Boolets in a glock?

[David Bachelder]

I know you are not supposed to shoot lead boolits in a glock 23 (.40S&W). Does anyone here do it? What does it hurt?

How about Lyman #2 out of a glock?

[HARRYMPOPE]

I got a Glock 9mm in 1987 when i turned 21 (before it was unsafe to shoot lead in them).I used hand cast Linotype bullets or cheap hard commercial bullets.I never had a problem.I bet i shot 5000 or more rounds through that thing with lead.

George

[knifemaker]

First off, I do not have a Glock and can not relate anything personal to your question. I do remember reading a article, on the web, from a guy who was also curious about the safety of shooting lead bullets in a glock. Unlike the rest of us, he had access to equitment where he could test pressure levels.

The first few shots were normal, I forget how many that was. Then as he started getting a lead buildup, the pressure kept climbing until it got to a unsafe level and he stopped for fear of the gun, and him, being damaged.

On the other hand, you will see statements by many glock shooters that have shot many rounds of lead bullets and no problems. If I ever buy a glock and wanted to shoot lead, I would purchase a aftermarket barrel with standard rifling for lead shooting, but that is my personal decision.

[runfiverun]

look for the sticky.
"the truth about lead in glocks" found on this sight.

[David Bachelder]

Read several posts on lead and glock barrels. Most seem to agree it's a bad idea.

Decided to play it safe and ordered a Lone Wolf Barrel. Now I can shoot lead and no worries.

[fcvan]

I had shot thousands of cast boolits from my Glocks before i had read about 'Glock kaboom.' Proper loads don't lead, loads that lead can develope dangerous pressure in any firearm. Sized and lubed properly and cast boolits work fone in any firearm. I had my worst leading in a. 41 Mag, and the least trouble with .40 S&W. Frank

[garym1a2]

Shot 50 rounds up in my Glock barrel G22 gen3 and lead aweful. I can shot over 200 rounds between cleaning in the Storm lake barrel and no problem. I load the 40 very soft and wimpy.

In my G21SF cast works great in the OEM barrelel.

[1stSkink]

Have a G22 and G27 ( and hope to add a G23 to complete the stable). I bought a Lone wolf G23 barrel (it fits the G27) for a$100. I think of it as cheap insurance. Everyting I read about the .40 and Glocks lead me to this conclusion.

YMMV,

skink

[willie_pete]

I've been shooting lead in Glocks for more than 20 years in 9mm, .40S&W and .45 ACP. Haven't blown one up yet. Keep the barrel clean and reasonable lead free and don't shoot hot-rodded rounds. If it really concerns you buy a cut rifling barrel.

WP

[Shiloh]

KB'd two Glock 22's

Then went with the Aftermarket barrel and the issue went a way. I attribute both to the unsupported chamber. All the brass from the glock barrel had a ring at the base after being sized. This shear line area area was where the cases let go.

No shear line on brass fired through the FAC barrel after sizing.

Shiloh

[prs]

My 23 has had no leading problems with the OE barrel. I have a Lone Wolf barrel too, but it leads a bit. Go figure? The OE barrel seems more accurate too. Both work well.

prs

[armednfree]

If I ever buy a glock and wanted to shoot lead, I would purchase a aftermarket barrel with standard rifling for lead shooting, but that is my personal decision.

Why would anyone do that? Spend what a Glock costs and then another $150 on a barrel. The XD is as good as a Glock or better, operates the same way and already has a rifled barrel.

[fatelk]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=33855
Pretty much anything that has been or can be said or argued about cast bullets in a Glock is here.

My own personal summation of the issue: they work fine if you do it right. Doing it right simply involves the same techniques for avoiding leading in any other gun: proper diameter, lube, and (to a degree) hardness. It seems that (from my understanding) if you don't do it right and have a leading problem, the consequences can be worse than they are for traditionally rifled barrels.

Some people seem to think that there's something magical about Glock barrels that will cause them to explode when exposed to lead, even if there is no leading. I had one guy tell me (from behind the counter of a gun shop no less) that you can't actually see leading in a Glock no matter how hard you look, but it's still there. Magical invisible leading.:)

I shoot lead in mine, but I'm not a high volume shooter. I won't buy an aftermarket barrel, but don't blame those that do. It's not a bad idea for peace of mind if you're concerned about it, and as Shiloh mentioned there's the advantage of a better supported chamber.

[Theunsb]

Has a Gen 2 22C Glock and shot 15,000 plus boolits through it over the last 18 years.

It hates soft casted boolits and going for above 18 BHN I never had a problem whatsoever.

Clean after every serious target practice say 200-400 rounds and make sure 100% clean of lead.

My Colt 45 1911A1 also hates soft lead boolits and accumulates more lead than the Glock with same hardness boolits.

My opinion lead fouling is the culprit not the gun. Pay attention to the Glock's requirement and you have a gun for life no Kabooms.:)

[W.R.Buchanan]

I wish I could have been the first poster on this thread My statement would have been "everyone here shoots Cast Boolits in Glocks!"

Read the sticky mentioned by Fatelk above on cast in Glocks the subject is covered Ad-nausem.

Don't believe the nay sayers, they really don't know what they are talking about.

Randy

[EMC45]

There is a sticky here about this very topic. I do shoot a Lyman #2 equivilant in my G36. They do just fine. It is a handful, but accurate and cheap. Mine likes the Lee TC 230gr.

[Bigslug]

Glock's official stance on handloads in general and lead in particular is "Don't do it!", and this is undoubtedly because they cannot control what every yahoo might conceivably send down the barrel of his pistol.

Glocks, HK's, Desert Eagles, etc..., have a different bore profile than what is thought of as "the standard", and they do seal gas more tightly than conventional lands and grooves. As such, they are going to be more prone to pressure spikes caused by leading. If you are aware of this going in, however, you can control the variables of diameter, hardness, lube, and velocity accordingly.

I would never shoot store-bought cast bullets of unknown composition in a poly-bored gun, and I would apply a healthy dose of careful scientific experimentation to find the happy combination for my particular weapon before I fired up the Dillon and cranked out a jillion rounds, but I wouldn't fear lead out of hand. On the flip side, if you don't have the mind or the patience for all the experimentation, the aftermarket barrels are cheap insurance.

[StratsMan]

All major gun makers say their warranty is void if you shoot your own reloads through it...

Of course you can come up with a cast boolit load that works in a Glock... But just like any other barrel, if your fit/hardness/load aren't the right ones for the barrel, you'll find that you have a leading problem. It's the nature of the beast... Getting good shooting results with cast boolits is not for the faint of heart, like lawyers who tell gun makers to void their warranty for hand loaded ammo... It takes someone who is willing to put in the time to do it right....

Worst leading I ever had was using a 22LR conversion in an AR... time to sell both of mine...

Hmmmm.... maybe I'll head over to Swappin' and Sellin'....

[gofastman]

I would go as far to say that poly rifling is better than standard when shooting lead.


Why would anyone do that? Spend what a Glock costs and then another $150 on a barrel. The XD is as good as a Glock or better, operates the same way and already has a rifled barrel.
I actually did laugh a bit when I read this!
please, don't feed the trolls!
:killingpc

[The10mmKid]

I shoot Boolits in my 22 with great results. Shot them in my 20(10mm), nothing high speed. Tried them in my 17, but couldn't keep the last 1" from leading. I'll may attempt the 9mm again, now that I have some more experience under my belt.

Just watch that barrel for leading. True for any firearm.

"Da Kid

[armednfree]

I would go as far to say that poly rifling is better than standard when shooting lead.


I actually did laugh a bit when I read this!
please, don't feed the trolls!
:killingpc

Troll huh.

Look, I just can't see the logic in purchasing a pistol and then spending an extra 30% on replacing a main component to make it do what you want. Not when there are pistols every bit as good as a Glock that are complete out of the box. Glock at one time held the top seat in the polymer frame market, but now Springfield, S+W and Ruger run right along with it. Those others are non issue with cast bullets.

I've shot a bunch of Glocks and my issue sidearm is a Glock 23 Gen 3. They are good guns, just not really any better than the others. But I am not a Glockaphile, I feel no warmth for it above the others. Fact is, the cast boolit issue is the only reason I don't buy one.

Then there are those Glockaphiles that would burn me at the steak for heresy.

[David Bachelder]

Heres my situation. I bought the glock 12 years ago. About 11 years before I started reloading and 12 years before I started casting.

I didn't go out and buy a Glock and a new barrel all at once. Things change, things evolve. We learn to cope and adjust.

If you have a Glock and you want to shoot cast boolits, a new or different barrel is not a bad idea. Of course there are other solutions, the new barrel is not the only way to go. However it is the way I chose to go.

[Shiloh]

KB'd two Glock 22's

Then went with the Aftermarket barrel and the issue went a way. I attribute both to the unsupported chamber. All the brass from the glock barrel had a ring at the base after being sized. This shear line area area was where the cases let go.

No shear line on brass fired through the FAC barrel after sizing.

Shiloh

Never had problems with the 9mm, only the Mod 22
I am trying out the new LEE 125 gr RNFP. Started at 5.4 gr of AA#5
Thousands of rounds of 9mm LEE 125 gr RN without an issue or a hiccup.
There is unburned powder in the barrel. I cleaned it out after every 10 rounds or so.
I seated the boolits about .010 deeper and will try again this afternoon.

So far, the boolits sized at .357 were a bit more accurate than the ones sized at .358.
I need more experimentation to be sure.

Shiloh

[30CAL-TEXAN]

Troll huh.

Look, I just can't see the logic in purchasing a pistol and then spending an extra 30% on replacing a main component to make it do what you want. Not when there are pistols every bit as good as a Glock that are complete out of the box. Glock at one time held the top seat in the polymer frame market, but now Springfield, S+W and Ruger run right along with it. Those others are non issue with cast bullets.

I've shot a bunch of Glocks and my issue sidearm is a Glock 23 Gen 3. They are good guns, just not really any better than the others. But I am not a Glockaphile, I feel no warmth for it above the others. Fact is, the cast boolit issue is the only reason I don't buy one.

Then there are those Glockaphiles that would burn me at the steak for heresy.

Sound logic - some people just like glocks.

Shoot what you like but don't burn the steaks - it's a waste of good meat! (stakes are much cheaper) :razz:

[armednfree]

Heres my situation. I bought the glock 12 years ago. About 11 years before I started reloading and 12 years before I started casting.

I didn't go out and buy a Glock and a new barrel all at once. Things change, things evolve. We learn to cope and adjust.

If you have a Glock and you want to shoot cast boolits, a new or different barrel is not a bad idea. Of course there are other solutions, the new barrel is not the only way to go. However it is the way I chose to go.

Completely logical in that case. Autos burn a bunch of ammo and that ain't cheap. Even reloading with jacketed bullets gets real expensive for someone who shoots a lot.

I know a good number of guys who cast pistol boolits. They do get the added value of accuracy being able to tailor the load. The one overriding aspect of their personalities, in my experience, is frugality. I share in that trait, hence my ex wife's reference to me as "That cheap B@&$#@&"

[FergusonTO35]

I wanted a pistol with the Glock type firing mechanism but I also wanted to shoot boolits. With the SR9c I got both. It eats lead happily all day just like my P95, GP-100, and Service Six. Not trying to flame or put down anybody, just my personal experience.

[thegreatdane]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=33855
Pretty much anything that has been or can be said or argued about cast bullets in a Glock is here.

My own personal summation of the issue: they work fine if you do it right. Doing it right simply involves the same techniques for avoiding leading in any other gun: proper diameter, lube, and (to a degree) hardness. It seems that (from my understanding) if you don't do it right and have a leading problem, the consequences can be worse than they are for traditionally rifled barrels.

Some people seem to think that there's something magical about Glock barrels that will cause them to explode when exposed to lead, even if there is no leading. I had one guy tell me (from behind the counter of a gun shop no less) that you can't actually see leading in a Glock no matter how hard you look, but it's still there. Magical invisible leading.:)

I shoot lead in mine, but I'm not a high volume shooter. I won't buy an aftermarket barrel, but don't blame those that do. It's not a bad idea for peace of mind if you're concerned about it, and as Shiloh mentioned there's the advantage of a better supported chamber.

was gonna post the link, but I see you already did.

You're faster than I [smilie=2:

Anyway, it's a fascinating issue/non-issue. One would think that with smoother contours, the Glock barrel would create a better gas-seal.

As already stated, it can be done. In fact, it can be done rather well with particular attention to details and adherance to the fundamentals of loading cast boolits.

I hope the other thread provides some answers. :drinks:

[fish0123]

I am very new to casting and still learning, but I have shot close to 1000 rounds from my glock 30 with no leading and have just started casting for the glock 26 with very little leading. The thing to do is read as much as you can about the subject, then choose for yourself. My decision was based on the fact that most people that has negative things to say about glocks and cast are not speaking from first hand experience. I do it, it works, and I feel perfectly safe.

[Spector]

Me too. I put over 13,000 boolits, 200 grain thru 255 grain, through my Glock 21 until last year when I had a catastrophic case failure that blew my Glock's polymer frame into pieces.......in my hands.

I don't blame boolits, but I do now understand Glock's warning against using reloads. I finally had an unseen case blemish line up with the unsupported portion of the Glock 21 chamber and my illusion of safety was shattered in an instant.

I intend to get my Glock rebuilt. The barrel and slide appear fine. My hands and face healed.

But I will never fire another reload in a pistol with an unsuported chamber again.

Once I start up again with a KKM or another brand of after-market barrel with a fully supported chamber I think I should be good to go until I am too old too shoot. I shot my Glock for a little over 20 years and assumed it would be the only 45 ACP pistol I'd ever need.

I have no problem with boolits in polygonal rifling either. Accuracy was always good to very good and clean up was easier in my opinion.

I would however urge Glock shooters to switch to a fully supported chamber when shooting reloads regardless of bullets or boolits. I've fired my nephew's Glock 21 since my blow up, but I used Winchester factory ammo. I always assumed that with the lower pressures of the 45 ACP I was fine and that only the 9mm 40 Cal boys needed to really watch their reloads. Wrong.

My incident caused my shooting buddy to switch to KKM barrels for his Glock 30's and he really likes them. There are other companies that make their barrels with fully supported chambers as well.....Mike

[ku4hx]

I fall in with the group that maintains cast boolits in Glock barrels is no big deal. Since 1991, I've fired tens of thousand of lead alloy boolits in 9mm, 40 cal/10mm and 45ACP in my various Glocks. Never a problem. YMMV. In fact, my experience is poly barrels tend to lead less than cut rifling. But one in a row does not a trend make.

I'm also in the group that cleans after every shooting session with particular attention to crud build up in the slide and chamber.

[Shiloh]

Starting load data or mid range is best for Glocks. Put 90 rounds through a 9mm this weekend and loaded up 80 more rounds to chrongraph this week. I think I'm close on a good load with the LEE 125 gr RNFP.

Shiloh

[Ausglock]

G'day.
I run a Glock 35 with factory 40 barrel.
175gr Lee TC with lube groove.
Lube is purple cerasin.

5.3gr WSF in Federal cases with Win Small pistol primer.
1010fps and 177 power factor.

Been shooting this load for over 8 years.

[Lloyd Smale]

m not a big black gun fan. More into 1911s but i do have 3 glocks. Ive owned an xd and have shot many others and sold mine because it wouldnt run a 100 percent on handloads no matter what i did. It did fine with factory ball though. to me the xd is a glock wanabe that never measured up. If you want something to compare to a glock that is as good or better throw in a M&P.
Why would anyone do that? Spend what a Glock costs and then another $150 on a barrel. The XD is as good as a Glock or better, operates the same way and already has a rifled barrel.

[michiganvet]

Bought a Glock 19 in 2001 not knowing the concerns. Most mistakes I make are due to not knowing as much as I should. Added a Wolf bbl. Time will tell. Loading since mid 60's, casting since late 60's, swaging since early 80's. I am here to learn.

[goofyoldfart]

I shoot a glock21(1st gen) and use mostly jwords with a few boolits thrown in. never had a problem with the boolits, BUT-- I have only shot about 800-900 boolits through it. the issue of the un-supported portion of the chamber leaving a possible fracture (sp?) line is an issue that I had not truly thought about. THAT'S WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS SITE!! IT allows for information exchange and learning!! I for one always clean the weapon thoroughly after a shooting session (anal about this), but upon reconsidering ---- think that from a safety standpoint, It seems to me to be wise to buy an after market supported chamber barrel. I'm 67 yrs. old and would like to keep shooting for a few more years without some serious injury. I do believe that Spectors' (post #29) experience is worth listening to. Just my choice and I don't want to damage a perfectly good weapon. THANK YOU Spector for sharing your info. God Bless to all.


Goofy <aka the goofyoldfart>

[hornady]

I fought with the lead polygonal barrel issue for months before I decided to take the plunge. I read hundreds of post, as well as other research. I load and shoot cast bullets in my Glock 22. I do not shoot hot loads, I run all my brass threw a Redding G- RX die, I bought the RCBS 10mm-170-SWC mold, I use a BHN of around 20, with BAC special blend lube. I started out slow only shooting 50 rounds and then, pulling and inspecting the Barrel. I worked up too 200 round with out any excessive leading. This is not an endorsement just saying cast is not a problem in my gun.