Explosion spurs questions of pistol durability

By: 
Ross Bielema
Columnist

For hundreds of years, firearms were made of two materials: steel and wood. Although Glock wasn’t the first pistol maker to use plastics in the construction of their firearms, they were one of the first to use them for the entire frame.

To say that Glock started a trend in the mid-1980s with its striker-fired polymer pistols is like saying Apple started a trend with personal computers. Both were more like revolutions. Glock quickly captured most of the law enforcement market with its high-capacity, easy-shooting pistols that had no manual safeties, fewer parts than many other brands and were torture-tested to 50,000 or more rounds.

As an avid shooter and later a concealed carry instructor, I tried a few Glocks over the years, first buying a Generation 1 Glock Model 19 in 9mm around 1986. I had problems with the gun not firing (possibly ammo related), Glock quickly fixed it and I just as quickly sold it. I have no patience with unreliable guns.

In recent years, I bought a Glock Model 42 in .380 ACP for my classes. I needed four holes in two sheets of plywood to attach ropes for easy carrying, so I laid the sheets on the ground, loaded my new Glock with four rounds of Blazer aluminum ammo and fired. All four rounds jammed. When I examined the casings, I saw that the extractor had ripped their sides, thus wasting energy normally used to remove the casings and leaving them stuck in the action. Had these been my self-defense loads, facing an attacker, I’d be toast. Strike two, Glock.

Over the years, I bought more Glocks for both my classes and personal use. Students mostly shot well with them, although I prefer the single-stack models like the Model 43 for their slim grips and profile, vs. the thicker grips and overall width of double-stacks like the Glock 19 and 22. The high-capacity guns are more difficult to conceal, heavier to carry and don’t fit smaller hands well.

During the shooting portion of my April 22 concealed carry class, five shooters tried some of my small handguns. A handgun has to fit a person and the shooter has to be able to tolerate the recoil, or kick. Shooting is the only way to be sure before buying.

A husband and wife tried my Glock 43 9mm and both shot it well. The husband shot an exceptionally small group at 7 yards in a corner of the silhouette target. I was so impressed that I had to see if I could match it.

I loaded five rounds and began slowly firing shots into the upper right of the target. I strung four rounds side by side from left to right, then fired the fifth and final shot. As I saw the bullet strike about an inch below the previous round, I heard a strange, hollow popping sound (all of us were wearing electronic headphones that “clip” gunshot sounds to protect the ears) and felt my thumb and trigger finger stinging like they had been struck by a hammer.

“Are you OK? What happened?” the husband asked. I continued to watch my right hand for signs of blood or bruising, but no blood came. One knuckle later swelled a bit. Powder burns covered my hand. I still wasn’t sure what happened, but noticed the frame of the Glock had cracked.

It was clear there was no barrel obstruction, since the round struck the target and left its mark. In more than 50 years of shooting, I’ve never had a gun blow up in my hands. I certainly hope to find out what happened.

An internet search revealed hundreds of similar explosions and a new term: Glock kaboom. A legal firm filed a class-action suit against Glock in 2020 for similar explosions, but most of those involved the more powerful .40 caliber and 10mm pistols, not the 9mm. Although overloaded ammo is always a suspect in such cases, two other claims made by both litigants and experts that include the NRA suggested Glocks have “unsupported chambers” and also can occasionally fire when the gun is not in battery, or fully closed.

In class, I show that my Glock 22 .40 caliber can’t fire when not fully closed by slowly lowering the slide (always let the slide slam forward rather than walking it down to avoid this), but how could I ignore hundreds of similar explosions? An NRA article mentions that Glocks feature a crescent-shaped cut on the underside of the feed ramp that aids in feeding a variety of rounds, but also creates a weak spot that vents the explosion down through the magazine well and frame, as mine had.

A call to Glock put me in touch with a rep who said he’d dealt with such cases for 16 years, but he said reports of unsupported chambers and guns firing when not in battery were BS. He blamed the ammo. Then I found out the venerable Glock has a one-year warranty. Yikes. Many pistols have lifetime warranties and most have at least 10-year warranties.

Bottom line: polymer is light, easy to carry, doesn’t rust and is used in the world’s most popular firearms, including AR-15s. Steel-and-wood firearms are sounding better to me every day.


Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Readers can contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.