Glazers...will they blow up by hitting the blue nose?

[Doug.38PR]

Glazers are rounds that penetrate into people and things and explode.
That being the case, will a glazer explode if I pull one out of my pocket and tapp the nose real hard against a table top?
For that matter, will they go off if they are in my front pants pocket and I trip over and one of them hits the wrong way or something :eek:
What causes them to blow up?
I typically load glazers in my OP at night when I get home and then dump them in my pocket when I go out for the day reloading the gun with silvertip HP.

[Ledbetter]

:eek:

[noone]

I may be totally off base, but are these the metal shaving filled rounds you are talking about? that are designed to deliver all their energy in a target and not overpenatrate anything else? or am I thinking of something else?

[FirearmFan]

Yeah, as far as I know, Glasers don't go boom. They have small shot inside of them to expands out the nose of the bullet when it hits target. They are designed not to penetrate too much and cause a large amount of damage. I use them in my apartment building for home defense and switch to hollow points when on the street.

[Netzapper]

Glazers don't actually explode. They merely break open, allowing the tiny lead shot inside to escape outwardly with all the momentum carried by the bullet itself.

Get yourself a tin can, fill it with lead shot, and cover the top of it with a piece of tightly stretched saranwrap. Hold the can like a football, and begin to throw it. Stop it quickly before it actually leaves your hand. If you did it hard enough, the shot should now explode outward through the saranwrap, covering your kitchen floor in lead spheres. Same idea as a glazer.

[FirearmFan]

Nice analogy!

[blackmind]

Is that spelling correct? I thought it was "Glaser." I may be wrong.


(Nope. Just looked it up. It's an S, not a Z. "Glaser Safety Slug.")

There is nothing explosive about the blue tip. It's just the covering for the shot compartment. They are not explosive nor incendiary rounds. It's kind of a variation on frangible, if I'm not mistaken. Prefragmented, in the sense that there's "pieces" that will penetrate due to the round's energy and then disperse into/creating a wound channel.

They're said to be pretty good. Haven't read or heard much of them lately. Anyone know if they were a flash in the pan, or if they see steady use and favor?

-blackmind

[noone]

they are still on the shelves of all the gun shops and ranges i go to. never used them myself. from what i have read their supposed to be effective. very good at putting all the energy on target, even safe for airplanes, supposedly.

[orionengnr]

usually covered in dust or yellowed with age. I think they were a great idea 20 years ago (I actually bought some way back when, shot some and still have some) but modern hollow points have passed them by (my opinion, worth exactly what you paid for it).

IMHO, MagSafes were an improvement on the Glaser design (larger shot size, better penetration but retaining the zero-ricochet) and I bought a bunch of them too. Come to think of it I have a number of unopened packages of them in my safe, 9mm and 40 cal. Want to buy?

[Ledbetter]

I keep a loaded .45 in the house. It has seven hollowpoints in the mag and one Glaser in the chamber. If I have an ND, the first round won't go through the wall to my neighbors house. I'm hoping it will surprise the bad guy enough for me to get off the more effective rounds, if that they are, underneath.

The video demos on the Glaser web site are pretty convincing.

[swmike]

I heard someone say that one shot with a glaser safety slug was more likely to die of peritonitis than from trauma caused by the gunshot. They were a great idea in their time but the field has been crowded by more successful additions. Frangible ammo is now the "hot ticket" for Air Marshals, or so it is said.

As to carrying "exploding" ammo in the pants pockets, glasers aren't a problem as they don't explode. If you do happen to have some "exploders", put them in the rear pockets. That way an accident won't damage anything important:D :D :D :eek: :eek: (or at least as important as what might be damaged if they were in the front pocket(s):cool:)

[Ledbetter]

According to this URL

http://mysite.elixirlabs.com/index.php?uid=12665&page=1982

a .38+P Glaser made a permanent cavity in ballistic gelatin three times large than a .38 hollowpoint; it penetrated 1.5 inches less. There are photos and a boring guy narrating a video.

I would NOT want to be in the way of one.

[blackmind]

I keep a loaded .45 in the house. It has seven hollowpoints in the mag and one Glaser in the chamber. If I have an ND, the first round won't go through the wall to my neighbors house.

I'm at odds with that kind of thinking.

It seems, to me, that it is almost planning for an ND. You even called it an "ND," meaning that you know it would be negligent. The answer to the threat from an ND is not to use a less penetrating round -- what if the round went through the doorway to the kitchen, not into a wall to be stopped. The answer to the threat from an ND is to make sure that your habits preclude you from having one.

-blackmind

[noone]

led: 1.5 inches is alot when you are talking penetration. the average torso is over 12 inches wide. all of your vitals are well protected. im not saying a shot to the chest is a picnic with these, but i will stick with what i know works.

[danco]

Glazers are rounds that penetrate into people and things and explode.
Who told you that? Ted Kennedy?

http://ferrarishields.com/rotflmao.gif

[Ledbetter]

Blackmind, I congratulate you on your confidence that you will never have an ND.

[blackmind]

Note, I didn't say never.

But while I know that you meant that sarcastically, thanks anyway.

I just know that I avoid doing foolish things pretty diligently, especially when it comes to firearms.

And I just don't see how I could "mistakenly," say, pull the trigger on a gun, in my home, that I had not made sure to verify was unloaded.

It's not smugness, it's well-justified confidence. I'm sure I'm not the only one around here who has it -- maybe just one of the few with the balls to assert it. :rolleyes:



-blackmind

[Lord_Nikon]

blackmind, you better knock on wood...

What's it to you if Ledbetter feels safer with a Glaser in the chamber? He's not necessarily planning for an ND, any more than someone who carries a DA/SA decocked and safety on is planning to put themselves at a disadvantage. For some people, it's a peace of mind thing.

[RWK]

Frangible, is not explosive.

[NukemJim]

Glasers are interesting. I do not think that there is any round with a much misinformation about it with the possible exception of the Black Talon :eek:

1 Glasers are prefragmented the tiny piecy of shot are ( in the current version) compressed but are still seperate pieces of metal. Frangible ammo refers to a bullet that is made to break apart into dust size fragments upon hitting a hard material ( usually steel ).

2 Glasers are NOT used by airmarshalls, airmarshalls use JHP. Glasers will penetrate the wall/window of an airliner. That is not a real problem. A average size airliner has holes in the pressurized compartment of about a square foot in size. As far as pressure worst case scenario is windo goes air pressure goes down, masks pop out, plane descends no major problem unless you are infant sitting very close to window if the whole window goes. The real dange is hitting fuel/control lines/pilots.

3 The blue ( or silver, pellets used in silver are larger ) tip is a plastic ball to help in feeding the round in semiautomatics. ( though I have wonderd if it helped with dispersion of pellets. I do not know :confused: ).

4 Even a glaser blue will most likely ( building material varies widely ) go though 2-4 modern interior non load bearing walls. A .357 could go through 7-14 walls. All numbers are approximate. A lot of of older construction 1 could stop it but may not.

5 Effectiveness on human being is difficult to evaluate. I a NOT going there.

Hope this helps

NukemJim

[stratus]

I used to keep a full size USP .45 loaded with glasers. Never actually tried one on a watermelon or anything, but I really think any JHP ammo will do the job. People worry needlessly about overpenetration where good, modern ammo is concerned (and so long as you're not using a .223 or something for home defense).

Edit - that's assuming you HIT your target.

[pax]

4 Even a glaser blue will most likely ( building material varies widely ) go though 2-4 modern interior non load bearing walls.
This bears repeating.

pax

[Greybeard]

I found out recently that an old friend had his "home defense .45" loaded with 'em. But had never test fired to see if they cycled the slide - which in some semis they don't. :eek: (weight often ain't right).

Years ago, I ran some of the .223s thru a Mini-14. Too pricey for much testing, but what I shot "grouped" inconsistently - typically several inches low and right from 100 yard sight-in with normal 55 grainers. (I suspect sumthin to do with all those little pellets getting spun so quickly inside jacket ... So, yea, that's somewhat what causes them to "explode" upon impact.)

At the time, I was testing for "richochet-resistant coyote load" for semi-urban environment. Hornady's newer "exploding" varmint loads found to be much less expensive - and far more accurate. ;)

[stratus]

Greybeard - that makes a lot of sense. It figures that the ballistics on these things (as far as bullet path) would be weird and inconsistent. It's meant for use at typical self-defense ranges, but I reiterate that glasers aren't really necessary. Any decent JHP will do a more than adequate job and my guess is that they would be far more reliable.

[Capt Charlie]

I seem to recall that some years ago, I think it was the Indiana State Police, had a specially designed Glaser with a black tip made for them. Anybody remember those and what the difference was? :confused:

[NukemJim]

had a specially designed Glaser with a black tip made for them

Rumor only, not verified but I was informed that the black tip glasers were capable of going through soft body armour. I repeat rumor only.

NukemJim

[blackmind]

If it were still a blunt-tip, why would a claim that it would penetrate soft body armor be credible? I thought a pointed-nosed bullet was necessary for that. Was there supposed to be something special that would happen with the bullet on impact?

-blackmind

[blackmind]

blackmind, you better knock on wood...

What's it to you if Ledbetter feels safer with a Glaser in the chamber? He's not necessarily planning for an ND, any more than someone who carries a DA/SA decocked and safety on is planning to put themselves at a disadvantage. For some people, it's a peace of mind thing.


Well, any person could be the recipient of any other person's negligent discharge, speaking in the loosest sense. (As in, I could be at a range where he is operating his weapon and he has his ND while I'm proximate, and I get hit.)

So that's "what it is to me" if he wants to rely on the "harmlessness" of a less penetrating round. It just sounded to me as though he were copping out, saying that it's not so bad to have an ND because that one first round won't go very far or through much material. I think that's a flawed line of reasoning.

The best defense against an ND is to keep your finger off the trigger until it's time to shoot; and for cryin' out loud, don't pull the trigger on a supposedly "empty" gun unless you have JUST MOMENTS BEFORE visually and manually verified an empty chamber.

How freakin' hard is THAT? :rolleyes:

People make this seem like it's rocket science combined with luck, to never have an ND. I say it should be plain ol' common sense.



-blackmind

[Ledbetter]

I have fired Glaser Blues through a few things out at the "free range" in the national forest.

They will not go through a TV. They will not go through a computer. They will not go through a bad guy. From my viewpoint, they are the ideal FIRST round in the magazine. Especially in .45 Cal.

Just my opinion, you do what you want, balls and all.:)

[stratus]

Well, any person could be the recipient of any other person's negligent discharge, speaking in the loosest sense. (As in, I could be at a range where he is operating his weapon and he has his ND while I'm proximate, and I get hit.)

So that's "what it is to me" if he wants to rely on the "harmlessness" of a less penetrating round. It just sounded to me as though he were copping out, saying that it's not so bad to have an ND because that one first round won't go very far or through much material. I think that's a flawed line of reasoning.

The best defense against an ND is to keep your finger off the trigger until it's time to shoot; and for cryin' out loud, don't pull the trigger on a supposedly "empty" gun unless you have JUST MOMENTS BEFORE visually and manually verified an empty chamber.

How freakin' hard is THAT?

People make this seem like it's rocket science combined with luck, to never have an ND. I say it should be plain ol' common sense.

While keeping one Glaser in the chamber and JHP ammo in the magazine might seem like an unnecessary measure to you and I (no offense to the person who posted about this practice), I doubt it will cause him to be notoriously unsafe in his practice of handgun safety. That's all that matters, really.

[Lord_Nikon]

How freakin' hard is THAT?

Ask almost any experienced shooter. If they haven't had an ND, they most likely know someone, who they would rate as competent, who has. And anyway, that was no retort to my question. I asked why you care if he feels safer having an extra layer of (admittedly minimal) security. I'm pretty confident he doesn't just walk around, finger on trigger, safety off, waiting for an ND.

[Edward429451]

Glasers are not safe in any sense of the word.I've shot hundreds & hundreds of them.

When Glasers penetrate wood, drywall, 2 x 4's...the kind of fold in upon themselves and stay together, thus not apartment safe. They have plenty of penetration for their weight. When they hit something soft (tissue) they frag real good. If they hit something hard like rock, marble, steel, then they shatter so there's your ricochet proof:rolleyes: feature.

The blacktip Glasers use a heavier than lead tungsten shot (and a smaller tip IIRC) with a larger shot / smaller payload to increase penetration while keeping them able to retain velocity. I've not shot any of these ones but read about them. Supposedly they will penetrate soft armor.

I shot my Chrony with a (homemade) Glaser. It went through the front and hit the dividing metal plate and pretty much folded it over 90 deg. It landed about 10 or 15 ft downrange. The tip, mangled jacket and loose bb's were in the Chrony.

Early Glasers were TC flat points with non compressed shot. Typically #12 shot is in them. Todays Glasers are RN and the shot is compressed. They started compressing the shot in them for two reasons. To get a bigger payload in them and stabilization. Seems the non compressed ones would destabilize and weren't very accurate from the loose shifting shot.

I've made (safety slugs) in many weights from 140, 160, 185, 190, 200, and 225's. Their very easy to make, just two pulls on the swaging press. The little blue balls are freakin expensive at 4.5 cents apiece though so I've taken to capping them with a single OO buck which are much cheaper.

I bought the tooling to make them for the wonder bullet syndrome and I'm cheap.:o As it turns out, I care less for the wonder bullet angle and continue to make them because they are scary accurate as a handload and easy to make. Who cares if it frags but I can hit with these babys like no other. So they're like a JSP. If it don't frag, its like ball 45 and if it does frag, woe to them hehe. I don't carry them for SD though prefering to stick with a conventional HP. I like shooting steel with them at the range because they make me look (sound?) good and do break up on steel giving a mediocre assurance of no fly backs. Eh.

I've made a few guys gawk at the range at my full trays of 'Glasers':D When capped with the blue tips, they are indistinguishable from the factory ones.

[ms101]

I don't know the answer to your question, but are you talking about incendiary rounds? A buddy of mine gave me a handful of .223 blue-tipped rounds which he said were incendiary. I shot one into a stump and it gave off about a one foot diameter flash on impact and a bit of smoldering. Not sure what I'll use them for, but pretty cool regardless. I'd like to find some more....

[Edward429451]

Blue tip .223's?

http://www.hi-techammo.com/

ABout half way down the page.

[pax]

A year or so back, some friends and I built a mock-up of an outside wall: panelling, sheetrock, plywood, & siding. We built a shelf behind the wall and put gallon jugs of water on the shelf. Then we shot at the wall with a bunch of different stuff, various calibers etc. from a typical room distance of 15 to 20 feet.

Everything went through. Including the blue nose Glasers.

I wouldn't rely on it not to shoot someone in the room next door.

pax

[blackmind]

Then that makes two reasons. :rolleyes:


I mean, if you're hoping that the choice of first round might make the difference between life and death, might as well make it a freakin' snap cap! :barf:

NO one has ever been killed by one of those, unless maybe they choked on one.

But I really protest the idea of choosing your first round based on what might not do so much damage or penetration if it's fired as an ND. Really bad thinking there. :(



-blackmind

[SJRTX]

I would not carry Glaser's if someone paid me too. Magsafe either for that matter. BTW-the pictures on that one site someone posted are of a temporary cavity, and in dealing with handgun calibers, has no effect. The permanent cavity is what matters, and so does penetration. Frangible rounds lack both of whats needed to be good terminal performers. Ill just say it flat out-they suck. And over penetration is not an issue with the top performing HP's on the market today either.


http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs5.htm

And good info here @ http://www.tacticalforums.com in the terminal effects forum

[Marko Kloos]

Glazers are rounds that penetrate into people and things and explode.

No, they are not.