Haven Police Ditch Glocks After Two Explode

[TexasComputerDude]

Two of 90 Glock Model 37 pistols blew up in separate training incidents a year apart.

http://www.theledger.com/article/200803 ... 30481/1004

The Police Department is ditching $38,000 worth of guns after two .45-caliber GAP Glock Model 37 pistols exploded in separate training incidents a year a part, causing minor injuries to an officer and a cadet.

thoughts? opinions? I carry a glock 30 and its always been reliable for me.

[killerfly128]

thoughts? opinions? I carry a glock 30 and its always been reliable for me.

This is becoming more and more common apparently. I knew that the unsupported chambers in the .40 cal Glocks were a issue but now it appears that all glocks are suspect to the Ka Boom factor. Here is a web site with more info on Glock KB! incidents.

http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And here is a "How glocks work" gif for you to enjoy I have been wanting to use this in my signature here forever but the mods have banned GIFs in sigs here

[Liberty]

I've been told that Glocks are safe and that they will not KB unless you pull the safety trigger. YMMV

[stevie_d_64]

...ditching $38,000 worth of Glocks???

There's got to be some needy people out there that could use them...

Cha-Ching!!!

[C-dub]

Please forgive my ignorance. What is an unsupported chamber?

I had read about these kabooms a year or two ago and thought they boiled down to bad reloads.

[casingpoint]

Never chamber a round into a Glock. They make great clubs with that grip angle.

[ELB]

Swapping to a new gun would only make sense if you could show that whatever the new gun is, it is actually less prone to problems than the one you leaving.

I haven't read Gunzone guy's stuff lately, but it always struck me that his arguments were pretty much that a Glock CAN be made to explode, not that it has any more problems than other pistols.

FWIW, all the KBs I have witnessed have been 1911s. And anyway, if everyone used Glocks in the caliber and capacity that God and Gaston intended, the 9mm with 18 or 16 rounds, and quit wasting money and capacity chasing after ephemeral increments of "effectiveness" with insignificant increases in caliber, they wouldn't have these problems... (3...2....1....hehehehehe...my job here is done, off to fire school training for a week)

[joe817]

Maybe that model Glock, in that caliber, has an inherent weakness that a smaller caliber in that model wouldn't. Glock has had almost a year and a half to address the issue since the article was written.

What surprised me was the PD only paid $350 for them. Wonder how much they sell for on the open market?

Interesting article TCD. Thanks for posting.

[HighVelocity]

I'll bet a nickel that the AMMO was the real cause in both incidents.

If you search the www, You will find multiple 45GAP chambered guns blowing up because of over pressure ammo.

Like this one for example:

http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=112248" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ghostrider]

My understanding was that the infamous Glock Kaboom phenomenon was mostly with .40 S&W calibre models due to the case not being as 'fully supported' as in 9mm. One could get around this by installing an aftermarket barrel with better case support, though an LEO agency is not likely to do that (and why should they need to? If its a factory/design problem, buy a differ gun or calibre).

This sort of thing can and has happened in other guns - early 38 Super 1911's using unramped (ie. not fully supported) barrels, for example. Its generally not a problem in .45 ACP because we're talking 21000psi rather than ~35000 psi of 9mm, 40, and 38 Super.

I've seen it happen in a browning hipower in 9mm using 'factory re-manufactured' ammunition; it clearly was a weak case or an overloaded round. Fortunately, there was not damage to shooter or gun.

[mrvmax]

I'll bet a nickel that the AMMO was the real cause in both incidents.

If you search the www, You will find multiple 45GAP chambered guns blowing up because of over pressure ammo.

Like this one for example:

http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=112248" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is my guess also, the ammo caused it or operator error.

[ghostrider]

Bulged .40 brass from Glocks is enough of a problem that Redding has a new tool for resizing such brass:

http://www.redding-reloading.com/pages/grxpushthru.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/product/T1326" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Annoyed Man]

We own four 1911's - all with unsupported chambers - and we have fired many many thousands of rounds through them without ever having a kaboom.

Something doesn't add up here.

[ghostrider]

>Something doesn't add up here.

I'm wondering if the problem is excessive working of the brass in .40 S&W Glocks that is causing it to be weaker and more likely to rupture? Certainly I've not heard of this in .40 S&W 1911's, but I don't know how the case support compares. The 460 Rowland is a 40000psi cartridge as is the 9x23 and I've not heard of issues with those, but obviously the sample size of these 2 'niche' cartridges pales in comparison to the vast number of .40 S&W guns being used. (Haven't a majority of US LEO agencies moved to .40 S&W now?)

We can't really come to a meaningful conclusion without a lot more data:
# were the guns factory stock?
# were the rounds reloaded or re-manufactured with fired brass?
# were lead bullets used in the barrels (not recommended in factory Glock barrels)?
# were all the blowed-up Glocks in .40S&W?

[Crossfire]

Bulged .40 brass from Glocks is enough of a problem that Redding has a new tool for resizing such brass:

http://www.redding-reloading.com/pages/grxpushthru.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/product/T1326" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I didn't see anything on the Redding site about this being a Glock specific problem.