How to Prevent a Case Failure in Your Glock Pistols
By: Fabiola Grosshan
Submitted: 2010-11-03 04:56:58 | Word Count: 554
As you may probably already know, the highly controversial “case failure” is one of the most commonly reported major failures in Glocks. Potentially very dangerous, this occurrence initially involves a rupturing of the case, which in turn can damage the pistol or hurt the shooter.
The main reason why the cartridge case is so prone to failure lies in it being the weakest part of a pistol. If you thought that only Glock pieces have a reputation for failing “mysteriously” at the case level, think again. Case failures were occurring long before Glocks entered mass production, and there are a number of reports of similar malfunctions taking place in Browning and Ruger pistols just as well. In fact, even first-class 9 mm guns can be subject to this issue. However, Glock pistols have drawn the most attention onto them simply because they are virtually everywhere these days.
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Catastrophic failures in guns can occur due to a whole bunch of reasons: pulling the trigger with a clogged barrel, an over-charged cartridge, an under-charged cartridge, over-crimping, weak brass, over-seating, improper pistol maintenance, using low quality ammo and/or other components, etc. Despite this wide spectrum of potential problems, the common ground for most accidents is usually the case failure. Moreover, in many contexts the case failure can be linked directly to the use of reloaded ammo. Although there have been reports of case failure in Glock pistols with factory ammo as well, situations like this are considered extremely rare.
Therefore, if you only shoot factory ammo through your Glock, then the risk of case failure or other forms of damage is minimal as long as you are using rigorously tested factory brands. However, if you are a reloader, in order to prevent any accidents of the kind successfully you should start out by purchasing a quality after-market barrel that has a slightly tighter chamber and make sure that your reloading quality control department is doing a professional, responsible job.
Whether you reload or just shoot a Glock pistol, you should learn how to clean and lubricate it properly, and repeat these steps on a regular basis. Moreover, you should let an authorized armorer perform a thorough disassembly maintenance check of your gun at least once a year, learn how to do the basic safety checks for your Glock, familiarize yourself with safe gun handling procedures as taught by qualified instructors, as well as take a safety course if you haven’t taken one before.
In case you are a reloader, in addition to the safety measures shown above, you should also have a look over the following recommendations:
- Reread through reloading practices every now and then to refresh your memory of valuable safety tips and to make sure that you follow the indicated procedures religiously.
- Make a habit of inspecting your brass before reusing it.
- Don’t hesitate to change your brass when it is showing clear signs of deterioration.
- Consider using new brass for full power loads, and check the provenience of the brass before using it.
- Before changing to other types of ammo, use calipers and case gauges to verify whether the new ammo respects your gun’s technical specifications.
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