything but themselves and are set to repeat the mistake again. Glock, gen 3 & 4 have sufficient chamber support. Glock won't entertain a warranty claim for insufficient case support against gens 3 or 4. Gens 1 & 2 are a different deal. We can rule out setback as being the cause. If you don't want to believe me call Sierra or Hodgdons. I've been educated by both, that no amount of set back will blow a mechanicaly sound handgun apart. Asked what will cause catastrophic case failure the answer is this. A severe overcharge. Other issues that I've spent time investigating include fouling and inertia driving an insufficiently crimped bullet into an already fouled chamber transition area. Not much room for speculating what happened for me, I've had it happen using a powder charge that could not be overcharged with a case filling powder that left just enough volume for bullet to set on. I've often thought about it. Could've been a weak case head, I kinda doubt it though. Case was .357 SIG, shouldered cases are more workto size and if I had to "guess", case wasn't sized correctly. This being a .45acp kB, leaves room for raised eyebrows seeings how low pressure .45acp is. dc. |
|
Quoted:
There's two types of people that walk away from a KB. Those who are accountable, remedy the occurance from happening again and move on. Those who blame everything but themselves and are set to repeat the mistake again. Glock, gen 3 & 4 have sufficient chamber support. Glock won't entertain a warranty claim for insufficient case support against gens 3 or 4. Gens 1 & 2 are a different deal. We can rule out setback as being the cause. If you don't want to believe me call Sierra or Hodgdons. I've been educated by both, that no amount of set back will blow a mechanicaly sound handgun apart. Asked what will cause catastrophic case failure the answer is this. A severe overcharge. Other issues that I've spent time investigating include fouling and inertia driving an insufficiently crimped bullet into an already fouled chamber transition area. Not much room for speculating what happened for me, I've had it happen using a powder charge that could not be overcharged with a case filling powder that left just enough volume for bullet to set on. I've often thought about it. Could've been a weak case head, I kinda doubt it though. Case was .357 SIG, shouldered cases are more workto size and if I had to "guess", case wasn't sized correctly. This being a .45acp kB, leaves room for raised eyebrows seeings how low pressure .45acp is. dc. Everything I wanted to say, and then some. |
| Many reasons for a Kaboom. Number 1 is over charge of powder. 2. Sticking a bullet in the barrel & firing another bullet into it. Photo Link |
|
I've owned two XDs, shot and loaded for a bunch more plus understanding handguns pretty well.
That said, XD sports enough chamber support that you need not worry as long as working within published data and using brass not severely bulged before sizing. Guns you need to be careful loading for are 1911s with polished chambers, ramps and gen 1,2 Glocks plus any pistol you suspect has been the victim of kitchen table bubba craft. dc. |
|
I have witnessed 3 KB's with Glock .40's. All with factory ammo. Barrel split in two length wise with the upper half of the chamber section peeled upward out the ejection port. All earlier Glock's.
I've seen a few .45 Glock KB's with factory ammo blowing case heads as mentioned. All throated WAY too deep from the factory. Again earlier gen guns and the compact versions. |
|
Quoted:
If you get a bulge, reduce the powder charge.Hodgdon's website- So how do you identify 'adequate support'? Just about to start loading for my XD 40 and now you guys have got me worried lol. This data is intended for use in firearms with barrels that fully support the cartridge in the chamber. Use of this data in firearms that do not fully support the cartridge may result in bulged cases, ruptured cases, case-head separation or other condition that may result in damage to the firearm and/or result in injury or death of the shooter and/or bystanders. Cartridge: 40 S&W
 This XD looks great, fully supported.
|
|
Quoted:
..................... The case is very interesting. There is a hole in the case about the width of the feed ramp and about half as high. There is no sign of bulging. It looks as if there was a weak spot in the case that gave way. Had that happen to me once with a Gen 2 Glock 17. Blew the mag out the bottom but didn't hurt anything. No pressure signs on the primer. The case had been used at least twice before. Sometimes I wonder if the bottom part of the case gets overworked with a LFCD. 
|
|
Quoted:
I reload for a Glock 26, and I use Hercules Unique. It is a bulky powder, and if you overcharge you will have powder alll over the place. yuppers, anytime I load progressive it is with a bulky powder. If I am batching it I will load with the small charge hot rods. Knock on wood, so far so good. |
Armory Sponsor