What causes most kabooms?

[SandDiegoDuner]

I reload for my Glock 35 with a factory barrel. I have only loaded 155-180 grain JHP, FMJ, and Plated bullets. I tried using Titegroup but didn't care for the excessive bulge at the base with that powder. Now I use Longshot and don't have anywhere near the same amount of bulge in the load that seems to group the best for me.

I don't use a bulge buster or a GRX to fix any brass I shoot. A standard Redding Carbide or Hornady Titanium dies works fine to resize my brass for my glock. I have not tried my reloads in other pistols that may have tighter chambers.

I do plan on picking up an aftermarket barrel with standard rifling and a better supported chamber just for piece of mind.

[mif_slim]

It is a fact that a lot of police dept. all over the US uses Glocks in 40 S&W. Many of those once fired casings ends up being sold to reloaders, thus the need for the bulge buster dies.

I KNOW LE uses 40sw, I shoot at a police range and man, CHP, Sheriff, Police, SWAT, other LEO all shoot 40sw. Im lucky because I shoot the exact caliber as them (40sw and .223/5.56) so i get all the brass I ever need there. Especially after a SWAT class.. lol...so much 5.56 brass its almost brass heaven.

EDIT: Forgot my main pupose of the post.. LOL!!

What causes KB?!

Squibs IMO, if you dont know how it feels and sound, your in a world of hurt.

[bubbapug1]

I've loaded and shot over 20,000 rounds in the last five years. I have had one kaboom and one almost kaboom. Here is what happened

First kaboom. Glock 17, the case blew out at the rim. Loads were 95% of max. It probably was some bad brass I picked up at SSA...an old 9mm major case. I noticed some of the other loads had loose primers.

Solution - don't pick up brass anywhere they might be shooting 9mm major loads.

Second Almost disaster Kaboom. - One of my dillon 550's had the old style powder system without the auto return rod. During the rainey season the slide on the powder charger can pick up moisture and get sticky. Mine stuck in the back position and didn't load powder into a case. I caught one of the two that didn't get filled. But one 45 acp got buy me.

The 45 ended up in a nice new 1911 I bought. It was a squib. I shot the round but didn't notice it was light.....but the next round wouldn't chamber totally...it was out by a few thousandths at most. I tool the gun apart and found the bullet lodged...had it gone another 0.05 inches I would have pulled that trigger and popped that gun. Its not a certainty that a stuck bullet will blow up a barrel. Its been tested and shown that many times the bullet will clear, but I'd rather not test my hand that way.

Solution. I fit the dillon with the positive return linkage for the powder station. I also check weigh all of my rifle loads, but not my pistol loads. I now stand up when loading pistol and visually look at each case advance to the bullet seating station to insure it has powder in it. I also use fluffy powders (red dot) in all pistol loads except 9mm major and 44 magnum to fill up the case as high as possible.

Mistakes happen. Unless you have a check weigher on the end station one shell can get by you, especially if you are more detached or loading fast from the process, as you are with a 650 or 550.

It does pay to slow down and add some QC inspections into your SOP's to prevent Kaboom.

As to unsupported barrels. Take apart you pistols and drop a round into them. You will see all pistols have some unsupported area around the back of the case near the ramp. Some brands have more open areas than others, and if the brass is weakened, this probably will be the area that goes, I know it was in my case.

I have run brass up to 15 times in a pistol, now I stop at 10. In my Ma Duece the limit is 5, and in my 223's it depends on the chamber. Tighter chambers are easier on brass. My 50 bmg Bohica is so tight I don't have to resize 50 bmg cases if I shoot them out of that gun, but the duece is so loose the case grows at least 0.1" each shot. And yes, its headspaced as tight as I can get it and still cycle rounds.

All of these issues is no reason not to reload. Its reason to understand what is happening to a piece of brass when it shot, and it also teaches you to respect the process.

Reloading has it own rewards. You can't buy factory ammo and get tight groups in most rifles. Your best load for that chamber can usually only be obtained by reloading.

Be careful, but enjoy the process.

[Chief-7700]

The auto indexing and a powder checker on the XL-650 reduce the chances of a squib.
Notice I said "reduce".

[Briancnelson]

If it's documented I'd love to see a link. It certainly wouldn't be the first time I was ever wrong. But to believe that Glock said specifically not to load for just their 40's is very hard to believe.

Same with Lee. However that wouldn't surprise me as Lee wants you to believe that you need a LFCD to load reliable ammo. And doesn't Lee make a so called "bulge buster" just to remove the dreaded Glock bulge?
Why make something called a bulge buster and then tell people not to use it on Glock 40?

I'm here to learn and am completely open to the idea that I'm wrong. But I know a lot of people that load for Glock 40 that have never had a problem.

They make the bulge buster so you can reload .40 for other guns that has been "bulged" by a Glock.

It wouldn't make sense for them to scare off the many, many Glock owners from reloading and buying their equipment so they could sell a few more bulge busters, which they would still not recommend you use to reload for a Glock~

There's a pretty good page on Glock kb!'s out there that has a fair amount of research and data on it. I have also found the Glock advisory online. Indeed they might have it on that site as well.

I don't have a link at the moment but I'll find it later when I'm home from work and link it if I can.

Point is, it's a real issue for some Glock .40's where the feed ramp impinges a bit. The later Gen Glock .40's are supposed to have fixed it, according to some sources, but I've only seen a few mentions of that, so I have no further information.

It still doesn't make a kaboom a frequent occurrence, it just increases the chances. Odds are that a responsible reloader will never blow up their gun. However, it's worth pointing out that both the manufacturer, Lee, and indeed an RCBS employee I talked to on the phone about a die set problem all specifically don't recommend reloading for the Glock (the employee asked me if I was going to use the set for a Glock, and would only answer my questions after I told him I had an S&W).

I'm not slamming the precious Glock, merely pointing out that it's one instance where a particular gun in a particular caliber has a known issue that increases your odds of a spontaneous explosive field strip. There are others. In fact the Lee notice in the reloading manual says "Glocks or other similar guns" that have the feed ramp issue.

[John Browning]

They make the bulge buster so you can reload .40 for other guns that has been "bulged" by a Glock. I've found it to be pretty easy to use an ordinary die to resize a Glocked case, unless it was so far out I would feel uncomfortable reloading it anyway.

It wouldn't make sense for them to scare off the many, many Glock owners from reloading and buying their equipment so they could sell a few more bulge busters, which they would still not recommend you use to reload for a Glock~

There's a pretty good page on Glock kb!'s out there that has a fair amount of research and data on it. I have also found the Glock advisory online. Indeed they might have it on that site as well.

I don't have a link at the moment but I'll find it later when I'm home from work and link it if I can.

Point is, it's a real issue for some Glock .40's where the feed ramp impinges a bit. The later Gen Glock .40's are supposed to have fixed it, according to some sources, but I've only seen a few mentions of that, so I have no further information.

It still doesn't make a kaboom a frequent occurrence, it just increases the chances. Odds are that a responsible reloader will never blow up their gun. However, it's worth pointing out that both the manufacturer, Lee, and indeed an RCBS employee I talked to on the phone about a die set problem all specifically don't recommend reloading for the Glock (the employee asked me if I was going to use the set for a Glock, and would only answer my questions after I told him I had an S&W).

I'm not slamming the precious Glock, merely pointing out that it's one instance where a particular gun in a particular caliber has a known issue that increases your odds of a spontaneous explosive field strip. There are others. In fact the Lee notice in the reloading manual says "Glocks or other similar guns" that have the feed ramp issue.

Is this the case for just a Glock .40, or should you avoid reloading for the Glock in other calibers like 9mm?

[Briancnelson]

The only one I've ever seen a specific mention of having this issue is the .40.