Cast Bullets For A Glock...

[ArrowJ]

Greetings,

I read that it was not advisable to use cast bullets for a Glock because of the unique rifling. Is there a way to overcome this limitation or should I mark that gun off my list? I tried searching the forum, but Tapatalk kept throwing an error about memory so I apologize if this has been covered in depth.

Thanks

[Oreo]

You can use lead in a glock. If it makes you feel better get an aftermarket barrel with standard rifling.

[runfiverun]

i think there is a sticky round here on using cast in the glocks.
but to answer your question, yeah it can be done.
size and hardness are what make it work.

[Balta]

I have shoot maybe around 2000 in my G19 and G17 ,lead bullets 145 grain,128 grain and 152 grain...Didnt notice nothing that make me worried about lead in Glock.
i sized at 357 and keep the velocity around 850-900 fps to have PF for IPSC...
i have couple malfunction, failed to extract case with some low velocity charges ,i use factory recoil spring...
My boolits ar 15 to 19 BHN hardnes.
Load some,shoot and inspect barrel for leading...
Good luck!

[sqlbullet]

Before loading and shooting, slug that bore.

I recently came into a Gen 2 Glock 29. Slugged the bore and found it to be .401. I am certain I would have had leading if I had fired commercially cast .401 bullets. A few posts at a 10mm forum I am fond of and I found that most of the Glock 45's are pretty good. Seems most 9mm's that people there had slugged were in the .356-.357 range, and most of the 40's and 10's were like mine.

Now, admittedly, the sample size in a 10mm specific forum was small, except for Glock 20 and 29 owners.

But, I would suggest you slug the gun and not assume it is built to nominal spec.

Also, due to the nature of the rifling, they seem to prefer harder boolits. Mine are water dropped isotope lead that is about 23-24 bhn.

[ArrowJ]

Good information! Thanks!

[dragon813gt]

Tapatalk search sucks to begin with. Go to your preferred search engine and type "cast Boolits (topic you're looking for)". The tapatalk search never yields good results as it doesn't search back that far.


Brought to you by TapaTalk.

[500MAG]

I don't shoot a Glock, but I've wondered if running a bore snake thru it periodically while shooting would help with any problems. I don't have leading problems with any of my firearms but I have made this a habit.

[scb]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=33855

[MarcusT]

I shoot lead in my glock 22 40 sized to .401 and after running a bore snake through the barrel looks like new. A bad load will lead horribly but you just have to look in the barrel every once in a while till you get a good load.

[PS Paul]

Nope. Glocks blow apart when fed a steady diet of cast boolits!:kidding:

There is indeed a great sticky on the subject with several long pages of threads and info. I suppose it is like any firearm: gotta fit right and suitable/appropriate alloy is key.

[ArrowJ]

Thanks for the link to the thread!

[bigboredad]

all I can do is give you my experience with one glock 27. The bore was super tight like .399 tight so almost any lead bullet worked in that gun. I even had good luck with the recluse tumble lube method. I would check the barrel every 50 shots just to ease my mind. So if I had to do it again I would slug the bore make boolits as hard as I could within reason(I mean with out spending money) and have a good time. Oh and btw the way I traded that little glock for a SS Ruger bisley blackhawk with a 5.5 inch barrel and it loves cast boolits[smilie=s:

[Shiloh]

Size mine to .358 for the 9mm and there are no issues at all.

Ripsaw

[looseprojectile]

a slam on glock. It is a heads up on reloading the 40 S&W for any gun.
My son bought a Taurus 40 short and wonderful, [S&W] at the gunshow. Old, well used and cheap.
He is no old and experienced reloader. After shooting it for several weeks and continually having issues he sent it in to the repair station.
They fixed it with a new slide and other parts. Same old barrel I think.

Just after getting it back he had a Kaboom where the case blew off completely at the base. Upon examination it was discovered that the chamber had a very generous relief ground in the bottom of the chamber.
He was doing a ladder test of his loads and had fired about twenty of the 6.4 grain Unique loads before it malfunctioned.
The blow up apparently was caused by the gun firing out of battery.
He still has jams or failure to fire because of the round not chambering completely.
Ocaisonally fails to go into battery by about a sixteenth of an inch.

I am going to make a sizing die to size the bulged cases and see where that takes us. [push through]. I hope that is the fix for this gun and ammo. Factory loads bulge some.

The main problem is that he was using load data from Lee. Lee had a max load of 6.4 grains of Unique with a 180 grain boolit. Bulges cases. That along with the rounds not chambering all the way because of the bulge resulted in the blow up and breaking the right grip panel. No other damage. I don't see any other load manual with that high of a load. 5.5 grains of Unique is max for me with this boolit and gun.
It is, as always a very good idea to make the ammo right.

I am impressed with Taurus' customer service and warranty as this was a very used gun from the gunshow.


Life is good.

[mooman76]

It could be a typo but lee does not produce their own load data. They get it from other sources and reprint it.

[gunseller]

About ten years ago I was talking to a Glock rep that I know and he told me the no lead boolits in Glocks came from a large PD in Cal. They were using training ammo loaded with soft lead boolits. The Glock rep told the PDs rep there that that ammo would lead the barrels and they would require a good cleaning or there would be presure problems. The PDs rep got real short with the Glock rep and told him his officers knew how to clean their pistols. About two months later Glock received a complant from the department about their pistols blowing up. Glock had them send some of the pistols to Glock. When they looked in what was left of the barrels they were full of lead. If Glock had done hat they wanted to do and tell the PD," Hey stupid your officers are not cleaning the lead out of the barrels", they would have lost the contract. So they just went with no lead boolits. I have shot around 150000 cast boolits in Glocks, 9s and 40s, without problems.
Steve

[Shiloh]

It could be a typo but lee does not produce their own load data. They get it from other sources and reprint it.

That is a fact. Reprinted data.

If LEE does do powder and pressure testing with their boolits,
they don't publish the data.

Shiloh

[cajun shooter]

The problem with lead in the Glocks is much larger if using the 40S&W caliber. The bottom of the case is not supported at the rear and the caliber works in the same pressure range as the 357 magnum. You will find any cases used in a Glock 40 will not chamber in another pistol because of this.
I shoot a Glock 30SF and the 45 ACP works at a much lower pressure level and the cases don't have that large bulge of the 40 S&W.
I still decided to purchase the KKM stainless Match Barrel for mine at $180 and the accuracy results were one large hole at 20 yards after 10 rounds. You can';t ask for better than that.
If you insist on using the stock barrel then use as has been stated many times, Hard BHN lead. It will work with that but not as well as the KKM barrel.

[prs]

I load 40 S&W for my GLock 23. Before I did, it just sat in the locker after having been through one case of ammo. I cleaned the barrel and began shooting TL401-175-TC with either Recluse or pure Lee and no problems at all with lead or "Glocked" brass. Most of my cases have been shot many times, but our preferred load is very mild with a case full of Trailboss. When my adult "kids" come to shoot with me that is the gun they grab first. Now get a load of this, with all the hoopla over leading of the OE polygonal barrel, I purfchased a traditional Wolfe barrel. Guess what? It leaded! Not bad and not hard to clean, but the OE barrel does not do that at all. Results vary, if you give it a try keep an eye on it every few hundred rounds.

prs

[garym1a2]

My Glock 22 did not shoot lead well 50 rounds and than it took a ton of cleaning. I got a Storm lake barrell for it and it shoots lead great now. I used it for USPSA and run a lot of lead thru it now.
40S&W ammo is a different concern, if you use range pickup brass watch for the Glock buldge, best to only load very light rounds unless you make sure to have very good brass. For hot 40 loads only use once fired brass and not glocked.
Luckly 40 brass is easy to find.

Also my Glock21SF with the factory barrel shoots lead better than any of my other handguns, perfectly clean with jsut a swipe of a patch and oil.

[kir_kenix]

I've fired thousands of rounds thru various glocks with cast boolits. Never had a problem with WC or AC boolits made from WW's. Just need to insure they are sized correctly...no different then any other pistol.

[Oreo]

I've read that before shooting lead bullets you should clean all the copper residue from jacketed bullets out. Apparently the lead likes to stick to the copper residue. This goes for any barrel but especially glock barrels.

[jcharb]

You can use lead in a glock. If it makes you feel better get an aftermarket barrel with standard rifling.

i was wondering the same thing , i called Glock and they told me that the rifling were different in a Glock and not to shoot cast bullets in a Glock unless i used an aftermarket barrel with standard rifling....

[sqlbullet]

i was wondering the same thing , i called Glock and they told me that the rifling were different in a Glock and not to shoot cast bullets in a Glock unless i used an aftermarket barrel with standard rifling....

That is definitely the party line.

But, my experience is that polygonal rifling handles cast boolits fine as long as they fit. The issue, IMHO, is that you have to definitely slug a Glock barrel to know your fit. They seem to vary some.

If you are gonna buy commercial cast boolits that are .001" over nominal groove for caliber and are harder than all tar-nation, you are probably gonna have a bad time.

[mxjunky78]

I just recently started shooting lead in my glock 22 with no problems. I stop after about 100rds to run the bore snake through just as a precautionary measure. I'm wishing I would've started shooting lead sooner!

[Northerner]

I load cast bullets for my Glock 20. No issues using the standard barrel (most rounds between cleaning was 200).

[Hawker man]

Yea, I'm having some accuracy issues with my G35, but no leading.:-D
http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/qq238/HawkermanZ/Target1-1.jpg

[mxjunky78]

That's a fine piece of shooting there Hawker.

[MikeS]

I shoot a Glock 30SF and the 45 ACP works at a much lower pressure level and the cases don't have that large bulge of the 40 S&W.

When you load 40S&W do you use FFFg or FFFFg? :kidding:

[Certaindeaf]

^
True. whuts a glok?

[fcvan]

Loading nd shooting cast in my Glock 40s was as easy as 9mm or 45acp. Heck, I'd shot thousands of rounds through it before I ever herd about not being able to shoot lead. All the same principles of shooting cast apply - alloy, size, lube, powder choice. I always start with Unique, size a thou over, and lube with something resembling 50/50 alox and beeswax. I guess I've been lucky and haven't had to tweak things much. Frank