Reloading for a Glock 23...

[tddeangelo]

Ok, so I picked up a G23 in 40S&W. I've read various cautions of reloading for Glocks.

Can anyone give me the cliff notes version? I haven't been able to see the complete story on this thus far.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

It's not terribly difficult, Tom. Just be careful about pressure, and inspect your brass for a bulge just above the webbing. If you find that is occurring, you may want to invest in an aftermarket barrel. I've never had any issues with mine, through about 3-4k rounds (all loaded on a single stage press, too!). You can visually inspect the chamber by just dropping a factory round into the chamber while the barrel is out of the gun. Use some powder or spray grease to mark it, and then look at it to see if the unsupported part of the chamber extends up beyond the web of the case.

I loaded a lot of lower pressure practice rounds, and never saw any issues. Worked up carefully to full pressure loads without a hitch, as well. Just be careful. And remember that it's like your 45ACP - case trim length is very important, as the case headspaces off of the mouth.

Oh, and no lead bullets in a factory barrel - copper only. Polygonal rifling does not like lead.

 

[tddeangelo]

Since you bring up trim length, that leads to an issue that's vexed me for a while now with straight-walled cases. I don't load for such rounds a lot, and this is an issue that's bugged me.

I loaded a lot of rounds when working up an M1 Carbine load a while back, and the Carbine headspaces on the mouth, too. What's more, it can fire out of battery, which is cleary in the "Not Good" category. So, I was picky about trim length, even moreso when the carbine displayed a preference for H110, which leaves a lot of fouling.

When sizing, the case mouth gets expanded to accept a new bullet. So trimming has to be done with an expanded case mouth. But when the bullet is seated and the case mouth "closed", the length will change.

How do you trim the cases to get a good length once the round is completed? I'm sure I'm making this too difficult, but it's something that's always vexed me.

 

[Guest]

I can't speak to the 30car, but my pistol dies don't size and expand in one step. I size (carbide sizing die), check and trim, expand, charge & seat, and crimp if need be. I use a very mild taper crimp with the Glock, and a heavy roll crimp with my 38Spl/357Mag stuff. The taper with the Glock is mainly to get the mouth uniformly "un-belled" after seating. Seems to work well enough.

Just remember, too, that COL in rifles is generally considered a flexible length, where in a pistol, it's considered a minimum length, as seating deeper will quickly reduce case volume markedly and you'll see a corresponding increase in pressure. COL for pistol rounds is the minimum acceptable length. Feed reliability dictates max acceptable length.

 

[tddeangelo]

That makes sense then....I'll have to look at my carbine dies....I was wondering why those steps (sizing/expanding) wouldn't be separated to enable a more simple trimming process. Maybe I have my Carbine dies setup wrong, too, for that matter. Worth taking a look.

Now that I have that Hornady Case Prep Center, trimming/prepping brass should go much faster. Just in time to start feeding a hungry little Glock!

 

[Guest]

A little tip, as well, Tom - go to a gun show or shop around on the net and buy a second seat/crimp die. Remove the seater plug and adjust this die to do your crimping. Then adjust the other seat/crimp die to seat without crimping. Makes for one more step, but it also makes for better ammo.

 

[Oldtrader3]

On the expander, I set it to only expand enough to barely hold the bullets in the case and keep them straight enough to seat properly. Crimping should be done separately, either buy a crimping die or another seating die and take the seater stem out as Dubyam suggested. This will give you the best results.

 

[tddeangelo]

That's a good idea...thanks for the tip!

 

[Wincheringen]

I've seen and had friends have Glock Kbs. If you intend to reload for a Glock, get a Lone Wolf barrel. They are right around $100, but offer full case support and standard rifling that is safe with lead bullets.

 

[atmoshpere]

...Makes for one more step, but it also makes for better ammo.

...This will give you the best results.

What issues have you seen with seating and crimping in the same step?
I'm just curious since I reload 40S&W on a dillon progressive press and have always used the taper crimp in the seating die to remove the slight bell produced during charging the case just before seating. Not sure that I actually crimp much. The only time I've had an issue with bullet seating was using plated bullets where the copper jacket is very thin. In this case I've seen a tendency to "wrinkle" the jacket just in front of the case mouth which leads to chambering issues. I only have this issue with the plated bullets, which is why it leads me to believe it has something to do with jacket thickness.
Do you guys think that separating the seating and crimping steps would take care of this?

 

[Oldtrader3]

I believe that separating the seating and crimping operations gives you much more control of the depth and amount of crimping. This would be especially true on a plated jacket bullet where too much crimp can wrinkle the jacket of the bullet.

 

[Guest]

I've seen the same jacket wrinkling on plated bullets (which is the majority of what I shoot in my Glock for practice) but I've also seen issues where the case mouth is pushed to a slightly unsquare condition, as well. I'm not sure it would have made a difference in shooting, but I am CDO about ammo so it mattered to me.

CDO is like OCD, only with the letters in alphabetical order like they're supposed to be!