Glock Barrels

DaveA37

Beginner
Jan 2, 2010
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I've had a 23 for some time and just picked up a 27. Both shoot fine and do not seem to have any issues using factory loads. Both barrels are OE.

I'm now thinking of reloading for both of them and looking for a recipe using 180 or 135 bullets.
In the reloading forum, this comment was sent to me and I'd like your take on it.

"Whatever you do, get a fully supported barrel for those .40s. KKM, Lone Wolf, Stormlake, Bar Sto, etc. all make great barrels and LW starts at around $100."

There seems to be a lot of opinions about using either factory or aftermarket barrels.
I'd like your opinions.
 
I have a Storm Lake for my G19 that I use anytime I hit the range, as I run my own reloads 100% of the time when practising. Exceptional quality. Same if not a little better accuracy wise than the stock barrel.

If you run lead reloads, you must never shoot your Glock with the stock barrel. The Glock rifling will build up with lead residue very fast and produce higher pressures in the chamber/barrel that can be catastrophic.

In the 40 sw and 10mm, the unsupported Glock chamber on the stock barrel can cause the " glock smiley" to show up if you run very high pressure rounds though it. The bottom of the chamber ( where the feed ramp connects to chamber) has an area where the case wall in unsupported basically. It is very small, but an aftermarket barrel will be supported so the area of the case wall that is exposed to the combustion area is fully in the chamber. The aftermarket feed ramp will have a steeper angle of entry from the magazine to accomplish this. If you google " Glock unsupported chamber" you will have an afternoon of reading :grin: . Here is a very good look at the barrels side by side. Stock barrel on right of the first picture.

https://www.google.com/search?q=glock+u ... yftVH59fDM:

If a case ruptures during firing, the explosion of gases has no other way to escape except straight down the magazine/grip area, and it looks to be rather painful.
Hope this helps.

Pat
 
Some coworkers and I have been hashing out this very subject over the last few days as one of them has a couple 40 cases on his desk with the infamous bulge. Last night I brought in 3 .40 barrels... a stock G27 barrel, a Lone Wolf for the G27 and an XD40 barrel. I'd have to argue that that the Lone Wolf barrel, although providing more support than the stock barrel, is still not fully supported. The feed ramp still does not support a portion under the case web. The XD was fully supported. When I got home from work, I pulled the barrel from my SW Sigma .40 and noted it was slightly unsupported, similar to the LW barrel. In a nut shell... I have pretty much retired my stock G27 barrel due to the amount of lead I shoot, but the unsupported chamber has cemented that decision. I believe the LW barrel, although not fully supported, does a heck of a better job.

This may not mean a heck of a lot, but those bulged cases on the desk... we are able to slide em right on into the G27 barrel, however, they would not far into the LW nor XD barrel. I did not have opportunity to try one in the Sigma barrel.
 
None of my brass from my G23 shows any visible deformation. I guess the factory loads weren't hot enough to cause it?

It still gripes me to "need" an aftermarket barrel for the G23, but I guess when I start reloading for the 40, I better get one.
 
Honestly, Tom, just check your brass. I went through a lot of my reloaded and fired brass and didn't see any bulges. Those on the coworkers desk were the first I had seen in person. Just my opinion, but I think it is a product of hotter loadings. Plus, if you plan to stick with jacketed bullets, check your brass, run that stock barrel and call it good. I've also heard, possibly from "Hank," that lead can be run through the Glock barrel as long as you're running low to medium velocities and are using cast bullets which run fairly high on the hardness scale.
 
I just ordered a Lonewolf barrel for 108.95 last night for the G30. Almost done shaping the beavertail on her, so when the barrel gets here I have about 1,000 rounds ready for her :)
 
Don't forgot to change your recoil spring every 3000 rounds. This has been linked to most of the confirmed KBs problems. A hot or overcharged reload with a weak recoil spring is very bad.
 
Well if you start playing with loads in the upper limits of pressure you will start to see pressure signs, found this in my 10mm and 40. I personally will not shoot reloads through a stock barrel.

Corey
 
My lonewolf 40sw barrel for my G31 has a very tight chamber. I've been having failure to feed issues when the barrel gets dirty. I'm pretty sure this is due to case head bulge from glock factory barrels. Once I clean the barrel those reloads that won't chamber feed fine. I just purchased a Redding G-RX die to straighten the cases out. I'm hoping that once I process all my 40 brass through this die I won't have anymore issues.
 
tddeangelo":3cq9ok6p said:
None of my brass from my G23 shows any visible deformation. I guess the factory loads weren't hot enough to cause it?

It still gripes me to "need" an aftermarket barrel for the G23, but I guess when I start reloading for the 40, I better get one.
If your Glock 40 is a Gen3 or later, a change had been made early in production towards better chamber support. All but eliminated the "smile" in spent brass, while still maintaining reliable feeding in adverse conditions.

Would only suggest aftermarket if you're going to be running cast bullets, as you won't need to babysit with regards to lead build up. I do own a couple from KKM, but any improvements to brass life and accuracy are negligible.

Have seen two KBs cross my bench, both caused by hot loads.

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