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
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]

[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 (or at least as important as what might be damaged if they were in the front pocket(s))

[Ledbetter]

According to this URL

http://mysite.elixirlabs.com/index.p...2665&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?

[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.



-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

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 ).

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. (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?