Glock bulge issue

[Ike Clanton]

45 acp Berrys plated bullets OAL 1.245 mixed once fired brass. I loaded up a few hundred and plunk tested in an XD-S barrel before my Wilson case gauge arrived. Yes I’ve now identified the issue with that. Long story short the loaded ammo binds up at the very end of the case gauge. Are these safe to fire or am I spending the next few hours pulling bullets? The brass processing company claimed the cases went through a bulge buster but it appears not enough.

[ligonierbill]

If they passed the plunk test in your pistol's barrel, you are good to go. If you have several pistols from different makers, then I'd go with the case gauge.

[Ike Clanton]

Yeah that’s where I messed up. I’m shooting them in a CMMG banshee. Not exactly easy to plunk test an ar like that either.

[Marco Califo]

When working with 40 SW range brass, I found that I needed to Bulge Bust and Resize, sometimes several times to get to where they would drop into the case guage. 40's get shot in service pistols and earlier ones had partially unsupported chambers. First step was to deprime and wet Tumble well. Then inspect for Glock smiles, discarding those.
I load 45 ACP too, but have not processed mu range brass yet, as I bought a lot of new Starline 45 ACP. Once I had the option of loading new brass, the need to process range brass stalled.

[Ike Clanton]

If I fire these in my firearm will they fire form to the chamber making the next batch of reloads better or should I discard them.

[Marco Califo]

No. You do not fireform handgun brass. You clean, inspect, and Resize every time.
Much easier to learn with new brass.

[Schlitz 45]

What I've done in the past when rounds passed the plunk test in one barrel but not another gun's barrel was to run them through the resizing die with the primer punch removed & retest. I know this isn't the right way to do it but it worked for me & better than pulling bullets. For me the issue was two different thicknesses of brass casings that all were fine in one gun but once the rounds were sorted that wouldn't punk in gun #2 they were all the same head stamp. It was a judgement call on mouse gun caliber so felt I had a good safety cushion.

[tangolima]

You should be able to plunk test an AR barrel. Remove the BCG and drop the round into the chamber. You can also chamber rounds normally and extract and eject manually. If the bolt goes into full battery each time, and there is no difficulty extracting and ejecting, the rounds are good.

I bought and sold a few cartridge gauges. They are mostly useless to me, as I don't manufacture ammunitions. Meeting saami, or whatever specs, makes no difference if my gun fires the round safely and reliably.

-TL

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[Irish Lad]

I'd get a Lee FCD and run them thru it.

[Mike38]

Yep, Lee Factory Crimp Die. I have a 1911 that will not run without running the ammo through a FCD. It must be a tight chamber or something. I now use a FCD on every caliber I reload for except 9mm. My Beretta 92 will eat anything it's fed.

[tangolima]

FCD definitely helps. But it may not be enough for really low bulges. For those, just chuck them in the bin.

-TL

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[Ike Clanton]

Thanks for the advice guys. I am using a lee FCD and to remove the flare. I gauged the crimp at .471 ish. I do believe a few of the cases need extra. I went ahead and took a few of the worst case scenario rounds and fed them into my AR. All seemed to chamber fine and so sticky extraction.

[44 AMP]

The way I look at it, if a case bulges near the head, due to an un/undersupported chamber, it's now scrap metal.

Yes, you can "iron out" the bulge, but, consider that the case has now been stretched in a way and at a place its not meant to be stretched.

If that doesn't weaken it, I'm sure it has the potential to do so, and I'm not going to take that risk. Maybe it will be fine, but maybe not, and since common pistol brass is cheap why risk it??

Back when Glock was starting out ( in the US, and the 17 was their only model) not only were they very insistent that reloads not be used in the gun but they also made a point of letting us know that the brass from their test range was sold only for scrap, with a proviso in their contract that it NOT be sold as reloading components.

Ever wonder why they might have insisted on that??

Remember that modern firearms designed for military use put a huge premium of function of ammunition, ONCE. Reuse of the fired brass is of no concern to the military and very little interest to the designers as it adds nothing useful to their product (the gun).

If you want to use bulged brass which has been "bulge busted" go ahead, but I won't.

[Ike Clanton]

Well I was finally able to resolve the issue. I wasn’t crimping with the LFCD enough. This took care of about 95% of the cases that didn’t pass the case gauge. The others have a bulge at the base and got tossed. Thanks again for the help.

[FrankenMauser]

Cases don't "fireform" smaller.
Handgun Factory Crimp dies are a dirty bandaid for problems created or ignored earlier in the reloading process.
Size properly or scrap the brass.
Take the lesson learned and apply it in the future.

[RoyceP]

Be sure you use the proper Lee FCD for the job. Some are taper crimp - best for cartridges that headspace on the case. Others are roll crimp - best for revolvers.

[DaleA]

I know the 'Glock Bulge' has been discussed before but I'm having a senior moment and would appreciate someone telling me again if the 'Glock Bulge' can be avoided completely by buying an after-market barrel for the Glock.

Also does the 'Bulge' happen on ALL calibers (9, 10, .45 etc.)?

[tangolima]

The issues are with gen 1 & 2 barrels, especially the higher pressure calibers such as .40s&w. Gen 3 and beyond don't have the issue.

If you have gen 1 & 2, an after market barrel can be used to avoid the problem.

-TL

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[Marco Califo]

The Glock Smile and Bulge are most commonly found in range brass. The Smile is a visible curved crease: discard. The bulge is around the head, and can be mitigated with Bulge Buster products,
but keep pressures low.
If using your own, newly purchased brass, in a G3 up you should never notice these.
For peace of mind, I started purchasing Starline 40 SW. The range brass will be used at ranges that keep the brass.

[44 AMP]

The range brass will be used at ranges that keep the brass.

The only brass I let a range keep is .22 rimfire, or Berdan primed. The way I see it, any range that steals my property loses me as a customer, period.

IF I let them keep it, if I leave it, fine, that's giving permission, otherwise, no barking way.

Do be careful, to avoid giving them permission when you don't intend to. If you sign something that says you agree to follow all range rules, and "fired brass becomes property of the range" is one of their rules, you are giving them permission.

I won't. They don't own my brass because it touched their ground. They don't own my gun because I laid it on their table. They don't own my car because its parked in their lot, and they don't own my butt because I sat on their bench. IF those or anything like them are the house rules, I'll go play and spend my money other places.

If you think I'm being a bit ...extreme... because, after all its only fired brass and doesn't cost that much, I disagree on principle, and in reality, because some of what I shoot isn't cheap, common or easily available, some of it is hand made by me, not made by any factory, and I'm not throwing that away because of a range owner's grasping greed.

I DO throw away any brass with a "Glock bulge" IF any somehow winds up in my brass stash, it goes in the scrap bin when I see it.

[Marco Califo]

Indoor ranges, with motorized target cables, do not let you go down range to collect your brass. They may have a broom and may let you gather your own. I find that that distracts from my shooting experience. So I only bring my reloads in range brass, and leave them there. Ranges like this often expect you to shoot their reloads (in their brass).
On the other hand, I shoot at an outdoor range, and come home with all my brass.
Some friends of mine like indoor ranges because of locations, and I am equipped to play along with a smile.

[DaleA]

Thanks for the 'Glock Bulge' information.

[rtpzwms]

Get a lee bulge buster kit. It uses the factory crimp die. The brass can be passed through unloaded or loaded. Since the brass passes through it will take care of the bulge even near the case head. I think forester makes one as well.

https://leeprecision.com/case-condit...ge-buster-kit/

[Unclenick]

I never heard of a Forster version, but I know Redding makes or made one called the G-Rx Die, meaning Glock Medicine or Glock Prescription (for .40 S&W, 10mm Auto, and 357 Sig).