Cast bullets in Glock 9mm
I am trying to understand why cast lead bullets are not supposed to be used in a Glock 17 9mm. That is what I have read, but I have not seen any reasons why. What exactly is supposed to happen to the barrel and/or the bullet in the Glock's special rifling? Or is it a matter of the typical manufacturer's shying away from any handloaded ammo? I have been using all sorts of cast bullets in about all my centerfire pistols for 40+ years, thousands in target shooting 38's, 44's and 45's. Also in many rifles from .22 centerfires to .45-70.
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The rifling style builds up wiped off lead. Pressures rise, gun fails. 0 -
The idea that polyagonal rifling can't be used with lead is nonsense. It can. As evidenced by the Whitworth rifle.
The issue is, most reloaders who just think, "hey, these cast bullets on the table at the gunshow are cheap, i'll buy me some" produce loads that are: undersized, overly hard, poorly lubed, and loaded identically to jacketed loads. All of which means you will lead your bore.
While leading isn't great in any case, in the polyagonal rifling of the glock, it can and will build up to a degree that it causes dangerous pressure. I suppose the same could happen in regular rifling too, but it would take a lot of effort.
Now, slug your bore, use a bullet fit to the throat and 1-2000" over groove diameter, with cast-friendly loads, proper lube, and a suitable alloy, you'll never have an issue. But, for liability reasons, the company can't state that because every would be cast boolit loader thinks he knows what he's doing; which isn't usually the case.
So yeah, it can be done, no it isn't easy, and if you are willing to invest enough time in learning to properly cast bullets so that you're confident you'll have it right straight off, you can probably get away with it- I know a lot of guys who do.
As I don't own a glock, I can't comment further.0 -
Or just purchase a aftermarket barrel with conventional rifling, and shoot all the lead you want without worry.
The biggest difference between the Whitworth and today's polygonal barrels is that the Whit had a clearly defined shape, VS the slightly irregular circle of today's polygon's.0 -
I shoot nothing but cast bullets in my Glock 19 and I have experienced no leading at all. My personal opinion is that the style of rifling has little to do with leading; in fact the poly rifling should cause LESS leading than the standard lands and grooves as I understand that one purpose of Glock's style of rifling is to offer LESS resistance to the bullet....I don't get into the debate about "no reloads or lead in Glock pistols" or "you have to buy an aftermarket barrel to shoot lead in a Glock". Letting any barrel build up a significant amount of leading (or copper fouling) is bad news in any pistol; so I shoot loads that don't lead. Many shooters buy "hard cast" lead alloy 9mm bullets and find that they lead the Glock bore badly; they do this because most are too small to fit the throat (mine needs bullets sized to .357 or even a little larger). Most commercial cast 9mm bullets are .355 or .356 and would plate the bore of my Glock with lead because they are too small. I shoot 124gr cast bullets that I size to .357 with any reasonable charge of WW231, Red Dot or Unique and get no leading at all. Shooting undersize lead alloy bullets will cause leading in any handgun; my .357 bullets are not super-hard, being range scrap plus some Lyman #2 and my Glock bore has never had a leading problem. If I wanted to shoot commercial lead bullets of .355 diameter, I would buy an aftermarket barrel because they have a smaller throat/bore diameter (I have been told)...but then the aftermarket barrel does not lead because the commercial lead bullets are not undersize in it's bore, not because of the style of rifling. The above is just my opinion backed by a lot of shooting and experimentation; your mileage may vary..I'm not suggesting that anyone try it my way, it just works for me. 0 -
My experience; using the G-21 I bought new, it sprayed lead bullets more like a shotgun pattern than a group. I could shoot 200 lead rounds at steel and hit 10% then switch to ball and hit 90%. Leading was an issue but that could have just been my lead alloy.
My theory is the lead does not grab the rifling, or actually lack of rifling, and simply skids down the barrel taking the path of least resistance. The bullets are not spun consistently creating inaccuracy.
I replaced the factory barrel with a "match grade" cut rifling barrel and have never had an issue since.0 -
British Army rejected the Whitworth over the Enfield because it fouled the bore much quicker..Same problems w/Glocks and cast bullets..150 years and the problem w/polygon rifling 0
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