Witnessed a Glock 22 KABOOM!

[DW357]

Witnessed a Glock KABOOM last night at a steel plate match down here in CT. This guy was shooting a G22 when all of the sudden I hear a rather loud blast from this guys gun, smoke in the air, and a burning plastic smell....RO is yelling cease fire!! cease fire!!! Are you okay!?

The guy was okay, just had a minor cut on his nose and his hands were numb from the blast. BUT the mag release blew out of the frame, magazine blew out of the frame, and the top of the mag/follower was pretty mangled.

Aside from that, he was able to lock open the slide which appeared to be "okay" from the outside - no bulging/cracks etc. But the gunsmith at this shop/range was going to look at it to see the if there is any other damage.

I don't own any Glocks but I had heard about them blowing up, especially since they don't have supported chambers? This guy was shooting reloads so he either overloaded the case or he had a bad case that was weak and ruptured?....I don't think it would have really mattered much if it was supported but it may have resulted in less damage...

Pretty wild to witness nonetheless.

Sorry no pics

 

[92G]

thankfully the dude is ok. IMO the common themes in glock kabooms seem to be the following:
- .40S&W chambering
- reloads
- earlier models with less chamber support (e.g gen 2's)

i'm not in the least convinced that kabooms are a real issue for any modern .40S&W glock running factory ammo, and i am no .40 fanboy.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't own any Glocks but I had heard about them blowing up

Sorry no pics

wha wha wha? come drink the koolaid. it's delicious!

 

[DrBurnsides]

Most Glock kabooms in 40 seem to fail the same way. Case blows out on head, downward. I know the Glock 45s do this as well. Is this a function of weak case walls + the unsupported chamber?

 

[mikem317]

See? Healey is right. Gun safety begins with banning Glocks.

 

[DW357]

thankfully the dude is ok. IMO the common themes in glock kabooms seem to be the following:
- .40S&W chambering
- reloads
- earlier models with less chamber support (e.g gen 2's)

i'm not in the least convinced that kabooms are a real issue for any modern .40S&W glock running factory ammo.

Yeah it was good he had safety glasses on I'll say that. But he was pissed off more than anything else - not knowing if his Glock is trash.

I'm not sure which generation he was shooting but it didn't look like it was brand new.

wha wha wha? come drink the koolaid. it's delicious!

Haha yeah maybe someday I'll get one... I will say that I shot a cop's G30S last weekend and was amazed at the accuracy and little muzzle flip with such a small gun chambered in 45. The trigger was very nice also.

 

[Chevy 2 65]

Witnessed a Glock KABOOM last night at a steel plate match down here in CT. This guy was shooting a G22 when all of the sudden I hear a rather loud blast from this guys gun, smoke in the air, and a burning plastic smell....RO is yelling cease fire!! cease fire!!! Are you okay!?

The guy was okay, just had a minor cut on his nose and his hands were numb from the blast. BUT the mag release blew out of the frame, magazine blew out of the frame, and the top of the mag/follower was pretty mangled.

Aside from that, he was able to lock open the slide which appeared to be "okay" from the outside - no bulging/cracks etc. But the gunsmith at this shop/range was going to look at it to see the if there is any other damage.

I don't own any Glocks but I had heard about them blowing up, especially since they don't have supported chambers? This guy was shooting reloads so he either overloaded the case or he had a bad case that was weak and ruptured?....I don't think it would have really mattered much if it was supported but it may have resulted in less damage...

Pretty wild to witness nonetheless.

Sorry no pics

Buy a Glock

 

[Rob Boudrie]

I have seen case heads blow on 45's and there usually is no damage except to the magazine. The exception was a Les Baer that metallurgical analysis showed was 1141 hot rolled steel with no evidence of heat treating - but Les stood by his product and offered the owner $50 off the price of a new gun.

All guns will fire out of battery by a very slight amount (owing to various tolerances). If a reload has PgS (pregnant guppy syndrome), it is possible for the Glock to fire ever so slightly out of battery - increasing the chances of a KB. There is a litigation in progress over a 10mm Glock KB in western MA that caused some injury.

 

[DW357]

I have seen case heads blow on 45's and there usually is no damage except to the magazine. The exception was a Les Baer that metallurgical analysis showed was 1141 hot rolled steel with no evidence of heat treating - but Les stood by his product and offered the owner $50 off the price of a new gun.

All guns will fire out of battery by a very slight amount (owing to various tolerances). If a reload has PgS (pregnant guppy syndrome), it is possible for the Glock to fire ever so slightly out of battery - increasing the chances of a KB. There is a litigation in progress over a 10mm Glock KB in western MA that caused some injury.

Wow. I hope I never encounter this with any of my guns - especially my DW PM9. I think I'd have a stroke if I trashed that gun...

- - - Updated - - -

Buy a Glock

Yeah I may have to add a G22 to the Christmas purchase list...

 

[Dennis in MA]

I have seen case heads blow on 45's and there usually is no damage except to the magazine. The exception was a Les Baer that metallurgical analysis showed was 1141 hot rolled steel with no evidence of heat treating - but Les stood by his product and offered the owner $50 off the price of a new gun.

All guns will fire out of battery by a very slight amount (owing to various tolerances). If a reload has PgS (pregnant guppy syndrome), it is possible for the Glock to fire ever so slightly out of battery - increasing the chances of a KB. There is a litigation in progress over a 10mm Glock KB in western MA that caused some injury.

. . . and a new cardboard box.

What a peach Les was, eh?


I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts (Colonial, please) that this was an overcharge. You can go online and see what happens to OTHER guns during a catastrophic over-pressure. It's not pretty in any of them. But the whole "Glock's blow up" thing gets them noticed.

45's won't do nearly as much damage as max pressure is so much less. .40 is the most dangerous caliber to shoot. Always be careful. Even factory ammo can get the occasional overcharge, so just shooting factory (which ensures your warranty is valid) won't save your Glock in 100% of the cases.

Glad he was OK. At worst it cost him $400 or so. Better than losing a digit.

 

[DW357]

Glad he was OK. At worst it cost him $400 or so. Better than losing a digit.

Oh yeah definitely.

 

[Hoon]

The exception was a Les Baer that metallurgical analysis showed was 1141 hot rolled steel with no evidence of heat treating - but Les stood by his product and offered the owner $50 off the price of a new gun.

You've got to be shitting me.

At that price point...

 

[1903Collector]

Are Glocks the only ones that have this unsupported chamber?

 

[AllaSnackbah]

what shop were you at? delta?

 

[Rob Boudrie]

If you are going to reload for a Glock, it is worth investing in a chamber check gauge and use it on every round. This will prevent the pregnant guppy rounds from giving you a slightly out of battery discharge.

 

[Dennis in MA]

You mean people don't use chamber check gauges. . . Glock or otherwise????

 

[45collector]

If you are going to reload for a Glock, it is worth investing in a chamber check gauge and use it on every round. This will prevent the pregnant guppy rounds from giving you a slightly out of battery discharge.

I check every 9mm and .45acp round I make with a check gauge, just because I have a gauge for each of those calibers. Cheap insurance, just takes a little more time.

I DO NOT own any Fo-Tay's anymore.

 

[bigblue]

If you are going to reload for a Glock, it is worth investing in a chamber check gauge and use it on every round. This will prevent the pregnant guppy rounds from giving you a slightly out of battery discharge.

 

[DW357]

what shop were you at? delta?

Greyson Guns

 

[DW357]

I check every 9mm and .45acp round I make with a check gauge, just because I have a gauge for each of those calibers. Cheap insurance, just takes a little more time.

I DO NOT own any Fo-Tay's anymore.

I've been pretty lazy about gauging my 9mm reloads. I have had a few jams in my DW 1911 but I've determined it to be headstamp specific. CBC/Magtech and Tulammo brass (NOTthe brass with the internal sleeve thingy). The casewalls are too thick and when I seat a 150 gr coated bullet, it bulges the case and won't chamber. Every other headstamp has been great.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

You've got to be shitting me.

At that price point...

I arranged a metalurgical lab analysis. It determined the steel was "consistent with the specs for 1141 hot rolled plate steel" and a 200x microscopic study w/nital etch showed undistorted maganese sulfide stringers that showed "no evidence of forging".

 

[rwl1955]

I arranged a metalurgical lab analysis. It determined the steel was "consistent with the specs for 1141 hot rolled plate steel" and a 200x microscopic study w/nital etch showed undistorted maganese sulfide stringers that showed "no evidence of forging".

*****
Wow! I'm sure that 1911 cost serious money and they wouldn't stand behind their gun?

 

[Rob Boudrie]

*****
Wow! I'm sure that 1911 cost serious money and they wouldn't stand behind their gun?

Les told me total destruction was a reasonable consequence of an overcharged round blowing out the case head. I think it was more likely a used, over weak case than a double charge. It happened to a friend's gun while I was shooting with him.

 

[Horseman508]

I'd bet money is was the reloads he was shooting and not the Glock.

 

[scatter]

Les told me total destruction was a reasonable consequence of an overcharged round blowing out the case head. I think it was more likely a used, over weak case than a double charge. It happened to a friend's gun while I was shooting with him.

I'm very confused by this whole story. You said earlier that Les Bauer stood by his product. I took that to mean no questions asked replacement if there was any doubt about the cause of the damage. But then you said he only offered a pittance off of a full price new purchase. So now I'm thinking you meant he "stood by his product" as in refusing to accept the fact that it might have been defective, despite the results of the analysis. Have I got that right?

 

[Zappa]

If you are going to reload for a Glock, it is worth investing in a chamber check gauge and use it on every round. This will prevent the pregnant guppy rounds from giving you a slightly out of battery discharge.

If you shoot reloads from a .40 Glock, especially lead, you should get an aftermarket barrel like a KKM with conventional rifling and a fully supported chamber. I have one for my G27 and it shoots fine, and no case head bulges.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

You said earlier that Les Bauer stood by his product.

You missed my sarcasm when I said "Les stood by his product and offered a $50 discount off the full purchase price of a new one". I trust the metallurgical analysis more than I trust Les's word it was a "forged" frame. The metal of the frame was also very soft - measured 10 on the B scale. The failure was the frame splitting to the point where the mainspring housing fell out with the retaining pin intact.

 

[scatter]

You missed my sarcasm when I said "Les stood by his product and offered a $50 discount off the full purchase price of a new one".

Gotcha. My sarcasm detector is usually pretty precise but may need a tune-up.

But now I'm thinking, standing "by" your product and standing "behind" your product could mean two very different things. Man I'm glad I didn't have to learn English as a second language.

 

[DW357]

I'd bet money is was the reloads he was shooting and not the Glock.

It was reloads as I mentioned originally. Case failure or overcharged (double charge) round I'd say.

 

[Drix]

This guy was shooting reloads so he either overloaded the case or he had a bad case that was weak and ruptured?
Pretty wild to witness nonetheless.

Problems you could encounter with reloading:

1. A squib- That last round have enough powder? Powder at all? If the bullet didn't manage to fully leave the barrel you've set yourself up for a disaster as your barrel is now effectively blocked. Depending on the "custom" work to your glock, the caliber, and powder levels in the squib charge it is possible to cycle the slide off a squib. It is also possible to execute the smack and rack believing a failure to extract has occurred.

2. Case rupture- Case rupture's generally happen towards the rear of the brass so this could be a culprit in an unsupported chamber, where the rupture could be just open to "air". I find case rupture to be unlikely, in any non-necked round this is EXTREMELY easy to identify, while rupturing cases can be guessed at in rounds like 5.56 by looking at the outside for a shiny ring, on handgun rounds you can get the benefit of looking directly inside the brass for the telltale ring that is a sign of the weakening of the wall.

3. Too much powder/double charge- Sign of negligence but easy to do if you're distracted. Maybe the powder measure double dropped, or the loader got off his rhythm.

4. Bad bullet seating- At the top of my head, not looking I seat my Berry's HBFN's at 1.039" COAL, which seems short in comparison to some other bullets that seat at 1.05". Why? My flat nosed berrys don't have the same shape as say a traditional round nose so the overall cartridge length changes. Now, say I **** up and seat a round nose to a case overall length of 1.039"- I've now just built a very dangerous round. This round will have significantly more pressure due to the lack of volume the case which can lead to explosive disassembly.

When reloading is involved, the problem isn't usually the gun, its usually the idiot behind the press.

 

[DW357]

Problems you could encounter with reloading:

1. A squib- That last round have enough powder? Powder at all? If the bullet didn't manage to fully leave the barrel you've set yourself up for a disaster as your barrel is now effectively blocked. Depending on the "custom" work to your glock, the caliber, and powder levels in the squib charge it is possible to cycle the slide off a squib. It is also possible to execute the smack and rack believing a failure to extract has occurred.

2. Case rupture- Case rupture's generally happen towards the rear of the brass so this could be a culprit in an unsupported chamber, where the rupture could be just open to "air". I find case rupture to be unlikely, in any non-necked round this is EXTREMELY easy to identify, while rupturing cases can be guessed at in rounds like 5.56 by looking at the outside for a shiny ring, on handgun rounds you can get the benefit of looking directly inside the brass for the telltale ring that is a sign of the weakening of the wall.

3. Too much powder/double charge- Sign of negligence but easy to do if you're distracted. Maybe the powder measure double dropped, or the loader got off his rhythm.

4. Bad bullet seating- At the top of my head, not looking I seat my Berry's HBFN's at 1.039" COAL, which seems short in comparison to some other bullets that seat at 1.05". Why? My flat nosed berrys don't have the same shape as say a traditional round nose so the overall cartridge length changes. Now, say I **** up and seat a round nose to a case overall length of 1.039"- I've now just built a very dangerous round. This round will have significantly more pressure due to the lack of volume the case which can lead to explosive disassembly.

When reloading is involved, the problem isn't usually the gun, its usually the idiot behind the press.

Yep. Though I was standing just ~6 feet away from him and didn't hear the famous "pop" squib noise nor did he tap and rack prior to the gun blowing up....

That being said, I'm glad I haven't had any issues with the tens of thousands of rounds I've made. I hope to keep it that way by not being distracted.