Glock pistols will fire out of battery. KaBoom!?

[blades67]

Powderman - I'll bet you 200$ that I can get your Glock to fire out of battery.

All handguns can be made to fire out of battery.

Glock handguns aren't the only one that suffer a kB! now and then, I've seen a half dozen suffer a kB! in the last twenty or so years that I've been shooting.

 

[Handy]

Cal,

Thanks for your input. I was putting forward the out-of-battery thing as a theory, not gospel. To me, case set-back has just as much validity, if not more. You have to wonder if the various blow-ups reflect a variety of causal factors, or just one.

I also suspect that .40 is the worst offender and the higher pressure 10mm safer. The model 20 was built around 10mm, while the 22 is a size 9 shoe rebuilt for size 10 feet. The shape of the .40 case and ogive asks alot of the feed ramp, breakover point and chamber. That and so-so accuracy in many .40s leaves me cold.

Powderman, I have THREE broken Glocks. THREE!

SXS-go to HKPRO or Parkcitiestactical to read up on broken firing pins in the USP. That's about it for them.

Thanks to all who have made a supportive or thoughtful contribution.

 

[leedesert]

blades67

Your statement is more or less what I've been trying to say in my last few post. A KB is not unique to Glock, nor is it more prevalent.

It seems when people try to make broad statements about a particular brand of firearm, in this case Glock, they right off those who don't support their idea as fanatics, or belonging to the church of Glock in this case.

This has nothing to do with fanaticism but more with realism. If you are going to do a study on firing out of battery then do it on other guns as well. You will find that the others have the same characteristics.

What gets my goat is your assertion that this is a Glock problem. It's not unique nor prevalent with Glocks.

What I also find amusing is that you think because you can force a gun to fire out of battery that it's going to do it under normal conditions.

I tried your same test on my G30 and while the striker will fire with the slide just a hair back on the frame, the barrel is still fully locked in place. Once the block leaves lock up with the slide I can no longer fire the striker.

Casey,
This isn't about Glock so much as it is one guy trying to assert that he has discovered a unique problem with a gun when it's not true.

Powderman, I have THREE broken Glocks. THREE!

It looks that way since no one else can duplicate your find.

Thanks to all who have made a supportive or thoughtful contribution.

It seems only those who support your theory are thoughtful.

Lets say for grins that your finding is true. If so then why aren't the failure rates of Glock 40's dramatically higher then other 40's when you consider the number of each brand sold.

When you address the complete issue people may take you serious but then again, if it were an issue others would have already discovered it through experience.

Until you stop staring at your 1/8" and look at the big picture your findings are only interesting to those who like to use mathematical equations to impress people.

 

[Cal4D4]

In Defense of......

While I do disagree with Handy's overall assertions, I do feel .40 S&W have put the K in KBs. Elmer Keith blew up a .45 Colt pushing the envelope on balloon head cases many years back, but at least in the volume of reporting, Glock .40s SEEM to hold a corner on the market. It may be due to quantity out there and popularity, or the vast quantity of ammo burped out by the IPSC/IDPA and police qualifications. Without trying to bump start this dead horse again, there are certain design factors and circumstances fairly unique to the .40 and the Glock and KB's do happen. People are not wearing Glock slides in their foreheads and that is a tribute to their strength and safety under failure.
I do feel Glocks are the cutting edge in modern design "tactical" pistols, whatever that is.

I probably put as much effort into critical reply as anyone out there and feel Handy gave me fair measure back. The FAQ site on Glockmeister considers these KBs a case failure problem and I agree with this but feel Handy pointed out significant factors of the bullet diameter/ogive/feed angle issues that may cause problems. Glock did not go to an unsupported chamber to save steel. They did it to help get that cartridge into the chamber reliably. Why does my 10mm KKM aftermarket barrel with fully supported chamber - cost me another $165 - work just fine also? Maybe test parameters for Glock were stricter/dirtier/hotter.

In my eyes Handy is wrong , wrong, wrong on the out of battery issue being significant, but KBs are happening.

This wonder cartridge is a bucket of compromises. Shorter overall to fit in medium frame guns, smaller diameter for higher cap mags without big grip problems, higher operating pressure to get the performance outa small case volume. Faster, trickier powders to get those high pressures needed for performance. It seems to be pushing the envelope in several different directions and we need to know how to stay safe when playing with this. The industry is not going to help us, they just tell us to not use reloads. Yea right.

Anyhow, rather than jumping on Handy like Judge Roy Bean defending the dubvious honor of Lilly Langtree we should pick his argument apart just in case he has something very valuable to add. I think he did, regarding the feeding issues of the .40.

Wish Hornady would ship parts for my LNL AP so I could go shooting instead of typing.