9mm case explosion with Gen 3 G34

[outrider58]

What makes you say that? If the chamber is in spec, and the majority of the case is in the chamber, the firing pin is going to strike the center of the primer.

As the barrel comes out of battery, the chamber drops down.

 

[John from MD]

As the barrel comes out of battery, the chamber drops down.

That's true but by then it should have disconnected.

 

[atblis]

The barrel and slide can only separate after the barrel has dropped.

 

[John from MD]

The barrel and slide can only separate after the barrel has dropped.

True. But, if working correctly, the barrel will drop maybe a 1/16 of an inch before the trigger is disconnected. If timed correctly, the web of the case is still in the chamber with the exception of Glock manufactured barrels. For a non Glock barrel, assuming it is in spec, the pistol timing has to be off quite a bit to have an OOB ignition.

 

[atblis]

What I am saying is that if the gun is out of battery enough to cause a case failure, the primer strike will be off center.

 

[lazarus]

True. But, if working correctly, the barrel will drop maybe a 1/16 of an inch before the trigger is disconnected. If timed correctly, the web of the case is still in the chamber with the exception of Glock manufactured barrels. For a non Glock barrel, assuming it is in spec, the pistol timing has to be off quite a bit to have an OOB ignition.

If you look at a bunch of semi-auto, 9mm barrels, most are some form of unsupported, with some worse than Glock factory barrels. Plenty better, sure. But almost all lack some support in the feed ramp area of the chamber.

That said, I collect so much range brass and shoot so unoccasionally in comparison to what I collect, I might never worry about it. That said, I am mostly just not collecting my shot brass for 9mm. Most range trips I end up collecting 50-200 pieces of 9mm brass. Sometimes more (rarely, I'll skip collecting any brass or find any brass to collect).

About 1 in 2 trips I am shooting 9mm. And usually 50-100 rounds of 9mm a trip, sometimes 150. I've got about 1000 pieces of cleaned brass ready to load. About 1200 rounds loaded. And I've got a 2 gallon bucket filled with 9mm brass and another 2 gallon bucket maybe 1/3rd full. All dirty brass (mine or range brass). My math comes out to around 4000-4500 cases between those buckets.

I shoot probably 1200 rounds of 9mm a year. So I'll likely never run out if I just trash what I shoot.

 

[Bountied]

That's true but by then it should have disconnected.

They always look like this. Glock on the right.

 

[erwos]

If you look at a bunch of semi-auto, 9mm barrels, most are some form of unsupported, with some worse than Glock factory barrels. Plenty better, sure. But almost all lack some support in the feed ramp area of the chamber.

This guy nailed it.

People look for all sorts of explanations that blame OOB or double charges or whatever. What OP had happen was a brass failure, and the failure point was probably at the feed ramp area of the barrel. Most of my guns won't even fire with slightly high primers. The likelihood that it went OOB with the case that far out of the barrel seems implausible, to say the least.

I've had brass blow out maybe 2-3x like this. If you habitually collect your 9mm brass and keep re-using it, it's going to happen. For the most part, I don't collect pistol brass because of this.

 

[lazarus]

This guy nailed it.

People look for all sorts of explanations that blame OOB or double charges or whatever. What OP had happen was a brass failure, and the failure point was probably at the feed ramp area of the barrel. Most of my guns won't even fire with slightly high primers. The likelihood that it went OOB with the case that far out of the barrel seems implausible, to say the least.

I've had brass blow out maybe 2-3x like this. If you habitually collect your 9mm brass and keep re-using it, it's going to happen. For the most part, I don't collect pistol brass because of this.

Yeah, an OOB with a glock would take disconnector defect or a double feed.

I guess in theory if the recoil spring is defective or very weak, it could cycle fast enough rearward that the high case pressure would just straight up blow the case out.

Brass wears out. Pistol brass not as fast as rifle brass, for full supported chambers. But most semi-auto pistols are only "mostly supported". A few examples really are fully supported, but I don't own a semi-auto that I can think of where if you drop a round in the chamber, the chamber FULLY supports the ENTIRE case and case web. Every semi-auto I've ever checked reloads in barrels, there is a least a tiny smidge at the feed ramp that isn't supported. Some are worse than others. And I am fully willing to admit maybe one or two of my guns do fully support the entire cartridge in the chamber and I am having a brain fart right now.

But I've got Glocks, factory and aftermarket barrels, out the yazoo, P1, Cz50, Cz82, Browning buckmark. I had an M70 and M57.

Actually, cancel, that, the buckmark fully supports its wee little 22lr if you don't count the cut for the firing pin at the rim.

And I've peeped plenty of pictures about this of other guns too showing what it looks like with a round fully chambered.

More support is better always, but they almost all have some kind of slight loss of support by the feed ramp.

If you've got case bulge after a firing, you are running thin brass or over pressure rounds.

Now what happens after several firings is a different story. What happens after a LOT of firings is another story too. Eventually that case is going to burst. I am not too afraid to reuse 45acp until the heat death of the universe. Or 38spc. Or other similar low pressure cartridges. The stuff pushing 30k PSI+? No sir. Of course the brass isn't throw away, but it will eventually fail.

A 45acp or 38spc rupturing with 20k psi behind it, eh. That is what gloves and shooting glasses are for. Once you are talking 32k PSI of a 9mm, or pushing 40k+ that magnum cartridges are talking about...

That is also what protection is for. But also there, you are more likely to have catastrophic ruptures, rather than cracked cases and a gassy low velocity shot.


If I weren't too lazy to track this stuff, I'd toss anything after 5 firings for pistol cartridges for anything warmer than 38spc and 45acp. Just because. I am lazy, and anything else I shoot a lot of is just 9mm and 22lr. One of which I am not reloading, the other is easy to find a lot of range brass and I'll take the odds that someone's knackered isn't past its last firing and is going to rupture on me and gets scooped up by me, versus commercial brass someone just left after its first firing.

357 and 44 magnum I will happily use range brass too. I also am/will keep track of how many firings I have on it, as well as what kind of firings. Full house magnum loads? Or 38spc/44spc +p or +p+ in a 357/44 case handload. The former I'd go with 5 shots and then toss the brass. The later I'd go with 10. Or if used for one then the other, figure that in.

90% of my 357 and 44 magnum reloading is usually with BE or TG running 158 or 240gr bullets at around 1050fps for 357 and 1100fps for 44 magnum (from a 6" barrel). A few steps down from max loads. The other 20% is some flavor and weight of bullet being pushed behind 98-100% H110 charges.

 

[atblis]

Counter to what most people think, no recoil spring does not equal a kaboom. The delay due to the inertia of the slide assembly…

 

[Biggfoot44]

Outside of maybe some custom fully ramped bbls ( with the protruding ramp sticking out behind the bbl , and corresponding notch cut out of the frame ) , every semiauto will have at least a scooch for feeding .

Glock ( particularly 1st Gen ) simply has more than most .

Off the top of my head , up to 7 factors have to be just right ( wrong ) to have a case blow out. Glock chamber ramps are just a small factor , on just one of them .

 

[atblis]

Outside of maybe some custom fully ramped bbls ( with the protruding ramp sticking out behind the bbl , and corresponding notch cut out of the frame ) , every semiauto will have at least a scooch for feeding .

Glock ( particularly 1st Gen ) simply has more than most .

Off the top of my head , up to 7 factors have to be just right ( wrong ) to have a case blow out. Glock chamber ramps are just a small factor , on just one of them .

Is that true of the 9x19 Glocks? I know that the 40 chambers were revised some time around 2009 maybe. The dot in the hexagon on the barrel, indicating the revised chamber. I've never heard that the 9x19 chambers ever changed, nor that they ever had any issues with support.

 

[Biggfoot44]

A vague tickling in my memory about slight tweaking between Gen 1 and Gen 2 . But I'm not quite that geeked out on Glock trivia .

Never had issues or concerns with +P+ in my G17 Gen 1 . But the G29sf will have an aftermarket bbl in it's future before Nuclear Level Handloads .

 

[My Toy]

If you look at a bunch of semi-auto, 9mm barrels, most are some form of unsupported, with some worse than Glock factory barrels. Plenty better, sure. But almost all lack some support in the feed ramp area of the chamber.

That said, I collect so much range brass and shoot so unoccasionally in comparison to what I collect, I might never worry about it. That said, I am mostly just not collecting my shot brass for 9mm. Most range trips I end up collecting 50-200 pieces of 9mm brass. Sometimes more (rarely, I'll skip collecting any brass or find any brass to collect).

About 1 in 2 trips I am shooting 9mm. And usually 50-100 rounds of 9mm a trip, sometimes 150. I've got about 1000 pieces of cleaned brass ready to load. About 1200 rounds loaded. And I've got a 2 gallon bucket filled with 9mm brass and another 2 gallon bucket maybe 1/3rd full. All dirty brass (mine or range brass). My math comes out to around 4000-4500 cases between those buckets.

I shoot probably 1200 rounds of 9mm a year. So I'll likely never run out if I just trash what I shoot.

I do the same thing at the range. I never pick up my own fired reloads to reload again. There is so much 9mm brass laying around and I just pick what other people leave laying under the assumption (and also my observation ) that most are firing factory ammo. If you belong to a range of any size and reload for 9mm you should never have to buy brass (except for some special loading) because there is so much free brass available.

 

[lazarus]

I do the same thing at the range. I never pick up my own fired reloads to reload again. There is so much 9mm brass laying around and I just pick what other people leave laying under the assumption (and also my observation ) that most are firing factory ammo. If you belong to a range of any size and reload for 9mm you should never have to buy brass (except for some special loading) because there is so much free brass available.

Even with somewhat specialty stuff. I've got about 200 +p nickel plated cases W-W and around 140 FC of the same.

Not sure I really need it marked +p, but hey, I can load one or both up for rolling my own XTP loads.

Even 45acp, I don't collect much, but I still usually walk away with 10-40 cases a range trip. I do pickup my own .45acp, but I still probably collect as much as I shoot. Add in collecting some of my own and my 45acp brass collection keeps growing.

 

[My Toy]

Even with somewhat specialty stuff. I've got about 200 +p nickel plated cases W-W and around 140 FC of the same.

Not sure I really need it marked +p, but hey, I can load one or both up for rolling my own XTP loads.

Even 45acp, I don't collect much, but I still usually walk away with 10-40 cases a range trip. I do pickup my own .45acp, but I still probably collect as much as I shoot. Add in collecting some of my own and my 45acp brass collection keeps growing.

Yes, I do collect my own 45 ACP cases for reload as that is a much lower pressure round; you'll probably lose them before they are no longer safe to reload. I wish more people shot 45 ACP at my range.

 

[lazarus]

Yes, I do collect my own 45 ACP cases for reload as that is a much lower pressure round; you'll probably lose them before they are no longer safe to reload. I wish more people shot 45 ACP at my range.

Lol, ditto. That and Euro 7.65 browning/.32acp.

My Cz50 doesn't't like feeding American .32acp The shorter case web causes rim issues in the magazines and the rounds nose dive and fail to feed with fully loaded magazines.

Euro stuff feeds great (Geco, Prvi, S&B, a couple of others). If I load magazines to 5 or 6 rounds they'll run fine with American 32acp (federal, Winchester, Remington, Starline, a couple of others). And my Cz50 wants to just hurl brass (wtf commies, why? Why do all of your guns try to injure comrades on the firing line?). Even using a hand brass catcher, I manage to only come home with about 90% of my brass from it.

Sadly most people are shooting American 32acp.

I really need someone who has a Skorpian and a crate of Geco 7.65 browning have a field day.

 

[Growler215]

I "retire" my 9mm brass after 2 firings by reloading it a third time and putting it in my "stockpile."

As others have said, lots of 9mm brass out there. In fact, right now I only reload Winchester brass. I trust other brass, e.g. Federal Blazer, but it seems to get beat up more, so I've just been cleaning it and putting it aside.

I use a brass catcher on my PCC and on all semi-auto rifles except .22lr.