• If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership  The benefits pay for the membership many times over.

Glocks and reloads

Garys

NES Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
Messages
22,476
Likes
9,040
Location
Watching the Hippos
Feedback: 98 / 0 / 0
I don't own a Glock, but my son recently bought a couple. He's also bought some relloads, which I think have lead bullets. He has a Glock 45 (I think) which is a full size frame with a short barrel. 9mm for the record.

I seem to remember a controversy with reloads, particularly lead bullets, but don't remember the details. Was that for 9mm, 40, or all calibers.

If this has been beaten to death here, just point me to the right thread and I'll read it.

Thanks.
 
I don't own a Glock, but my son recently bought a couple. He's also bought some relloads, which I think have lead bullets. He has a Glock 45 (I think) which is a full size frame with a short barrel. 9mm for the record.

I seem to remember a controversy with reloads, particularly lead bullets, but don't remember the details. Was that for 9mm, 40, or all calibers.

If this has been beaten to death here, just point me to the right thread and I'll read it.

Thanks.

It's the polygonal riffling. Not just Glocks. The shape of polygonal rifling could lead to pressure issues with enough lead fouling.
 
Lead can maybe possibly build up sometimes in some Glock polygonal rifle barrels. The solution is to use coated bullets (Blue Bullets, Ibejiheads, etc.) which are way cleaner at the same price as plain lead.
 
Disclaimer: I know ZERO about this issue, but my gut feeling says I remember discussions about unsupported barrels... and aftermarket barrels can be safer for reloads.

I have no source to point you towards, and that could be pure bullshit
 
1200px-Polygonal_vs_normal_rifling.svg.png


When polygonal rifling (the one on the right) gets fouled with lead, it can lead to dangerous back pressure. And given the nature of the shape having more contact surface area and shallow depth of rifling, it is prone to his problem with lead bullets.
 
not advocating doing so...i shoot lead from my glocks with the poly barrels but i tend to scrub them more often, just in case. one g19 in particular has seen it's fair share of lead for 30 years and the gun and myself are here and still working. i'm creaky and stiff, gun is just fine. i did buy an after market barrel for the 10mm g20. was i overly cautious? dunno. if you scour the internet starting with the glock board, you get a couple different opinions. some people are convinced this polygonal thing was glocks way of ensuring owners only shot factory jacketed ammo. again, i dunno. I AM NOT SAYING IT'S OK TO SHOOT LEAD THROUGH A POLYGONAL BARREL JUST BECAUSE I DO. you asked, i answered. i own more than a few so i'm not blowing smoke out my ass.
 
not advocating doing so...i shoot lead from my glocks with the poly barrels but i tend to scrub them more often, just in case. one g19 in particular has seen it's fair share of lead for 30 years and the gun and myself are here and still working. i'm creaky and stiff, gun is just fine. i did buy an after market barrel for the 10mm g20. was i overly cautious? dunno. if you scour the internet starting with the glock board, you get a couple different opinions. some people are convinced this polygonal thing was glocks way of ensuring owners only shot factory jacketed ammo. again, i dunno. I AM NOT SAYING IT'S OK TO SHOOT LEAD THROUGH A POLYGONAL BARREL JUST BECAUSE I DO. you asked, i answered. i own more than a few so i'm not blowing smoke out my ass.

I think that's like 80% Glock covering their assess from lawsuit and 20% actually applies to daily shooting. Given regular de-leading cleaning after each trip, I doubt it's a major factor, but at the same time I'm not going to be the one to recommend it either.
 
IIRC there's also an issue with reloading brass shot out of a Glock. I think they have unsupported chambers and the brass tends to bulge out near the rim. I had to get a full length resizing die to resolve the problem.
 
Thanks for the answers. He doesn't do his own reloading. He just bought some 9mm reloads from a local guy in SC that has been reloading for a while. Doesn't sell commercially, but he's the father of a friend, so he sold some.

I'll mention it to him just so he knows that there could potentially be a problem.
 
I don't own a Glock, but my son recently bought a couple. He's also bought some relloads, which I think have lead bullets. He has a Glock 45 (I think) which is a full size frame with a short barrel. 9mm for the record.

I seem to remember a controversy with reloads, particularly lead bullets, but don't remember the details. Was that for 9mm, 40, or all calibers.

If this has been beaten to death here, just point me to the right thread and I'll read it.

Thanks.

Its the rifling like mentioned above, but its not at the same time.
While it handles jaceketed much better because of the design, the issue with lead is using bare lead and skidding into the rifling. Especially in 9 or 40.
I've never seen or heard of an issue using either plated or coated lead, mostly because loaded velocity is on the lower end compared to jacketed.
Less velocity, less stripping of the coating as it skids.
If its still a concern, aftermarket drop-in barrels (which actually just really do drop right in) with conventional rifling are available for short money.

Good luck with it
 
Thanks for the answers. He doesn't do his own reloading. He just bought some 9mm reloads from a local guy in SC that has been reloading for a while. Doesn't sell commercially, but he's the father of a friend, so he sold some.

I'll mention it to him just so he knows that there could potentially be a problem.
I would tell him to find a Storm Lake or KKM or some other reputable brand barrel for it and just shoot the reloads with the aftermarket barrel. A barrel is cheaper than 4 or 5 boxes of 9mm right now.
 
Glock says not to shoot lead bullets due to their type of rifling, as stated above. Most of us who shoot lead through our Glocks buy a Wolf barrel, or other brand, with conventional spiral cut rifling. However, before I was aware of that I put several thousand of my cast bullets through my G19 without a single issue. But now I use my Wolf bbl with cast bullets.
 
The KKM barrels are rumored to be better than Lone Wolf, I have a KKM is a G22 and I have never had an issue with it

as others have said the issue is lead fouling with the Glock rifling.
 
Polygonal rifling is no different when it comes to leading.
You either have it right or you don’t. If you have standard rifling and you get leading you can increase pressures and blow your gun up.
IRRC the issue is that polygonal rifling take a slightly different approach with bullet to barrel fit which is not something you can control in factory or commercially reloaded ammo.
If you roll your own you can figure the right size and order or make what works for your gun.
This is no different than any other gun with cast.
Cast gets a bad name because commercial/reloaded bullets are made undersized, too hard or too soft an alloy.
Check castboolits forum for plenty of guys that shoot thousands upon thousands through their Glocks with no need to clean.
That being said you can try a handful of shots. Check the bore. Try a handful more. Check the bore. That way you can determine if there is any issue with the ammo before builds significant pressure issues.
It doesn’t take many rounds to tell if it’s going to lead or not.
With a bullet .001” undersized in my 1911 I could barely see the rifling under all the lead after 2 mags.
Step it up .001” And I literally fire thousands of rounds with a shiny bore when I’m done.

In short, be safe. Don’t trust anything you read on the internet (including this) and proceed with caution.

Edited to add: this is a picture of Metford rifling from somewhere around the late 1800s when there were no copper jacketed bullets. Only some with paper jackets. These rifles are shot still today with bare lead.
67368CE4-6391-42BD-84E7-ABA00ED76B96.jpeg
 
meh. Just shoot coated bullets as mentioned and clean the barrel more than once every 10,000 rounds...

What? Clean a barrel that has less than 10,000 rounds through it???
That's just wasteful.

I mean, I "might" consider running a bore snake through it a couple of times, but that's about it.
 
Serious question... how many folks still reload with lead bullets? If so, why?

You'd be surprised how many for handgun.
Straight lead? No
Coated lead? Thoudands.
I can think of about 6 manufacturers right now that are so backlogged that deliveries are about 10-14 weeks out.

Its not uncommon to be able to push 9mm or .38 super well into 12-1400 fps with these.
 
Serious question... how many folks still reload with lead bullets? If so, why?
Lots. Cheaper is cheaper.
That doesn’t mean much to some people but to others who are either frugal or don’t have the $ for extras would rather have 10 or 20% more for their money vs. jacketed.
Now with coated lead being a normal offering from the big casting companies you can shoot coated which might as well be plated with how they work for the same damn cost as lead with lube.

Then there’s the weirdos who like to cast and shoot cast. I would stay away from those types of people though. Can’t be trusted.
 
Gen 5 glocks are fine with lead bullets.

But with that said. I have no idea why anyone would shoot lead bullets. There are companies making high quality coated bullets that are only marginally more expensive than lead. I pay $220 for 3500 high quality coated 124 gr 9mm bullets. How much cheaper do they need to be?

With the coating there is

1) no smoke
2) no leading of the barrel
3) no exposure to lead for me

Its a no brainer.
 
There is no reason to buy lead bullets.

I completely get it if you make your own bullets using a low cost source of lead. But if you are paying for lead bullets, the coated bullet are only marginally more expensive and have several benefits that make it not worth cheaping out.

1) less smoke
2) less leading
3) sealed base so less lead exposure for you.
 
There is no reason to buy lead bullets.

I completely get it if you make your own bullets using a low cost source of lead. But if you are paying for lead bullets, the coated bullet are only marginally more expensive and have several benefits that make it not worth cheaping out.

1) less smoke
2) less leading
3) sealed base so less lead exposure for you.
True. The coated price difference is negligible.
I do like the smell of Bullet lube though.
 
The KKM barrels are rumored to be better than Lone Wolf, I have a KKM is a G22 and I have never had an issue with it

as others have said the issue is lead fouling with the Glock rifling.
I have KKM barrels in my g17 and g19.

I don’t think I would ever put anything lone wolf in any gun.

The KKM is supposedly ok with bare lead bullets.

The KKM are highly rated.
 
Back
Top Bottom