The Truth about Glocks and Cast

[Catshooter]

Very informative pic Robert. Nice.

Might be an interesting comparison to section an empty case in half and then slip it into the chambers.


Cat

[zubrato]

Just wondering, on average to what size do your 9mm glocks slug at? I've noticed my g19, and g26 both slugged at .357, while my Lee mold drops at .356-.358 (due to temperature differences I'm sure, will be investing in a lead thermometer soon)
The .358's bulge the cases and fail the plunk test, while the .356's have too little neck tension using the 38S&W expander...
So as a result, I havent been sizing my boolits, hoping to keep as much diameter as possible. I will be trying out my loads this weekend, and possibly investing in a Lone Wolf barrel, rather than beagling or leementing since I'm new and will probably screw something up..
Any tips or ideas for a noobie?

[43PU]

I'm shooting 50% WW and 50% 30:1 air cooled in my 17 (g4) and in my 21 (g) with a 10mm barrel and 400 Corbon with 0 leading I just put 700 rounds of the lee 200 swc through yesterday over 5.5 grn of unique with zero cleaning and zero leading

[h8dirt]

My G21 has a few thousand H&G 68's thru its Storm Lake barrel without a hitch using WST and VV N310. I clean it well after every 200 or so rounds. Never hard to clean and it shoots great (for a plastic gun).

[FergusonTO35]

I wonder how well the new Glock 42 .380 will do with boolits? My guess is pretty good since the .380 is a low pressure round.

[jakec]

ive been running cast in a g22. its all been once fired brass but none of it was fired in a glock. i havent reloaded any of the twice fired, once in a glock now, brass. yall think is this ok? i figure i just wont load it again. or maybe just wont load it again to run in a glock. ive only ran about 150 rounds of my reloads.

[FergusonTO35]

I think you'll be fine, with due caution of course. The .40 is a fairly high pressure round from the factory but your cast boolit ammo is likely alot lower. From what I understand the newer Glocks have better supported chambers than the old ones did. My 9mm brass seems to last forever when shooting boolits. Never had a case fail or grow in length appreciably. I only discard it when the mouth starts to split or it gets lost.

[robertbank]

ive been running cast in a g22. its all been once fired brass but none of it was fired in a glock. i havent reloaded any of the twice fired, once in a glock now, brass. yall think is this ok? i figure i just wont load it again. or maybe just wont load it again to run in a glock. ive only ran about 150 rounds of my reloads.

What generation of Glock do you own? From the Gen 3 on the Glock barrels support the case as well as any gun does. Clean your gun after every session and you should have nothing to concern yourself regarding using the brass.

Take Care

Bob

[Hunter]

I cast a few hundred bullets for my G20 with Lyman 401638, which is a 175gr truncated cone bullet. They were lubed with Lyman Alox and water quenched to a hardness of 19 Brinnell.
I sized them .401". Working up a load with IMR 800X after about 40 rounds through the Glock barrel I noticed leading. Using the same round and a Lonewolf barrel I shot a few hundred with almost zero leading.

I am not one to take chances when a Lonewolf barrel is inexpensive.

[Tom W.]

To ask another question....

I just traded for a Model 30 Gen 4. I have yet to have it delivered. The website says it has octagonal rifling. Which means what?
My hope is to shoot the same cast loads as I shoot from my Colt Government Model.

[Love Life]

It should be polygonal rifling. As long as your bullet is sized correctly and a adequate lube is used, you will be fine. Fire a magazine full, unload gun, and check for leading. No leading? Good. Keep shooting. Leading? Bad. Clean the barrel and hit the drawing board.

.452 is a size that shoots very nicely through the glocks.

[robertbank]

I've a Glock Gen 3 model 23. I long since replaced the factory barrel. Shooting reloads and factory glock barrels are a bad combination to begin with. In addition, Glock doesn't recommend lead bullets in their barrels! The factory chambers are oversize so they will feed anything and everything thrown at them. This is good for a combat designed pistol. In addition, the cartridge head isn't fully supported. In a high pressure round like the 40, repeated working of the brass because of this and the sloppy chamber will eventually cause a blow-up.

Attachment 79025






Do yourselves a favor and pony up for a good fully supported barrel with a tight(er) chamber.

Attachment 79026

Ben those are old pictures of old Glock barrels probably from Gen 1 or 2. Gen 3 and 4 barrels fully support the head case.

Here are pictures of the support given on three different generations of Glocks:



Bob

[Tom W.]

Thanks. That's what my .45 sizing die is. And I use the White Label CR lube for everything, with no leading in any of my rifles or handguns. But this is my first Glock, pretty much my first polymer pistol, with the exception of my 22/45.

[Love Life]

With that combo, you should be having some lead free fun. Just check your barrel after the 1st magazine or 2 shot through it to verify you are lead free.

[robertbank]

Tom just use some common sense. Glock manuals say don't use lead but so do others. If you do see leading stop and go to plated bullets. or buy an aftermarket barrel. If you find you don't like the Glock, sell it and buy a M&P. Much better ergonomics and you get standard rifling.

Take Care

Bob

[revwitha9]

Shot thousands of boolits through my G19. Never a kaboom. I'm a clean freak with my guns, so I always cleaned it after a day at the range. I never did completely resolve all leading issues before selling it to my brother. I'm really not a Glock fan.

[yondering]

Shot thousands of boolits through my G19. Never a kaboom. I'm a clean freak with my guns, so I always cleaned it after a day at the range. I never did completely resolve all leading issues before selling it to my brother. I'm really not a Glock fan.

Probably needed larger bullets. Did you ever slug the bore? My G19 has a .357" bore, and it's one of the newer gen4 models. I suspect many (or all of them?) have the European .357" bore size, rather than the .355" common in the US.

The Glock barrels like cast bullets a little larger too, I've found they work better at .002-.003" larger than bore, .001" wasn't quite enough. I size at .360" for my G19.

[revwitha9]

Probably needed larger bullets. Did you ever slug the bore? My G19 has a .357" bore, and it's one of the newer gen4 models. I suspect many (or all of them?) have the European .357" bore size, rather than the .355" common in the US.

The Glock barrels like cast bullets a little larger too, I've found they work better at .002-.003" larger than bore, .001" wasn't quite enough. I size at .360" for my G19.

Yondering, truth is I slugged my Gen. 3 at .355. Sized boolits from .356 to .358 with minimal results. I experimented with lube, loads, and even how I held my tongue when I shot; but never seemed to completely resolve the leading issue. In retrospect, I think my problem all along was the alloy hardness. I don't cast any pistol boolits harder than 10 bhn these days with no leading problems at all.. But then again, I don't have any polygonal barrels anymore either.

[yondering]

Yeah, the polygonal bores do need a bit harder alloy, 10 bhn is a little soft.

Or just powder coat the bullets, and shoot them soft or hard; that seems to cure any issues in Glock barrels. I've gone that direction myself, and don't intend to ever lube a bullet again.

[FergusonTO35]

Well, looks like I'm now wading through the lead boolits in Glock swamp too. Went to a shop yesterday to look around. They had a practically new Generation 4 Glock 19 under the glass. Asked to see it out of curiosity. Looks like the previous owner put a box of shells through it and then traded it back. No signs of wear whatsoever and the factory lube was still there, only some powder residue in the frame to suggest it had ever been fired. I asked how much, and he said $400.00 and would do a layaway on it. SOLD!!

The 19 will be our home defense and range gun. The first thing it's going to get is a three dot style rear sight. I'll just shoot condoms and plated for awhile to get everything smoothed out. I'll probably end up getting a plain black finish aftermarket barrel for it for boolit use at some point. I also intend to get the useless finger grooves smoothed out and the backstrap reshaped a bit.