Supported vs Unsupported Glock barrels

[shaka.brah]

[Mr. Helio]

[jessdigs]

You can shoot reloaded ammo through a factory Glock barrel. Glock doesn't recommend shooting cast lead ammo because people cast varying hardness to their bullets, and lube them differently. Glock cannot control what you do and how you load your ammo, so they include this disclaimer for liability.
I shoot reloaded ammo exclusively. I now shoot mostly cast powder coated bullets, about 14,bhn with good powder coat, and also shoot Xtreme copper plated bullets with no problem.
I just watch for leading and check and clean often. Properly sized bullets with the proper hardness can be shot through polygonal barrels, but it's incumbent on you to ensure you do so safely.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[Mayor McRifle]

I’m not aware of any company that recommends using reloaded ammo. The companies want to avoid liability and damage complaints when people double-charge their reloaded ammo.

Glock chambers are both “unsupported” and relatively huge. If you’ve ever heard someone bragging about how “reliable” their Glock is, this is one of the reasons why. You can coat the walls of your chamber with sand or mud and still chamber and fire a round because of the loose tolerances. (By the way, people complain about the “battle rattle” of old military 1911s, but it served the same purpose. Loose tolerances may degrade accuracy, but they result in fewer malfunctions, as well).

Resizing brass fired out of a Glock is a huge PIA — unless you’re going to fire the reloads out of another Glock. It takes extra work to get the bulge out of Glock-fired brass, especially near the base, and sometimes you never can. Military brass is especially difficult to resize properly after a Glock has allowed the pressure to leave a bulge in it. A Bulge Buster works on a lot of it, but not all of it. I’d estimate that about 1/4 of Glock-fired brass won’t fit into a SAAMI spec case gauge after resizing and reloading it. A Bulge Buster will fix about 1/2 to 3/4 of those.

Of the reloaded cartridges that won’t case gauge properly, very few of them will chamber properly in my CZs (tight chambers). Many, if not most of them, will chamber properly in my SIGs (slightly larger chambers). ALL of them will chamber in my one Glock (huge chamber). I bought the Glock when the company offered Blue Label purchases to veterans a few years ago. The only reason I have the Glock is to shoot all my out-of-spec reloads with, and I don’t bother collecting that brass again.

I hope this helps. This is all based on my own experience, so take it for what it’s worth. But I did call Dillon once to ask for advice on getting 9mm cases to resize properly on an XL650 with their resizing die and the guy I spoke with asked if the brass I was using had been fired out of a Glock. I said I didn’t know because I swept it up at the range. He said, “Well that’s your problem. If your brass is fired out of a Glock you might as well throw it away.” I told him that wasn’t practical because I usually get other brass mixed into my own when collecting it at the range. He suggested screwing the resizing die down as low as it could go. It might have helped a little, but not much.

[eaglemike]

You can shoot reloaded ammo through a factory Glock barrel. Glock doesn't recommend shooting cast lead ammo because people cast varying hardness to their bullets, and lube them differently. Glock cannot control what you do and how you load your ammo, so they include this disclaimer for liability.
I shoot reloaded ammo exclusively. I now shoot mostly cast powder coated bullets, about 14,bhn with good powder coat, and also shoot Xtreme copper plated bullets with no problem.
I just watch for leading and check and clean often. Properly sized bullets with the proper hardness can be shot through polygonal barrels, but it's incumbent on you to ensure you do so safely.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Pretty much this. Proper powder selection is important. Using good quality sizing dies is important. Good reloading practice, like making sure not to shave the bullet during seating is important. Etc Etc Etc.......

[W.R.Buchanan]

NO firearms company says it's OK to shoot Reloaded ammo in their guns. CYA on Liability !!!

As far as the Unsupported Chamber BS it was cured by Gen 3 and by then the offending Federal Ammo (marked FC and FC-10) which caused all the problems in the first place had been shot up or removed from the shelves.

This problem was completely resolved by 2008-9.

If you get a gen 3, 4 or 5 pistol you needn't worry about this.

I used to debulge all my .40 S&W brass by running it thru a Lee Factory Crimp Die with the crimp function removed. Now I don't bother as the F/L Dies do a good enough job on the cases and you have to use an F/L die even if you debulge first anyway.

Hot tip: Use either Plated Bullets or Powder Coated Boolits, If you don't know how to fit uncoated lead boolits to your barrel you will get leading in the barrel which will lead to pressure spikes which is why the "under informed" warn about this. If you understand Boolit fit in the barrel this will not be any more of a problem than it is for any other caliber. You can avoid it all together by using Plated Bullets or PC'd Boolits.

and don't ever use maximum loads.

There is absolutely no reason to reload the .40 S&W hotter than Midrange, for 99.9% of shooting. If you need hot loads for SD then just go buy a box of Factory Loaded HD Ammo.

Of all the Pistol Cartridges , the .40 S&W is the most likely to bite you, but only if you try to hot rod the round. If you just stay at Mid Range levels you'll be fine.

Been reloading this round this for 16 years. Haven't had a problem yet, but I also pay attention to the fine points, and other details often overlooked. If you can't do this then don't reload anything!

Randy

[stormvet]

If you have a Gen 3 through a Gen 5 you don’t need to worry about an unsupported chamber, it’s not an issue. I’ve put over 100,000 rounds of my personal reloads through my Glocks, over 30,000 of them have been .40.

[IVC]

To figure out supported vs. unsupported take out the barrel and put a round in it. You will notice that it fits snuggly and has a positive stop as it headspaces on the lip in the chamber.

Now look around the base of the case, where the feeding ramp is - if you can see a section of the brass, it's *unsupported*. On the other hand, if the brass is completely wrapped with the barrel (it's technically not the barrel, but on a pistol it's a single part so let's call it a barrel for simplicity), then it is a *supported* barrel.

As you look at this, it becomes clear what the problem is - if the pressure is very high, either because it's a hot reload or an overall hot caliber, the brass in an unsupported barrel will expand where there is empty space and create a small bulge. This bulge will have to be removed during reloading, or the brass won't chamber in a different gun with supported chamber or in the same gun if it's not oriented exactly the same.

[IVC]

I used to debulge all my .40 S&W brass by running it thru a Lee Factory Crimp Die with the crimp function removed. Now I don't bother as the F/L Dies do a good enough job on the cases and you have to use an F/L die even if you debulge first anyway.

Another option is to use Roll Sizer, which is what I use. Runs very fast and does a good job of removing bulges from random brass.

The key being the word "random" - unless you shoot very little or only in remote areas, you will end up with other people's brass and that can be literally anything...

[Dooder]

The gen 3's and above are supported more than the past.

In my own experience I've loaded well over 100k rounds of 40sw and shoot them in Glocks and 2011's. I have a bulge buster tool and have never used it. I have never blown out a case at the web either.

To give you an idea about how people discredit Glock factory barrels - I have a KKM Match barrel in my G34 and that has less case support and a looser chamber than the stock barrel...just sayin.

[eaglemike]

NO firearms company says it's OK to shoot Reloaded ammo in their guns. CYA on Liability !!!

SNIPPED HERE FOR BREVITY

Hot tip: Use either Plated Bullets or Powder Coated Boolits, If you don't know how to fit uncoated lead boolits to your barrel you will get leading in the barrel which will lead to pressure spikes which is why the "under informed" warn about this. If you understand Boolit fit in the barrel this will not be any more of a problem than it is for any other caliber. You can avoid it all together by using Plated Bullets or PC'd Boolits.

and don't ever use maximum loads.

There is absolutely no reason to reload the .40 S&W hotter than Midrange, for 99.9% of shooting. If you need hot loads for SD then just go buy a box of Factory Loaded HD Ammo.

Of all the Pistol Cartridges , the .40 S&W is the most likely to bite you, but only if you try to hot rod the round. If you just stay at Mid Range levels you'll be fine.

Been reloading this round this for 16 years. Haven't had a problem yet, but I also pay attention to the fine points, and other details often overlooked. If you can't do this then don't reload anything!

Randy

This!!!
The .40 S&W case doesn't have a lot of capacity when one considers bullet weight. Pressures go up VERY QUICKLY if one seats the bullet deeper than the published data. Even the published data can be wrong, especially if you are using different brass than tested to develop the data. (that really means one isn't matching the published data)

A friend was developing loads in his Glock 22 more than 20 years ago, using published data for Clays powder. He blew out a case, it was pretty exciting. Turns out the data was a little off, not a lot, but the pressures go up quickly at the upper end.
Emphasis added to the initial post also.
Every so often someone comes along and tells me/us we absolutely cannot shoot any form of lead bullet in a Glock pistol. Maybe he can't, but some of us have been doing it without issue for a while.
Randy covered it pretty well.
ETA: I'm always glad to see people post that know what they are doing.

[TomReloaded]

I shot only range pickup brass for 2 or 3 years and never once got a bulged case. I'd "retire" about 100 of my cases (lost or unrecovered) and pickup another random 100 per trip, so I went through lots of brass.

I doubt I got that lucky, and glocks are probably the most common .40sw at the range. I didnt bother buying a bulge buster.

... Also, you can shoot lead out of glock barrels. Just clean your gun like normal.

[bergmen]

NO firearms company says it's OK to shoot Reloaded ammo in their guns. CYA on Liability !!!

My Freedom Arms Model 83 Premier came with a complete reloading manual from the factory with recommended loads for 454 Casull. It was comprehensive and very detailed. Since I roll my own, this was very valuable. It also cautioned against loading reduced loads. I have only loaded the starting loads (which are plenty strong for me).

So there is at least this one.

Dan

[ojisan]

I was fortunate to go to Angeles Shooting Range on just the right day about 40 years ago.
That day there was a gun manufacturers' "open house" day.
All the big name companies were there with reps and new guns to shoot for free.

I shot one of the really early Glock 17s.
Besides the cheap feeling polymer frame, the lack of a safety and the unfinished carved-from-bar-stock look of the slide, the biggest issue was how it destroyed the cases.
The feed ramp was generous to say the least, leaving the case side exposed beyond the web.
The chamber was oversized too.
It is easy to get a reliably feeding gun with a funnel for a chamber but the fired cases were expanded too far to resize and many were bulged at the ramp area.
This was not a concern for the Glock designers as the gun was made with the Austrian military in mind, who do not shoot reloaded handgun ammo.
So, the brass was sacrificed to get reliability.
Production 17s had less feed ramp depth.

As a hand loader, back then I could not see much point in a no-frills part-plastic cheapo pistol if it was borderline on destruction when fired and killed the brass with every shot.

What was interesting was the S&W Sigma that was available to shoot a little further down the firing line.
A nicer plastic frame with better ergos for me, still no safety but a more refined look, it shot well and it did not kill the brass.
Seemed the Smith was the better choice between the two.

[dozer wright]

If you get into 10mm you will definitely get The Glock bulge with factory barrel.