[Boomer]

I was up late one night last week, couldn't sleep and decided I would reload some ammo. I was reloading range brass that I had picked up, head stamps vary. But the brass was that of which I had picked up when I was shooting in a beginners IPSC match. Most of it had been fired through Glock .40 cal pistols, including mine and the brass has the Glock-Bulge due to the unsupported chamber design.

Anyways, I reload with a Dillon 550B and Redding .40S&W/10MM Auto Dies. Well with Winchester and GFL (Fiocchi) brass was getting ruined. Check out the pic. But when I ran R-P or Federal brass through, I didn't have any problems. Has anyone else ever had this problem before?

 

[Don Glock]

interesting. i'm not a reloader, but Sfguard probably knows what's up with that


by the way--join my 10mm group!

 

[sfguard]

Unfortunately, I can't tell what was happening from those pics. Is this brass you had loaded then pulled? Or is this brass you hadn't loaded yet? If it was something you were loading did it feel kinda like something was getting caught? And have you ran any of this through a bulge buster?

 

[Boomer]

Unfortunately, I can't tell what was happening from those pics. Is this brass you had loaded then pulled? Or is this brass you hadn't loaded yet? If it was something you were loading did it feel kinda like something was getting caught? And have you ran any of this through a bulge buster?

The pieces of brass in the picture are Winchester White Box, once fired out of my G22. I was running the brass through Redding dies on my in my Dillion 550B. I couldn't feel much of anything, except that it was a little harder than normal to for the brass to cycle through the sizing die. The end result is that where the bulge was, it has now been pushed in (concaved) a little bit and the outside of the brass has been shaved. I havent run the brass through a brass buster yet. But, I did get a Redding G-Rx for xmas, which is the equivalent to the Brass Buster. Now I just need to get around to running the brass through the G-Rx sizer.

 

[sfguard]

Yeah try that because it almost looks like your trying to run 45 brass through a 40 sizing die. That is about the only time I have had that happen to me was when I had thrown a wrong size piece of brass into the mix somehow.

 

[sfguard]

The more I think about this the more something bothers me about the brass being that "bloated". (Can't think of another term at the time) Boomer did you shoot this brass or is the brass in question something you picked up? The reason I am asking is if it is 40 brass and you say it is so I am sure it is(not implying anything here just saying) I wonder if someone shot it in the wrong caliber gun.

Shooting say the 40 in a 45 or something. Could have been a new shooter and didn't know any better or something. That would also explain why it is only certain brass your having the issue with. IE what he/she had with them that day. That is the only thing that I can think of at the moment that would cause the diameter of the brass to be that far off.

 

[GRR]

I've loaded thousands of rounds of 40 cal range brass through my Dillion 550. I've never had and issue with bulged brass, except for a handfull of brass which was obviously over pressure.

 

[Boomer]

The more I think about this the more something bothers me about the brass being that "bloated". (Can't think of another term at the time) Boomer did you shoot this brass or is the brass in question something you picked up? The reason I am asking is if it is 40 brass and you say it is so I am sure it is(not implying anything here just saying) I wonder if someone shot it in the wrong caliber gun.

Shooting say the 40 in a 45 or something. Could have been a new shooter and didn't know any better or something. That would also explain why it is only certain brass your having the issue with. IE what he/she had with them that day. That is the only thing that I can think of at the moment that would cause the diameter of the brass to be that far off.

Some of the brass wasnt mine, but the Winchester for sure was mine, and it was shot from my G22. Also, my G22 is a gen2 pistol thats nearing 17 years of age and has passed I dong know how many thousands of rounds through it, so there is some wear. I think though, it might just be time for a new barrel, because also, I've got over 6k of 40 cal lead bullets my dad gave me that Id like to to load and shoot.

 

[sfguard]

Some of the brass wasnt mine, but the Winchester for sure was mine, and it was shot from my G22. Also, my G22 is a gen2 pistol thats nearing 17 years of age and has passed I dong know how many thousands of rounds through it, so there is some wear. I think though, it might just be time for a new barrel, because also, I've got over 6k of 40 cal lead bullets my dad gave me that Id like to to load and shoot.

I have to admit it has me stumped. I would have to have the stuff in hand to look at and try out a couple of times. It just shouldn't be doing that, Obviously. I can't help you on this one buddy

 

[Boomer]

Yeah, I'm not too sure either. But I have run the brass through my Redding G-Rx die to resize the bulge. So, I'll see how it goes when I get them loaded up and run back through my G22.

 

[sfguard]

Yeah, I'm not too sure either. But I have run the brass through my Redding G-Rx die to resize the bulge. So, I'll see how it goes when I get them loaded up and run back through my G22.

Let me know how it turns out

 

[toddje]

It sounds like you have an older G22 from which the famous "unsupported chamber" issue was birthed. I have a relatively recent .40 Glock that doesn't bulge the brass nearly as bad as your picture seems to indicate. I also have a KKM barrel; and as near as I can tell there are a couple thousandths of an inch difference (the KKM chamber is tighter than the factory). The result is that I can see NO bulge in the KKM barrel, and only very slight bulge in the stock-glock (Gen 3, circa 2009 or 2010) barrel.

When I use range pick-up brass and run them through my (Hornady) die, I get some brass that re-sizes and looks like what you have there. Some of them will fit a case gauge, some will not. It's pretty annoying, as I feel like I have to check each and every reloaded .40 round with a case gauge if I'm going to use it at a match.

There are numerous threads "out there" on forums about this, by the way - various fixes and such - but ultimately if it passes a case gauge you're probably OK to reload it to minor Power Factor. Once its damaged that way I personally don't load it up to major PF. Your mileage may vary, of course. Hope that helps.

 

[geezerkid]

Truly the noob here, I've only been to the range once with my new (well, not any more!) G-23, and fired off over 300 rnds of several factory brands, all new. I picked up a few handfuls of my, and others 40cal brass when I was done. I don't see any brass that does not have some bulge or mis-shape to it. I would not trust any of it for reload, unless it were all resized to proper dimensions first. Brass is soft. Certainly too soft to avoid expansion under chamber pressures.

Factory chambers can't be so precise, as to risk getting some brands of ammo stuck on the way in or out. So how can expansion not happen? Gotta know, gotta learn, gotta grow!

 

[Rowdie]

Boomer, I just found this thread and am getting geared up to start reloading. I'm interested in how this turned out.
Did you figure it out?

 

[Don Glock]

Truly the noob here, I've only been to the range once with my new (well, not any more!) G-23, and fired off over 300 rnds of several factory brands, all new. I picked up a few handfuls of my, and others 40cal brass when I was done. I don't see any brass that does not have some bulge or mis-shape to it. I would not trust any of it for reload, unless it were all resized to proper dimensions first. Brass is soft. Certainly too soft to avoid expansion under chamber pressures.

Factory chambers can't be so precise, as to risk getting some brands of ammo stuck on the way in or out. So how can expansion not happen? Gotta know, gotta learn, gotta grow!

yeah the loose chamber dimensions coupled with diminished chamber support make glock fired brass less than ideal for reloading. you can google "glock smile" and find that's the nickname given to the bulge at the bottom of the brass. i noticed some of my full power 10mm brass has the "glock smile".

 

[DanInVanHorne]

RE: Reloading Glock-fired brass

Hey all,

I am glad to contribute to this conversation with everything I have learned thus far. It may help offer some explanation.

Here's my scenario. I shoot a Glock 23. The day I bought it I also bought two boxes of white box Winchester .40 so I could start right out and shoot. I went through almost a full box and kept my brass.

I currently own a Dillon SDB and bought the .40 dies for reloading. Then, based on the advise of a good friend, I ordered the Lone Wolf barrel. This would allow me to shoot with my unsupported Glock barrel, then reload that brass and fire it again with my Lone Wolf barrel, which is fully supported. As I continued shooting, I just made it a practice to target shoot with my Lone Wolf and carry with my Glock barrel.

Recently, I loaded about 1000 rounds of 165gr CMJ to practice with the same weight as my carry ammunition. Yesterday I was target shooting through a hundred rounds and my gun started jamming. I was completely stumped and feared my gun was damaged somehow. (Astonished someone could even BREAK a Glock) My problem was every other magazine I would have a few bullets jam 3/4 the way into the barrel. At that point I stopped and headed inside to investigate.

What I found was exactly the images posted. I'll see if I can post some tonight so folks can see this close up. Now I've seen pictures of the infamous "Glock bulge" left behind on brass and was convinced that I was not a victim of this problem. Yet, it seemed as though I was left with a couple dozen bullets ruined because the press/die left a hairline ridge on the brass half way around near the base.

I pulled the bullet on one round, deprimed it, and ran it through the resize again. No change. Still that ridge. Now time to re-create this problem to see if my fears are realized.

I took 4 rounds of Winchester white box and my factory Glock barrel. Went outside, fired off all four rounds, then picked them up and returned to my shop. I then removed the decap and ran all four through stage 1 resize. Of the four, two sized without a problem, two left the ridge.

My conclusion is that it will be by a random condition that any brass fired through a factory Glock barrel with a partiall unsupported chamber will create a micrometer size weakness near the base of the brass. During resizing, a standard vertical press die will not be able to recompress that small portion of the brass and will instead leave that ridge which will jam your rounds. As this is random, I can say that of my 100 rounds shot, I only had about two dozen create this crease. Because this is permanent, I have to find some free time to knock all the bullets out, reclaim the powder, and decap the primer, then discard the brass.

Lesson learned: If you fire brass in your factory Glock barrel and you reload them, be ready for these failures. Target shoot as much as possible with a fully supported barrel such as Lone Wolf. Practice your defense and carry with your Glock barrel.

I guess that's the price of "Glock ownership".

Regards,
Dan

 

[G23SNT]

There's a YouTube vid on reloading .40 casings with a buldge. I think you just have to resize them. I'll check for the link. I'll post it when I find it.

 

[DanInVanHorne]

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