I have a glock 22 and recently acquired my new favorite gun, my glock 19.

I have heard that with the glock 22 you can only rechamber a round so many times before you risk problems (kabooms or other functional problems) from bullet set-back.


Is there anything I need to be aware of, either safety wise or ballistically, as far as how many times I should  consider it ok to rechamber a round in my glock 19 before it gets tossed?  

I just posted on this subject not 5 minutes ago...  I read that it is much more likely in the 357 sig but it can happen to any caliber.  I can't find the article that I read but I remember the author recommending that you rotate the top round in your pistol if you cycle it a lot, i.e. unload and reload on a regular basis.  

Thanks for the info brother.


I think that it is probably pretty unlikely in the 9mm because I was just thinking that when I did security forces augmentee (im in the AF) those guys chamber and unchamber their beretta's every time they go on duty.  Of course they don't actually try to fire that ammo very often so who know's.  

I think that can happen with any auto caliber.
When the .40S&W first came out there was several KB's with 180gr ammo. From what I understand the 180gr. are at the upper end of SAMMI spec's for the .40. Even a slight setback will push pressures beyond limits set for it.

EternalVigilance, what was your AFSC?  I got out 4 1/2 years ago.  Anyway, there are a couple of reasons why the SPs don't often get recessed rounds.  1. They use ball ammo.  It slides up the feed ramp of the barrel without much resistance.  If you use hollow points or a .40 S&W which has a flat nose, it won't make as smooth a transition into the barrel.  The other reason those guys don't have KBs is that they rarely ever have to shoot their M9 except to qualify and I believe that they are given ammo at the range for that.

Also, I have seen pics of Glock KBs; they actually contain the explosion very well.  The gun gets totaled, but I haven't red of any serious injury.  I have a G19 and I'm not a big fan of Glock personally, but they are good guns and the KBs are 99% related to ammo malfunctions, not the gun like some Glock bashers would like to tell you.  

The ammo that I carry have role marks on the case so that the bullet does not set back.
Yes they are COR-BON 9mm 115gr +P.
Never had a problem with them.

Most 9mm has the "shelf" or "roll marks" that nsabjg mentioned.  It does help keep the bullet from setting back.  If you're concerned about set back do some testing with your carry ammo.  Take a handful of rounds and chamber&eject each of them 20 or more times.  Then measure these rounds with unmolested rounds from the same box.  That should give you some sense of how sensitive your ammo is to bullet setback in your gun.

I've done this and have never detected any setback in the 9mm varieties I've tried.  Calipers or a micrometer are best for measuring but you can get a reasonable assessment by lining up a bunch of good and suspect rounds in row on a flat surface and putting a straight edge along the top.  Look for short ones.

When measuring with calipers, note that OAL can vary somewhat from bullet to bullet straight out of an unopened box.

Above all, just be aware of the possibility of bullet setback and examine any rounds that get chambered a bunch of times.

Thank you all very much for the help, I really appreciate it.  



Edited to add:  

I love my new glock 19!!  Took it to the range yesterday and I was amazed at how insanely bad-ass I am with it.  Especially since I couldn't shoot my glock 22 for shit really.  The G19 is definitely replacing the 22 as my primary self-defense pistol.  Now I just have to figure out what to do with the 22, trade it for a 26, another 19, or keep it?