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Old December 13, 2013, 01:47 PM   #18
RX-79G
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Join Date: October 27, 2013
Posts: 1,139
Those aren't kaBooms. KaBooms are typified by case head failures in factory loaded ammunition with in spec guns that have no damage to the parts of the gun that contain pressure. And they do it randomly, not consistently.

That's why firing out of battery, which Glock connectors allow to a greater degree than the disconnectors or connectors of other firearms, is the likely culprit. In normal circumstances, a gun will function perfectly without a device that guarantees that the action is in full battery. Such insurance is only there for when something goes wrong.

Glocks .40s are 9mm guns with a slightly heavier slide. The stubby shape of .40 makes feeding more difficult, .40 recoils harder which decreases the amount of time the action is locked and offers more unsupported area for pressures to work against on the case head. Add the fact that Glock strikers work in opposition to the recoil spring and you have everything you need to transform a dirty breach face, locking area or striker channel into an out of battery firing condition. Limp wristing could also contribute to the action not seating in full battery. Have that happen enough times, one case may eventually blow as the gun unlocks just a bit too early.

If your Glock starts vertically stringing, it is probably firing a little out of battery. The barrel is not recoiling with the sights for long enough to keep the bore aligned with them. If you factory loaded cases start looking more bulged than normal, same story. Stop shooting and clean the gun or get different ammo.

Reloads, lead, setback, etc. are all problems that can cause their own failures in any gun. They can also contribute to the conditions that cause Glock KaBooms, but if the gun was designed differently they wouldn't cause just case head failures. True overpressure detonations look like those pictures - they destroy the chamber.

Glock .40s are just a good example of a perfect storm - small design deficiencies that weren't issues with easy feeding, light recoiling 9mm guns. But .40 Glocks have used up all the safety margins in feeding ease and action locking time to the point that they will randomly fire just enough out of battery to open when case pressure is still too high.

Glock has increased the case support, but did it without redesigning the gun. This should support the case longer in the case of early unlock, but it also means that the feed ramp is now steeper. That can't be great for feed reliability.

There are all sorts of reasons a gun can blow up, but very few for how a working locked breech gun and factory ammo can randomly unlock when chamber pressures are too high and show no signs of damage to the locking system. Glock makes the only weapon I know of that makes that possible.

These don't happen all that often. What scares me is that there really isn't any way of preventing them, rare as they are. I wouldn't carry a gun that has a known issue, no matter how rarely the issue ends in the mag blowing out of the gun. You wouldn't fly in a plane which has left wings fall off every 1 to 2 million flight hours. You fix the wing problem or fly in a different plane.
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