Glock 27 goes kablooey - Page 2

Wrangler5 · April 16, 2009, 11:16 PM

My 9mm rounds (Luger and Makarov) are impossible to double charge with AA#5 or with Power Pistol, which I find comforting. I've never reloaded 40 S&W so don't know about double charging one of those cases, although I can imagine it's doable with something like Bullseye. If I were loading 40, though, I'd consider choosing a powder that would NOT allow a double charge - assuming I could find it in these trying times, that is.

Also, my Lee Loadmaster allows for easy stopping and starting to deal with distractions, with its automatic indexing. That said, my kids are grown and gone, the dog mostly sleeps and I just ignore the phone when I'm reloading - that's what answering machines are made for.

Bigjaw · April 17, 2009, 07:14 AM

Sevens, thanks for your reply. I thought that what you indicated may be the case, about variances in the case/bullets.
I may keep weight logs anyhow just for quality control of the components I buy but I'll definately be checking the charges as well.

WESHOOT2 · April 17, 2009, 07:38 AM

The culprit is not a double charge (try it on purpose some time), but simply insufficient case neck tension securing the bullet, allowing setback (NEVER TRY THAT!).

Can be from worn out brass, improperly sized brass, too much crimp buckling a too-long case, undersized bullet, and a few

other things....

SL1 · April 17, 2009, 07:52 AM

Another culprit is the missed charge. In shooting sports like IDPA, where time for a string is the measure of competition, there is a strong tendency to quickly rack the slide and fire again when there is a "misfire." If that misfire was actually a primer-only squib or very light powder charge, then a bullet is likely lodged in the barrel. Firing the next round with the proper charge in it and a bullet from the previous round obstructing the bore will also blow-up a gun. It can be quite hard after-the-fact to determine whether the cause was too much powder in the last round or too little in the previous round.

That is the reason that I load batches of ammo in two stages. One preps the brass with multiple dies, then I charge all cases and inspect them all together for proper charges before I seat bullets in any of them. Then I seat and crimp using multiple dies for each round. A stripped-down progressive can be used this way with some speed, but it is definitely slower than a full-progressive operation. Just reliably safer.

SL1

Sevens · April 17, 2009, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Sevens, thanks for your reply. I thought that what you indicated may be the case, about variances in the case/bullets.
I may keep weight logs anyhow just for quality control of the components I buy but I'll definately be checking the charges as well.

Bigjaw, on something that is this easy to test, please don't take my word for it, but do indeed go and weigh some loaded rounds and notice what you get. Not that my info isn't good

, just that this is 5 minutes of your time. Anyone with a digital scale can run through a half a box in just a couple of minutes.

I've actually not tried weighing factory rounds, but that sounds like something that would be interesting. I've weighed enough component bullets to know that weight variations are COMMON and depending on how small your charge weight is (for example, I use 4.4gr of Bullseye in a 200gr LSWC .45 round), 4.4gr can be gained or lost easily in a bullet or a piece of brass or both.

jisom001 · April 17, 2009, 02:57 PM

I thought Glocks were supposed to built better than that? Seems that guy should stop drinking when he's loading ammo!

Tophe · April 20, 2009, 12:36 PM

Our range has become very strict on the use of glasses and ear protection in the last year or so. We had a situation with a rifle going kablooey. Cant remember the specifics of why but it was nasty I guess. If you get caught now, they can take away your membership if they want.

I always wear my safety gear, especially after that.

Darkstar7 · April 21, 2009, 02:06 PM

The range I normally use is strict on the use of "eyes and ears" as well - you aren't even allowed to enter the range until ALL of the safety gear is put on.

I'm an experienced reloader and have made a couple of mistakes myself - in both cases, I was able to recognize what was going on and avoided disaster. On two separate occasions spaced apart by a number of years, I had a single .38 special reload that did not receive a powder charge (my fault). Upon firing this round, it was OBVIOUS that something wasn't right and I checked the barrel before firing another round. The bullet had lodged about 7/8 of the way down the barrel (6 inch Dan Wesson). Fortunately, I was able to remove the bullet from the barrel after I got back home without further incident both times. I have subsequently changed the sequencing of my reloading activities which has resulted in no further incidents and hopefully it stays that way. I cannot explain how the powder charge got left out of the cases on these two occasions but it did happen and so it just goes to show that you can't be too careful.

April 17, 2009, 07:38 AM	#28
WESHOOT2 Senior Member Join Date: February 20, 1999 Location: home on the range; Vermont (Caspian country) Posts: 14,324	too often The culprit is not a double charge (try it on purpose some time), but simply insufficient case neck tension securing the bullet, allowing setback (NEVER TRY THAT!). Can be from worn out brass, improperly sized brass, too much crimp buckling a too-long case, undersized bullet, and a few other things.... __________________ . "all my ammo is mostly retired factory ammo"

April 17, 2009, 02:57 PM	#31
jisom001 Junior Member Join Date: March 13, 2009 Location: Houston Tx Posts: 10	Sir I thought Glocks were supposed to built better than that? Seems that guy should stop drinking when he's loading ammo!

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April 16, 2009, 11:16 PM	#26
Wrangler5 Senior Member Join Date: September 18, 2005 Location: Missouri Posts: 326	My 9mm rounds (Luger and Makarov) are impossible to double charge with AA#5 or with Power Pistol, which I find comforting. I've never reloaded 40 S&W so don't know about double charging one of those cases, although I can imagine it's doable with something like Bullseye. If I were loading 40, though, I'd consider choosing a powder that would NOT allow a double charge - assuming I could find it in these trying times, that is. Also, my Lee Loadmaster allows for easy stopping and starting to deal with distractions, with its automatic indexing. That said, my kids are grown and gone, the dog mostly sleeps and I just ignore the phone when I'm reloading - that's what answering machines are made for.

April 17, 2009, 07:14 AM	#27
Bigjaw Junior Member Join Date: April 7, 2009 Posts: 6	Sevens, thanks for your reply. I thought that what you indicated may be the case, about variances in the case/bullets. I may keep weight logs anyhow just for quality control of the components I buy but I'll definately be checking the charges as well.

April 17, 2009, 07:52 AM	#29
SL1 Senior Member Join Date: November 8, 2007 Posts: 2,001	Another culprit is the missed charge. In shooting sports like IDPA, where time for a string is the measure of competition, there is a strong tendency to quickly rack the slide and fire again when there is a "misfire." If that misfire was actually a primer-only squib or very light powder charge, then a bullet is likely lodged in the barrel. Firing the next round with the proper charge in it and a bullet from the previous round obstructing the bore will also blow-up a gun. It can be quite hard after-the-fact to determine whether the cause was too much powder in the last round or too little in the previous round. That is the reason that I load batches of ammo in two stages. One preps the brass with multiple dies, then I charge all cases and inspect them all together for proper charges before I seat bullets in any of them. Then I seat and crimp using multiple dies for each round. A stripped-down progressive can be used this way with some speed, but it is definitely slower than a full-progressive operation. Just reliably safer. SL1

April 20, 2009, 12:36 PM	#32
Tophe Senior Member Join Date: December 9, 2008 Location: Kalamazoo MI Posts: 177	Our range has become very strict on the use of glasses and ear protection in the last year or so. We had a situation with a rifle going kablooey. Cant remember the specifics of why but it was nasty I guess. If you get caught now, they can take away your membership if they want. I always wear my safety gear, especially after that.

April 21, 2009, 02:06 PM	#33
Darkstar7 Member Join Date: February 28, 2008 Location: Western Washington Posts: 48	The range I normally use is strict on the use of "eyes and ears" as well - you aren't even allowed to enter the range until ALL of the safety gear is put on. I'm an experienced reloader and have made a couple of mistakes myself - in both cases, I was able to recognize what was going on and avoided disaster. On two separate occasions spaced apart by a number of years, I had a single .38 special reload that did not receive a powder charge (my fault). Upon firing this round, it was OBVIOUS that something wasn't right and I checked the barrel before firing another round. The bullet had lodged about 7/8 of the way down the barrel (6 inch Dan Wesson). Fortunately, I was able to remove the bullet from the barrel after I got back home without further incident both times. I have subsequently changed the sequencing of my reloading activities which has resulted in no further incidents and hopefully it stays that way. I cannot explain how the powder charge got left out of the cases on these two occasions but it did happen and so it just goes to show that you can't be too careful.