Posted: 1/28/2002 6:47:01 AM EDT
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Given the recent discussion about the Glock 30 KB, and the so many we had seen before, I am starting to wonder a little about my Glock 31. Could you guys and gals please explain to me how the Glock chambers are unsupported, and how this leads to the catastrophic failure of the pistols? Thanks gentlemen. |
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if you look at the feed ramp on the factory glock barrell you will see an area of the case that is not supported by the chamber at the top of the feed ramp. This is typical of all semi auto pistols but is much more pronounced in the glock. My walther p99 and kimber 1911 have VERY little exposed area for the case. That area is typically where a weak case will fal causing a KB. Although in my case i don't think that was the issue as it appears my chamber itself failed before the case. mike |
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Any pistol, including 1911s, that have been 'throated' by their owners are likely to have this problem because throating the barrel reduces the casing support at the rear. I can only surmise that the Glock design is basically weak. 9mmm pistols operate at high pressure like the .40 and there are many 9mm designs out there that do not suffer from this. |
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Some of the cartridge case manuals and reloading manuals warn about reloading for specific firearms. For instance in some (most) pistols the feed ramp which has been incorperated into the barrel precludes the full encasement of the cartridge case. This means that one specific part of the brass cartridge itself must help to contain the explosive expansive gases that propel the bullet through the barrel. Cratridge manufacturers design such cased with a "web" that strengthens the base of the cartridge as well as the walls - to a point. If SAAMI specs for pressure are exceeded you could very well have a Kb. This happened to a friend of mine with an old Ruger auto. He started to reload and imediately delved into "discovering" that perfect 9mm+P+ load. Well, he experienced a catastrophic failure that I'll never forget. So, it pays to be safe. |
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I have put over 5,000 rounds through my Glock G-29 10mm, mostly jacketed reloads. Some of our loads have had enough pressure to rock the foundations of hell itself, and never a glitch from that little gun. I don't think it is a failure of the Glock design, on that aforementioned little G-30, but rather something that was wrong with *that particular gun*. If there was an inherent weakness in the Glock design, one would think it would have shown up in the 10's first. |
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While I can attest as well to having put thousands of rounds through my .40 caliber Glocks without failure, it doesn't serve any analytical purpose for everyone to chime in that they haven't had a kB! It's akin to saying, "I've driven 200,000 miles in my Ford Explorer with Firestone tires and I haven't rolled over." The only way to get a true figure on this is to compare the total number of Glocks to the number of Glocks that have kBed, and to then compare these numbers to other manufacturers. kBs that resulted from crazymagnumbuttstomper loads would obviously have to be excluded from [b]all[/b] of the data. Only after looking at all of these numbers could we really determine whether Glocks are more prone to kBs than other weapons. Anybody have a source for this kind of data? |
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Glock KB's are only partly due having an unsupported chamber. "BTW, there are after market barrels for the Glock that are fully supported and have regular groove rifling resulting is less pressure." The other part of the equation is that because of the "safe action" hammerless design, a Glock can sometimes fire even when a round is not fully chambered. Both of these factors together will definately contribute to a KB. |