My first Glock

[zardoz]

Hello to all:

The 10mm bug had been biting at me for several weeks now, and Friday I finally took delivery of a Glock 20, and one box of Remington factory cartridges to feed it. Tax return money came in Wednesday, and there was no stopping after that.

The recent snowstorm had collapsed the brass catching tent arbor on my pistol range out back, and with the cool weather here I was in no mood to chase and hunt brass on the forest floor. It worked on me all day yesterday, and there was no stopping the drive. I read about the 10mm being ditched by the FBI due to "unmanageable recoil", and got ever more curious as to what this "unmanageable" deal was.

Today, I went out, and propped up what was left of the tent with some forest scrounged poles and sticks, long enough to get some data. Chronograph set-up and ready. No way did I want to lose those precious 10mm casings, as they don't seem too plentiful right now. I did put in a back-order at Starline for 500, and maybe before the end of the month (I hope).

Well, gosh. What can I say. After 10 rounds, I was standing there, and saying to myself, ."What in the heck is so unmanageable about that?" To me, it was like a stiff 45ACP in my 1911.

I examined the chrono data. With 180 grain TC j-word, I got average of 1083 ft/s. A quick check of the brass, and yes indeed a bit of the Glock bulge was there, but I am making preparations to deal with that.

A Lone Wolf barrel is already on order, as is the Redding full length sizer for the brass. I'm eager to begin some experiments with 135-155 grain j-word hp's I have in my stock, and more so the two 175 grain castings I have.

My intention is only to shoot j-words through the factory Glock barrel, and cast through the Lone Wolf. It is my understanding these should interchange quickly after a field strip.

A question for the forum here. If I were working up to maximum velocities, lets say with AA#7 powder, or even Blue Dot, using 135-155 grain j-words, with new brass, would you see any issue using the factory Glock barrel with this?

Any other advice about reloading for 10mm? New cartridge for me.

Thanks.

[HammerMTB]

I have a 20 and a 29- can you tell I like the Glocks?
A few things to consider:
If you are getting Glock "smilies" from factory ammo, don't load those any hotter thru that bbl. They will get "smilies" in them until you can't chamber them easily anymore. You can buy a push-thru sizer for your brass, but better if you don't have to.
I only shoot j-words for SD ammo. Don't care to spend the $$$ on it. I have had success shooting boolits thru my Glock bbl. You may or may not- only one way to find out.
I shoot a lot of loads that just major PF in USPSA- mine come in at 175-185 PF, which is over by plenty.
Hot loads may be fine for game or impressing someone, but I don't need to shoot hot all the time.

After a bad experience with Lone Wolf, I quit using their bbls, and use Storm Lake or KKM now. Much better IMHO

Enjoy! I've always liked a full-size, full power auto..... :Fire:

[bootsnthejeep]

The 10MM being "unmanageable" for the FBI is the same reason Customs doesn't use .357s and the US military doesn't issue 45s anymore. Generally smaller people. Been in an army surplus store lately? Small short, small regular, medium short, good lord, where's man of size to get his camo britches? And nowadays, in the military and LE, a lot of women. Not trying to be sexist, but for the fairer sex and the smaller frame, LEO ammo is pretty stout. I'll shoot anything, at 5'10" and 250 pounds I'm a recoil junky and have plenty of frame to soak it up. But my sister, despite being a Lt Col in the Air Force, is still a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter than me, so I'm not going to hand her the 500 with the oh-my-god loads in it.

The 1911 45 was too brutish to teach to raw recruits, many of whom had never shot a handgun before. The 9mm was more user friendly and carried more rounds for that spray-and-pray defensive strategy that will work well enough at the kind of social distances where a pistol would get called into play in the field.

The FBI got exactly what they asked for, it just wasn't what they wanted. Too bad, I think its an excellent round as well. Too bad I've got these little girl hands that can't manage the enormous handle on the 20.

[zardoz]

I sort of thought the "unmanageable" may have been due to smaller framed folks.

I stand 6'2", 190 lbs, and I still run and lift weights even at age 53, so my mass is more muscle than, uh, "oleic energy storage tissue". This makes a difference in ones perception of recoil most definitely.

The G20, which is the SF version, fits my hand very nicely, and feels almost as natural as the 1911 grip. A few fellers I showed this too, said the grip was "too big".

I have been reading on another forum dedicated to Glocks about various issues with high power reloads, even with virgin brass. I hope the Lone Wolf barrel I get does not present a lot of problems, but I saw a thread where they went out of their way to correct an issue another member had with them. Apparently, a lot of problems were reloads that were not fully sized back down. One member had opened up the feed ramp quite a bit, on the Lone Wolf to get his cartridges to lead in.

I just received my Redding die today in the mail, and at work, I got a .419 gauge pin to go through it. In another thread in the shooters.com section about resizing 40 S&W brass, a push through resized with the Lee factory crimp (internals removed) ended at .423. So, this evening, the plan is to see what size the Redding tool makes these cases. 0.419 was what the factory ammo measured at.

We will hopefully see this weekend, when the barrel should be here, if all this works like I think it will. After I conduct some more experiments, I will post.

Thanks for the replys.

[exile]

Good for you. I am an oddball too, my first Glock was one of the first .357's to come out. I love them and have since sold my Sig-Saur 9mm. because it did not fit my hands. I too have had nothing but good luck with a Storm Lake barrel for my G26. Once you get hooked on Glocks it is hard to go back. Enjoy.

exile

[tackstrp]

I shot a Glock 20 that I rented then purchased a 17l becaue of the difficulties of finding new or used brass. I have regreted that decision every since. The Glock 20 was like an extension of myself onto the target, could not miss. No recoil to speak of IMO. but 240 lbs. At the time I justified the 17L by saying to my self the 20 glock would only shoot bigger holes in paper. Don't care, still whimper everytime I see a Glock 20

[zardoz]

tackstrp, I had never considered getting a Glock, until I got the 10mm bug in my ear.

When I started to do my research, I found that aftermarket barrels were available that could expand the capability for relatively low cost. For instance, I could get a barrel to shoot the .357 Sig out of this same gun. After weighing it all out, I figured the first Glock would be the 20. So far, very happy with it.

I started another thread in this section, on the Lone Wolf barrel I worked with today, and very pleased with that. Already made my first hand loads using j-bullets, and the cast boolits are just a weekend away at this point. I was very surprised at just how well I could shoot the thing today, given the power level.

Still have 500 pieces Starline brass on backorder, and hoping that comes in the next couple of weeks.