The Truth about Glocks and Cast

[9.3X62AL]

In 45 ACP, both .452" and .454; shot very well in the Glock 21's OEM barrel. Alloy was 92/6/2, lube was Javelina 50/50, all boolit designs had conventional lube grooves. These boolits were Lymans #452374 and #452460, Lees 230 TC and 200 SWC. All boolits went into the hundreds with round count; there was no discernible leading present.

My theory--such as it is--the 45 ACP is a generally lead-friendly caliber anyway. 9mm--40 S&W--and 10mm are more hostile environments for cast bullets, being more akin to rifle conditions (high pressures, fast twists) than to handgun conditions. To date, I have "chickened out" from using lead boolits in Glock 9mm and 40 S&W barrels, and have opted for aftermarket barrels featuring conventional (and slower twist) rifling forms and fully-supported chamber designs. This is NOT a recommendation or advice--it is just my mode of operation that flows from an abundance of caution and laziness. I don't want to re-shoot and re-test my daughters' 9mm and 40 S&W Glocks as extensively as I did the G-21.

[outdoorfan]

Understand. What's the twist rate of the Glock 9mm, if anyone knows? I'm too lazy to check right now. LOL!

I read somewhere on here that the 9mm chamber isn't as unsupported as the 40 s&w chamber. Did I read that right?

[9.3X62AL]

Understand. What's the twist rate of the Glock 9mm, if anyone knows? I'm too lazy to check right now. LOL! (4 turns per meter, or 1-9.75")

I read somewhere on here that the 9mm chamber isn't as unsupported as the 40 s&w chamber. Did I read that right? (That is my understanding also)

Dunno if this will work......

[outdoorfan]

1-9.75" is FAST! I wonder what for? Most .357 magnums are 1-16 - 1-20 and they stabilize 180's just fine.

[Catshooter]

In my experience the 9mm is indeed tighter chambered than their older 40s. I have heard that the newer 40s have chambers that are tightened up somewhat, I don't know.


Cat

[Jailer]

How many of you are successfully shooting softer lead in your 9mm Glocks? By softer I mean 8-10 bhn. I don't have a Glock but am thinking about getting one. A 125-130 grain boolit at 900-950 fps sounds about right to me, and I would like to be able to do it with air-cooled 50/50 alloy, which for me runs 8-9 bhn.

I've had good success with the MP 125 HP mold air cooled and sized to .358 in my factory 26 barrel. Heavier boolits require a harder alloy to help reduce swaging due to case taper on the longer boolits. You'll have to figure out what works in your gun.

I read somewhere on here that the 9mm chamber isn't as unsupported as the 40 s&w chamber. Did I read that right?

I found the opposite to be true.

I have heard that the newer 40s have chambers that are tightened up somewhat, I don't know.


Cat

I haven't seen any difference in the gen 4 chambers compared to the gen 3's and that's from a pretty decent sample size (100+ of each type). They all leave a pretty good size smile on the brass.

[Catshooter]

Jailer,

That's good to know about the 40s chambers, thanks. I had just repeated what I had read and had no idea if it was true or not.


Cat

[outdoorfan]

I've had good success with the MP 125 HP mold air cooled and sized to .358 in my factory 26 barrel.

I have the same mold. What velocity and powder usage is that load of yours at?

[nessus]

Not a Glock but I have fired a few hundred cast boolits out of my CZ82 ((mm makarov w/polygonal barrel) and have had no leading to speak of.
I use liquid alox, and a hard cast 95gr bullet.

I have fired over a 1000 rounds of commercial cast lead out of my CZ82 with zero leading.

[Jailer]

I have the same mold. What velocity and powder usage is that load of yours at?

Not sure on velocity but they were loaded pretty tame with a 3.0gr load of titegroup.

[tfreeman1911]

i shot plenty of cast through my Glock 17 before I traded in for my Beretta 92. The accuracy was horrible, but it didn't really have any ill effects otherwise. I then got a KKM barrel, which has standard rifling, and it shot great. The only safety concern with Glocks is the 40S&W can really disagree with the unsupported chambers (my Lyman manual has that in bold print), but the chamber issue has supposedly been fixed on the gen4 models. If you're going to reload 40 in general, i would say invest the extra cash into a bulge buster and FCD. it adds time to your process but also it adds quality.
bottom line: from my experience, get an aftermarket barrel for the range to shoot lead out of a Glock and you won't degrade your accuracy.

[tfreeman1911]

I have fired over a 1000 rounds of commercial cast lead out of my CZ82 with zero leading.

i've also fired a few hundred rounds of cast thru my cz82 with no problems. accuracy was great too. I was using 3.3gr Red Dot under a 105gr LFP boolit. great article here http://www.reloadingroom.com/index_files/Makarov.htm

[larry4831]

I have a glock 20 and have fired more than 2000 rounds with cast and 9 grains of blue dot and have never had a leading problem and it shoots fine.

[ben lurkin]

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.



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

[snuffy]

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.



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

Ben, if you read the entire thread, you'll see that many of us routinely shoot lead in out glocks. The warnings glock puts in the destructions, is lawyer speak for their own protection. No firearms manufactures say it's okay yo use ANY reloaded ammo. Since there are almost no factory loaded lead ammo, then they're saying no lead reloads. Reloaded ammo voids all warranties!

Posting a picture of a blown up glock proves what???¿¿¿ An overload is an overload, no matter what bullet/boolit is used!

Also generation 3 and 4 glocks have more support in the chambers, the feed ramp is redesigned to give more support at the back-bottom of the chamber.

[Catshooter]

Snuffy,

Don't try and confuse him with facts. He know what he knows and that's all he needs to know.


Cat

[Walt]

Snuffy,

Don't try and confuse him with facts. He know what he knows and that's all he needs to know.


Cat

Well said.

[EMC45]

For 9MM I size to .358 in the G19. I tried .356 and the bullets would key hole and tumble. So bad that they were hitting the logs we were firing at and bouncing back at us. And there was leading. I recently just shot some cast Lee 120gr. TC out of my brother's G19 sized @.358 and they did fine with no leading. Used the Glock plastic brush to knock the carbon out of the barrel and it was shiny like new. For my G36 I size to .452. It eats up the Lee 230gr. TC like candy. The only problem I have is buildup of lube sometimes. No leading, no over pressure. Both 9 and 45 loads are real accurate too.

[hunter12]

I have shot thousands of rounds of lead through my gen 1 G17 and a few hundred through my G30 with no issues. That being said I will be switching to plated bullets for piece of mind

[robertbank]

Here is a picture of the case support for three versions of Glocks. The latest version supports the case as well as any gun I have seen.


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Take Care

Bob