Glock .40s&w / Unsupported Chamber

kmittleman · Dec 4, 2016

Hi Guys,

I've been thinking about a Glock .40, but wonder if that unsupported chamber is an Achilles heel. And since I would reload for it, I wonder if this is a real concern.

Anyone have an opinion on this?

K

BUFF7MM · Dec 4, 2016

kmittleman said:
Hi Guys,

I've been thinking about a Glock .40, but wonder if that unsupported chamber is an Achilles heel. And since I would reload for it, I wonder if this is a real concern.

Anyone have an opinion on this?

K

For some reason I thought that problem had been remedied in the later Glocks, I'm probably wrong.

Myself I like to shoot cast and I shop around for lone wolf or storm lake barrels, all my Glocks are equipped with them.

knastera · Dec 4, 2016

Buff7mm said:
For some reason I thought that problem had been remedied in the later Glocks, I'm probably wrong.

Myself I like to shoot cast and I shop around for lone wolf or storm lake barrels, all my Glocks are equipped with them.

I have a Lone Wolf ported barrel in my Glock 23Gen4. It's a great piece of hardware.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

alucard0822 · Dec 4, 2016

The 40 barrel dimentions were changed more than 10 years ago in 3rd gen pistols. They "support" the case as much as most other pistols with the ramp and beveled chamber mouth don't extend past the thick case head. The chamber diameter is a bit "loose" so it does beat brass up, but the days of "smileys", brass that couldn't be safely reloaded, and gripes about "unsupported" chambers ended more than a decade ago.

kmittleman · Dec 5, 2016

alucard0822 said:
The 40 barrel dimentions were changed more than 10 years ago in 3rd gen pistols. They "support" the case as much as most other pistols with the ramp and beveled chamber mouth don't extend past the thick case head. The chamber diameter is a bit "loose" so it does beat brass up, but the days of "smileys", brass that couldn't be safely reloaded, and gripes about "unsupported" chambers ended more than a decade ago.

Cool - thanks Alucard. That was very helpful :thumbsup:

chrisflhtc · Dec 6, 2016

alucard0822 said:
The 40 barrel dimentions were changed more than 10 years ago in 3rd gen pistols. They "support" the case as much as most other pistols with the ramp and beveled chamber mouth don't extend past the thick case head. The chamber diameter is a bit "loose" so it does beat brass up, but the days of "smileys", brass that couldn't be safely reloaded, and gripes about "unsupported" chambers ended more than a decade ago.

I guess Ill be looking for a newer barrel then, I got mine in 1996 :sad20:

Shoobedoo · Dec 6, 2016

chrisflhtc said:
I guess Ill be looking for a newer barrel then, I got mine in 1996

In that case I would recommend a Lone Wolf barrel, it will cost you less than a Glock factory barrel, plus they offer slightly better chamber support, and they are also stainless steel if that matters to you. I have Lone Wolf barrels in a half dozen different Glocks, they are outstanding IMHO.

alucard0822 · Dec 6, 2016

chrisflhtc said:
I guess Ill be looking for a newer barrel then, I got mine in 1996

A lot of knowledgeable folk have varying opinions, some say replace it with the revised barrel, some say just shoot it. In the earlier days of 40, there was some variance in how thick the case head and web were, the chambers designed for 9mm were simply made larger, and the feed ramps had to intrude further into the chamber, approach at a steeper angle, or become shorter. Along with a wider HP cavity and truncated cone desings compared to 9mm's long round nose and tapered case, they tended to have feeding issues more. So basically combine a new round with varying case dimentions with various chamber and feed ramp geometries, then adopt it widely over a huge number of platforms and you end up with trouble. Pretty much all chambers are "supported", to varying degrees with various depths of intrusion, in GLOCKs case the early 40's had a few ammo brands where the case web was thin at the depth the feed ramp intruded, so you got bulges, and with overpressure conditions a potential kaboom. GLOCK fixed it by shortening the ramp, changing the angle, and chamfering the sides of the chamber to better feed more bullet profiles, and better support ammo with thin case webs. Funny thing is early 10/40 cal GLOCKs didn't have anywhere near the trouble of the Delta Elite's, but for some reason a 10mm 1911 gets a pass as the "ultimate pistol", where a 40 cal GLOCK is a hand grenade.

BUFF7MM · Dec 6, 2016

I was always under the assumption that the unsupported chamber issue was more with the G21's more so than other models, not that there wasn't issues with the other models, but again I'm probably going off of a brain fart I had at one time.

alucard0822 · Dec 6, 2016

Buff7mm said:
I was always under the assumption that the unsupported chamber issue was more with the G21's more so than other models, not that there wasn't issues with the other models, but again I'm probably going off of a brain fart I had at one time.

GLOCK does make small changes from time to time, they didn't do much to shorten the feed ramp, but newer barrels are a little thicker around the sides of the feed ramp, seen a couple pics where the bottom of the feed ramp was peeled down, probably by an over-pressure round. 45ACP(even+p) tends to be low pressure, and the cases have a long thick web, so tends to be unlikely to have issues or "smileys". 45 super is loaded to a much higher pressure than ACP(28k vs 21k) but the brass is also reinforced, lots of kabooms from hot and super spec loads in 45ACP brass. Here is a comparison, 1911, 08ish G30, USP45, and LWD G30 barrel, 2 on the right are rated for 45 Super and eat it just fine without excessive head expansion or case damage.

swinokur · Dec 6, 2016

google glock smilie.

IMO if you don't shoot reloaded ammo, you'll be fine.

Doing so voids the warranty anyway.

Glock .40s&w / Unsupported Chamber

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