the mystery of glock 10mm

[chrisintexas]

some people/manufacturers say you can shoot hardcast bullets in glock 10mms stock barrels but glock says no you can't. so what are the facts about this? it can't be this confusing.

[VoodooMountain]

Glock says no reloads and no lead. It's to protect them legally.

If I remember correctly hk does not recommend against lead with their polygonal barrels.

Through other's testing it has been learned the barrels will lead with varying quickness. The concern comes in when the barrel starts to lead very rapidly and pressures spike.

Most of the concern can be mitigated by slugging bore ( or using oversized bullets), choosing propper bhn for the application, and using gas checks.

Again, the barrel will lead at some point. Iirc, some of the testing showed very little lead for many shots followed by a very quick buildup of lead leading to pressure spikes.

All that said, I own a G20 and plan on shooting some lead through it. I also plan on keeping an eye on the barrel and probably deeply cleaning the barrel after each session.

[deserted]

Glock does not like cast boolits, hard or soft, regardless of caliber. If you shoot cast boolits in a Glock-only, GSSF match, you will get no re-shoots for any reason (don't ask how I know). A friend loaded his 19 with hand-cast boolits for USPSA and, at one point, something went wrong and blew the slide open and the magazine out the bottom. This was 20+ years ago, and I don't recall the exact cause, but most of us reasoned that it was his rather sloppy casting/loading technique. I shot cast bullets in .45ACP in a 21, 500 rounds a week for years with no ill effects. Another friend shoots his 21 with only cast bullets since at least 1993, an A-Class USPSA shooter. Thousands and thousands of rounds. It is also his EDC, and he is one 70 year old guy you don't want to shoot against. (But, heck, he can't be THAT good. In a twelve-gun bowling pin match he only came in first ahead of me by .02 seconds. .02 seconds! Never should have let him borrow my lever gun...). I don't know that there was anything special about the 10mm. Another guy in that same club used a Glock 10mm to shoot the pants off just about anyone, with cast bullets all the way. Very probably still does.

[jmr40]

Lots of people shoot lead through Glocks. They require more frequent cleaning than other barrel designs. And if not cleaned thoroughly and often you could have major problems. I can understand why Glock states not to do so. I've never seen a firearm manufacturer that did not advise against re-loaded ammo. I never shoot soft lead through any of my handguns. I just prefer jacketed ammo even if it costs a bit more.

I do however shoot hardcast ammo through my 10mm pistols, specifically DoubleTap 200 gr hardcast loads. I don't shoot a lot of it, it is too expensive. Just enough to test for function and accuracy then practice with more traditional jacketed ammo. The DoubleTap ammo is carried in specific situations.

The folks at DoubleTap shoot and test a lot of hardcast ammo in Glocks. I'm not aware of any problems.

[J.G. Terry]

This topic usually starts a war of words. First up, I have not be able to find the no lead statement in HK owners manuals. No reloads period. Ditto Glock. Some folks share shooting tons of cast through polygonal bores with no problem. Others say it's a disaster coming out of the gate. There's something missing here. You will find that those folks who shoot lead bullets successfully are using truly hard bullets near bore size with a high quality lube. Most any old cast bullet is sold as hard...not so. I suspect the pistols that blew did so for other reason than the lead bullets. Get an oversized relatively soft bullet in a polygonal bore for a real mess. Sorry no KB. If you feel at risk using lead bullets then don't use 'um.

[ritepath]

Powder Coat...

[J.G. Terry]

That too. It's new. Have an investment in the old way. Meaning, I'm not there yet. Not that I'm opposed to changed or anything like that.

I feel comfortable shooting my water quenched bullets lubed with 50/50. Done this with tree or four calibers in Glock's. Some handguns do better than others. Same as any other handgun with lead bullets. At the very worst it's possible to make good usable PD loads. Will try power coat when the stove get fixed.

Sometime back we had a Glock workshop with a local Glock armorer. I did not bring this up but had brought my G21 from which several hundred lead 200gr. wc's had been shot. Friends in the workshop ran in terror thinking the gun was going to exploded at anytime. Finally screwing up their courage took a look down the bore. Sorry no lead. No KB. A bunch of this stuff about Glock's has taken a life of its own on the Net.

[straightshooterjake]

I can't find a good reference right now, but I have read in other places that the prohibition on lead in Glocks is not really due the the polygonal rifling. I believe the real issue is with how Glock cuts their chambers or some other specific aspect about Glock barrels.

So the common information about "no lead in Glocks due to polygonal rifling" is not quite correct. It is correct that Glock prohibits lead ammo, and that in some cases this has caused actual problems. But the prohibition does not necessarily apply to other manufacturers with polygonal rifling.

[lee n. field]

some people/manufacturers say you can shoot hardcast bullets in glock 10mms stock barrels but glock says no you can't. so what are the facts about this? it can't be this confusing.

Hickok45 has a video on Youtube, where he does this. Cast 10mm through the standard barrel was quite inaccurate, much better through an aftermarket land-and-groove rifled barrel.

This is a frequently asked question. There's a lot of arguing both ways. A Lone Wolf barrel is relatively inexpensive peace of mind. If and when I ever get another Glock, I'm going to budget for one from the get go.

[JDBerg]

It's really a bad idea to shoot a steady diet of pure lead bullets cast from wheel weights or Linotype, out of any Glock, much less a 10mm G-20. But you "shouldn't" have a problem with Hard Cast Alloy Bullets, sized and lubed with a Brinell Hardness of 21. Big difference between pure lead bullets and hardcast alloy bullets!

[chrisintexas]

what manufacturers make 10 mm hardcast bullets? and what is their hardness on brinell scale?

[Dan-O]

Buffalo Bore, Doible Tap, not sure if Underwood does. Not sure if they advertise a hardness.

[disseminator]

I just bought a few boxes of hard cast 10mm bullets for reloading from Graf & Sons. They are made by Doubletap who also sells them in loaded form.

The Brinell hardness is given as 21 on the box.

Doubletap 10mm Ammo

[sarge83]

I made the mistake of shooting a reload that I bought at a local gun/pawn. At the time my little voice in my head said don't buy these, they are reloads and not yours,(I wasn't set up to reload the 10mm) but the price was right and 10mm is scarce as hens teeth in my area so I bought them. Second round kaboomed and blew the magazine out and cracked the frame on my Model 29 and hurt like someone smashed my hand with a hammer. The casing looks like someone has unzipped it. $100 for a new frame and the shop gave me $100 store credit and shipped cracked frame to Glock and back to them.

[smee78]

Why bother, a new barrel is about $100 and is cheap insurance against possible problems.