Bullet remained in barrel.

[ntexaschl]

Hi Forum. I had something unusual happen last night. I field stripped my Glock 30, dabbed a few drops of oil on the rails, and then reassembled it. I inserted the fully loaded 10 rd magazine and then racked the slide. I heard a strange sound...like a "ping" or something like that. I decided I'd better open the slide and investigate. I couldn't rake the slide at first. I had to grasp the pistol very firmly and pull rather hard on the slide to open it. Out pops an empty unfired shell casing. The bullet remained in the barrel. It was easily removed from the barrel, though. So, I unloaded the remaining 9 rds from the magazine. Holding each round one at a time, between my left thumb and forefinger, I was able to press the bullet of 3 of those rounds into it's casing about 1/8". This is Remington Golden Saber ammo. I bought this ammo about 2 yrs ago. What gives? Is this maybe an extreme example of bullet setback? Is the ammo just too old? Should I toss the remainder? What would be the proper method of disposition? Thanks for your help.

[TDDude]

I've got some surplus M-1 Carbine ammo that's 50 plus years old that still fires just fine. The bullets certainly don't wiggle in the case. I suspect that those rounds were messed up when you bought them.

I would call Remington. I'm sure they would like to hear about this defect.

[txmatt]

I've had bullet setback with golden sabers. Don't know if they are somehow more prone to bullet movement than other types/brands of ammunition.

I agree with TDDude, this would definitely be worth contacting Remington over.

[MechAg94]

I've only seen that happen with some cheap .223 reloaded ammo I bought a long time ago. Got unburnt powder all in the chamber and bolt. It sucked because I didn't have a cleaning rod to knock out the bullet. In this case, I didn't fire the round, just tried to eject it.

[HankB]

I haven't seen this with name-brand factory ammo myself, but I HAVE found that some Remington .45 pistol brass is, to all intents and purposes, non-reloadable.

It turns out that in .45, at least, Remington's brass thickness at the case mouth is several thousandths of an inch less than most other brass, meaning that standard dies will not size it down enough to get a good grip on the bullet. I'm guessing that Remington has messed with brass thickness on the ammo you've got to the degree that their factory loading equipment won't do the job either.

I'd contact Remington and let them know about the problem you're having with their ammo.

[ntexaschl]

I'd like to thank all who replied to this post. It seems that the general consensus is for me to notify Remington...which I will do. Thanks again.

[mbw]

Your problem doesn't really sound like bullet setback.

The 45ACP headspaces on the mouth of the brass. If you had a bullet that struck in the barrel, that would mean that the cartridge actually slipped forward into the rifled portion of the barrel. The cartridge case mouth actually slipped by the shoulder in the barrel that holds the case in the correct position and allowed the bullet to enter the rifled portion of the barrel, and that is not a setback problem. That may also explain the sound that you heard when you chambered the round.

Most Glocks have what some call "Loose Chambering", but not loose enough for this to happen. What another poster stated about Remington brass being maybe undersized is probably the cause of your problem.

Get rid of the ammo. Give it back to Remington.

[couzin]

It is called "unseating" or "jumping the crimp" - I have had Golden Saber do that in other pistols and revolvers but never in a glock. Was this ammo a +p round? Was it ammo that was in the magazine while firing and was removed and reinserted? Posters are correct - contact manufacturer.

[ntexaschl]

Was this ammo a +p round? Was it ammo that was in the magazine while firing and was removed and reinserted?

The answer to both of these questions is "No". It was just regular Remington Golden Saber HPJ in a 25 rd count box. I called Remington this afternoon and described the situation. They were very interested in the issue. They want to examine the ammo and determine the cause. They will send me a postage paid return authorization to ship, using FedEx, the bad ammo plus all remaining ammo along with the box. They'll inform me of the results of the examination. They'll also supply me with a new box of Golden Sabers. Cool, huh? I'm very pleased with their customer service. Thanks again to all who offered advice.

[mactex]

The original post stated that the ammo was purchased 2 years ago. I'm wondering if chambering the rounds over and over might have caused the problem?

[NcongruNt]

I don't see how setback could have caused a bullet to become lodged too far forward so that it got stuck in the barrel. The only thing I can think of is what others suggested... that the bullet wasn't crimped in there, possibly due to a thin case wall, and the momentum of the round moving forward while chambering caused the bullet to continue forward when the cased stopped once it was in battery.