O.A.L. and Glocks

S

SteelChickenShooter

New member
What advice is out there regarding 9mm ammo and Glock magazines?
Specifically about over-all cartridge length.
I have a Winchester brand hollow-point and one round was stuck and reluctant to pop up to the top. The shortest round measures 29.33mm and the longest round (the stuck one) measures 29.77mm. Maybe sloppy Quality Control?
Is it up to the user to sit and measure the total round length while filling magazines and then not load any that might be too long?
Is there a particular brand that has proven to load and feed flawlessly?
Curious about what experience and suggestions you guys might have?
Anything special to know about using the different bullet weights such as the 115, 124 and 147? I don 't re-load, I just want to be sure I'm buying a proven or suggested reliable personal protection round.

Update: To follow up after some shop tinkering, I'm suspecting I may not want to use the 147grain. The 124grain is around 2mm shorter.

Another update: I guess this topic can be closed. I learned that the sticking rounds inside the magazine exceed the maximum OAL specification and I also found a lot of online info leading me to certain products I can be confident in. I also learned that you cannot just discount the 147grain rounds. It's just that the ones I have don't seem to be as good as other choices. Just to be certain though, I'll buy a box of premium protection rounds and spot check length with a pocket gauge. If they are shorter than the ones I have that are too long- I expect they'll work fine.
 
Last edited:
What's the gun? In general there's nothing special about the different bullet weights. Try them all and see what you and your gun like. There are quality SD loads in each weight. FWIW, I'm currently using the Winchester Train and Defend loads in my Glock 19 which happens to be 147gr and works great. But I've tried lots of others that also worked fine. The only problem load I had was a box of 115gr Blazer Brass that had about 20% fail to cycle. But most folks reported no issues with the same load. So either I got a bad box or my particular gun just doesn't like it for some reason.
 
Foe self defense rounds, load them into a magazine and then cycle them through your gun by repeatedly racking your slide to make sure they all work. Take all safety precautions, of course. Then always use that magazine with those rounds.
 
Different brands of commercial ammo will have different feeding characteristics, based on bullet shape and length. Such ammo is loaded to length on the basis of a range of OAL that will probably fit and feed in MOST guns. However, NO one makes any guarantees on this (how could they ?). OAL will vary a bit with different lots of ammo....and even within a given box. 0.017" (0.44 mm) is not a huge variation....and certainly within the QC parameters for most commercially loaded ammo.

The bottom line is : Yes, it IS the end user's responsibility to find out and use ammo which works in his/her particular gun. Some bullet weights, shapes, etc., just may not work in some pistols - that's just the way it is. NEVER just assume - ALWAYS test.
 
Update: To follow up after some shop tinkering, I'm suspecting I may not want to use the 147grain. The 124grain is around 2mm shorter
Click to expand...

Again it would help to know which 9mm Glock model you have. My Gen3 17 has cycled everything I've ever fed it including several 147 gr. FMJ and JHP loads.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top