Gun blew up...

[WT_Foxtrot]

Last week a friend and I had been practicing drawing from concealment and double tapping a target. He was shooting a Glock 43. On his next draw, the gun didn't fre. He racked the slide and an empty case ejected. He said, "Didn't eject, that's the first time it's ever done that."

He chambered another round and the slide didn't quite go into battery. He ejected that round and I picked it up. At first I thought it was a .380 but saw that it was a 9mm but the bullet had been pushed back into the case.

I told him to hold up. I took the Glock, removed the slide, and removed the barrel. I looked into the barrel and there was a bullet just starting into the barrel. It wasn't in the barrel far enough to let the next round fully chamber. That was a good thing!

Apparently, there was no powder and the primer had just enough power to get the bullet started. Had it gone 1/8" deeper, I would be telling a different story. These were reloads.

I took a dowel and drove the bullet out and we resumed shooting, but, no double taps. From here on, we just fired single rounds at the target.

Informative post......something similar happened to me with a shotgun years ago.

Was dove hunting with an auto and shooting a buddy's reloads. Had a misfire (basically a muted "poof" sound) where nothing was fired. Ejected the dead shell and since I was young (maybe 20) and didn't know any better, just plugged in another and went on about the hunt without checking the barrel for obstruction. Next shot was dead on the bird, but he didn't flinch and it felt and sounded weird. Wasn't a second later that I noticed a bulge in the barrel about halfway from the chamber to the muzzle. Turned out the wad from the dud shell was lodged in the barrel. Just cost me a new barrel, but could have been worse.

 

[topduarte]

That is why I dont have a glock. Plastic crap imo.

 

[zackmars]

That is why I dont have a glock. Plastic crap imo.

Look at the pic. The plastic didn't give, it was the metal parts

 

[SQLGeek]

That is why I dont have a glock. Plastic crap imo.

Yes, agreed. Just look at this crap.

 

[rotor]

That is why I dont have a glock. Plastic crap imo.

What gun would you prefer considering that in this case the barrel split? And note that it was not a Glock barrel. Is there a gun that can handle a squib firing?

 

[Maverick44]

I'm really not touching anything until I hear from the mfg. I have what's left of the ammo and the gun.

The FTE is one confirmed error point. It did not occur to me to save it at the time and when the big bang happened I sort of got preoccupied with the stretch marks on my Glock. I do however have the one that failed and good luck getting it out...

I wouldn't give them that ammo back until you have it in writing that they are going to pay for a replacement Glock and Alpha Wolf barrel. Giving up that ammo is giving them the ability to destroy possible evidence. I'm not saying that they would, only that they could.

I also wouldn't crack it open without some way to sufficiently document every detail about what's inside. Sufficient enough for a court to take it as factual.

I'm happy to hear you weren't hurt. It definitely sounds like this was an ammo issue. Possibly a near double charge since the charge in the round before it was too light to eject the case.

 

[Maverick44]

What gun would you prefer considering that in this case the barrel split? And note that it was not a Glock barrel. Is there a gun that can handle a squib firing?

Apparently one from JP Enterprises...

22 rounds of 9mm.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/03/22/22-squibs-one-barrel-new-record/

 

[grumper]

Is there a gun that can handle a squib firing?

HK MK23 can, that was part of the testing.

Seen MP5 and Uzi barrels with multiple 9mm bullets piled up inside too.

 

[F350-6]

Yes, agreed. Just look at this crap.

View attachment 197604

That's not real metal. (powdered metal, pot metal, etc. = cheap cast stuff that breaks easy)

 

[SQLGeek]

That's a Nighthawk custom. It's not cheap.

 

[BMF500]

Yes, agreed. Just look at this crap.

View attachment 197604

Since we're already in the weeds, what's the story on this?

 

[F350-6]

That's a Nighthawk custom. It's not cheap.

It may not be, but look at the metal at the split. That's not a solid piece of steel that was milled or forged.

 

[SQLGeek]

Since we're already in the weeds, what's the story on this?

Essentially somebody blew up Nighthawk 10mm with some Armscor ammo.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/10mm_Nighthawk_1911_kaboom_/5-1871965/

Some speculation it was a squib followed by another round.

More pictures in the link. The frame split as well. There are also several saying that hest treated steel would to look like that when violently ripped apart. I cannot fathom Nighthawk made up of folks from Wilson Combat to put a cast frame and slide in a $3,000+ gun. Shrug.

Either way, it's pretty ugly.

 

[BMF500]

Essentially somebody blew up Nighthawk 10mm with some Armscor ammo.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/10mm_Nighthawk_1911_kaboom_/5-1871965/

Some speculation it was a squib followed by another round.

More pictures in the link. The frame split as well. There are also several saying that hest treated steel would to look like that when violently ripped apart. I cannot fathom Nighthawk made up of folks from Wilson Combat to put a cast frame and slide in a $3,000+ gun. Shrug.

Either way, it's pretty ugly.

Thanks for that. There are a lot of possibilities like poor heat treat on that particular piece. I'd like to think Nighthawk uses better components than cast and they probably do. Man made devices fail all the time, it happens.

 

[SQLGeek]

Now that is certainly possible. But since 10mm is pretty high pressure, I could also see a double charge or a squib being enough to grenade it anyway.

 

[Geezer]

That is why I dont have a glock. Plastic crap imo.

Yeah, I agree. They really haven't caught on. I expect them to close up shop any day now.

 

[RedArmy]

Guess I'll add my 10mm explosion to the list.

New latest version of the Colt Delta, less than 400 rounds through it at the time. Ammo was off the shelf SIG Elite Performance FMJ, nothing special. I had been shooting Hornady XTP which was hotter without a single issue. I've gone on to shoot hundreds of rounds without any problems so far. I can only guess that it was a bad round, I returned the ammo to SIG for them to inspect with their RMA and prepaid postage, never heard back from them again. I just never shoot SIG in this gun anymore.

The ammo.

The round. Fragments of the case hit me in the face, I had blood down the side of my nose from it skidding across and leaving a scrape, also had two pin holes in my forehead. The blast went down the mag well and blew both grips in two. This was the first round in the mag and the first two unfired rounds were dented from the shrapnel. Always wear those shooting glasses ladies and gents.

Zero damage to the Colt, just some discoloration which cleaned off with Hoppes and a toothbrush.

Cross section view of $150.00 grips. The barrel on the Colt 10mm is unramped which I'm going to say contributed. I keep saying I'm going to send it over to Wilson for a ramped barrel, just haven't got to it yet. Again, I'm still shooting this pistol and have had zero problems with.

 

[RedArmy]

Forgot to add, the slide was jammed closed, a piece of case wedged itself in, I had to gently tap the slide open with a rubber gunsmith hammer to get the slide off. This was NOT an out of battery failure. The round exploded on a locked slide, it was the first round I chambered. When the round blew it opened the slide just enough to let some case fragments exit. The bullet also went down range, I wish I had checked to see how accurate that shot was now that I think about it. After the blow up I checked myself over and then went back to shooting, just not with the Delta, lol. I got lucky.

 

[BMF500]

Wow!