When you think you've see everything!

[Eric Lamberson]

My "you've got to be kidding" experience for the week.

I was the Safety Officer for an IDPA squad today at the local match. It was a close range rifle match that had some pistol transitions. One gentleman fired a stage that required engaging two targets with two pistol shots each. When we went to score those targets there were gaping holes (2 in each) that were 1.5" plus in diameter but no obvious pistol-caliber holes. There was nothing between the shooter and the target that he could have hit.

Puzzled, I started to score the shots as misses when the shooter stated the large holes were his shots and that the holes resulted from the plated bullets shedding the copper jacket. Imagine my astonishment. I asked him what caliber he was firing and he replied--10mm--he was shooting these bullets through a Glock 10mm. Additional discussion followed.

[loktite]

So he needs to not push the FPS so hard then, and load them a bit lighter? Perhaps buy bullets with thicker plating? Or is this just simply a matter of fact for him and he considers it acceptable? I guess it doesn't really matter if he's not bullseye scoring and only range load.

[Eric Lamberson]

The issue would be shooting a plated bullet at a high enough velocity to shed the plating would likely deposit excessive lead/copper in the bore. High pressure rounds such as the 10mm firing a plated bullet fast enough to strip the plating and essentially turn the bullet into a blob of lead could create a higher potential for a ruptured case. A bad thing with a high pressure round. I once had a 40 S&W reload rupture in a Glock. It felt like someone hit the palm of my hand with a baseball bat.

He should have been loading jacketed bullets or using lighter loads.