Not rotating your ammo =Kaboom? long

[deadhawg]

Had a Kaboom a few weeks ago. Glock 30 with factory ammo. Indoor range. I fired 8 rounds from a 10 round magazine, everything felt and functioned normally. On firing the 9th round, I felt a stunning impact to my hands and face. It took me a few seconds to realize my pistol was now laying on the ground in front of me, and I was bleeding from both hands, forehead, nose and cheek. Fortunately, all the wounds proved to be superficial, the most serous was to my right hand, where the top layer of skin in 1/4" by 1" area of the web between the thumb and forefinger was blown off and powder residue embedded. A small piece of shrapnel 1/8" by 1/3" was removed from my forehead from just under the skin. Both hands were bruised and sore for a few days.

The pistol frame was cracked on both sides, the barrel split in the chamber area, and small parts, like the magazine release and spring were missing.
This pistol had maybe 3-4 thousand rounds through it, all jacketed bullets, never any lead. It had been recently cleaned and inspected, with everything appearing normal.

The pistol was examined by the rangemaster and gunsmith at the scene, and their conclusion was an ammo problem. I sent the pistol and remaining ammo from that box back to the ammo manufacturer for examination. Without admitting any wrongdoing, and claiming they found nothing wrong with the ammo, they sent me a check for the replacement cost of the pistol. In the desire to avoid any legal issues, and being satisfied with their response, I will not name the ammo manufacturer.

Before sending the ammo back, I pulled a few of the bullets and examined the powder myself, including weighing the powder charge. Without knowing what powder the factory uses I can't know the correct amount, but the charges I weighed were in line with powder weights listed in reloading books, nothing approaching a double charge. However, with my admittedly unscientific examination of the powder with a magnifying glass, there seemed to be variation in the size of the powder grains, some much smaller than others.

The only exlaination that I can come to is that the kaboom may have been caused by firing ammo that had been carried in the saddlebags of my motorcycle for thousands of miles. The vibration of the bike, the bouncing around from potholes, etc. caused the powder to break down into smaller granules, which will ignite and burn faster that the would otherwise. I am familiar with this process, as my former occupation was an operator in a coal fired powerplant, and it was well known that different size particles of the same fuel would burn at different rates, and that very fine particles will burn much faster than larger particles.

So, what does all this mean? I know it has been recommended here and elsewhere to rotate carry ammo, mostly to avoid bullet setback due to repeated chambering of the same round. I think here is another reason to rotate ammo. I'm sure this example is an extreme case, and few people will carry their ammo thousands of miles, on a bike or car before firing it. I know any ammo that I carry for long will be used in the next practice session, and replaced with fresh
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[DefensiveCarry.com]

[rammerjammer]

Thanks for sharing your story.

[wormy]

Jeeez... Glad you were not injured seriously. Thanks for posting.

[msgt/ret]

Thanks for posting glad you were not seriously injured, I’m curious most gun powders have a deterrent coating to control burning rate and if the bouncing around caused it to be worn off causing the kaboom.

[jace33]

thanks for posting... glad to hear that you are okay and the ammo company made it right with you...

i bet you may have to break a flinching habit now!! I know i would if I had experienced this!

[Mike1956]

What was Glock's explanation?

[RKM]

Wow, never realized that could cause an issue. While I don't think simply carrying the ammo for extended periods of time will damage it, typically, I guess there's a chance it could, due to vibrations, etc. Thanks for sharing. Glad your okay, and hope you buy a new G30 :)

[IAm_Not_Lost]

What was Glock's explanation?

I think he only sent it back to the ammo company, and I don't personally think Glock should be held responsible for this incident, especially when it is a tried and true firearm with 3-4k rounds through it.

[Mike1956]

I think he only sent it back to the ammo company, and I don't personally think Glock should be held responsible for this incident, especially when it is a tried and true firearm with 3-4k rounds through it.

I wasn't questioning your opinion of liability, but rather, the opinion of the manufacturer whose product experienced a major failure.

[Eagleks]

at what point does a gun fail ? 1K, 2K , 3K , 4k, 5K, 6K .... like any product , if there is a weakness due to anything in the the manufacturing process or the material of that particular 1 item , it will definitely show up. So, to get Brand sensitive, seems to be a bit absurd.

Ammo or Gun, or combination of both. I'm not sure you've found your answer. It also could have been an accidental double loaded cartridge. Whatever the cause, it had to suck.

[deadhawg]

at what point does a gun fail ? 1K, 2K , 3K , 4k, 5K, 6K .... like any product , if there is a weakness due to anything in the the manufacturing process or the material of that particular 1 item , it will definitely show up. So, to get Brand sensitive, seems to be a bit absurd.

Ammo or Gun, or combination of both. I'm not sure you've found your answer. It also could have been an accidental double loaded cartridge. Whatever the cause, it had to suck.

I'm only guessing the cause was the effect vibration had on the ammo, certainly could have been something else.
One other point though, without eye and ear protection it could have been a lot worse.

[deadhawg]

I think he only sent it back to the ammo company, and I don't personally think Glock should be held responsible for this incident, especially when it is a tried and true firearm with 3-4k rounds through it.

I talked to Glock on the phone, they were not interested in looking at the gun, besides, I don't blame the gun at all. I will be ordering a new G30 in the next couple of days.

[deadhawg]

thanks for posting... glad to hear that you are okay and the ammo company made it right with you...

i bet you may have to break a flinching habit now!! I know i would if I had experienced this!

Went back to the range the next day with my SP101 and G19. Took a real deep breath before the first round, believe me! Also wore shooting gloves too.

[dukalmighty]

Unless you pulled ammo that was fresh off the shelf to compare with the carried ammo powder as far as size of particles It may just be the way they blend their powder,it is possible to get a double charge in a 45 acp case without any spillover,It's a good thing you were using factory ammo,apparently the ammo company felt their ammo was the issue,good thing ya didn't lose ane digits,or have it happen in a firefight

[BadgerMan]

Unless you pulled ammo that was fresh off the shelf to compare with the carried ammo powder as far as size of particles It may just be the way they blend their powder,it is possible to get a double charge in a 45 acp case without any spillover,It's a good thing you were using factory ammo,apparently the ammo company felt their ammo was the issue,good thing ya didn't lose ane digits,or have it happen in a firefight

I was thinking the same thing concerning the powder, it is not uncommon for factories to use blends of different powder to achieve the characteristics they want in an economic fashion. I'm not saying your hypothesis isn't possible as I don't know enough about the subject to comment on that. Something to consider is that a lot of ammo rides along with cops on bikes and in cars for god knows how long, with the military in all sorts of vehicles and conditions, not to mention loaded cartridges and loose powder is shipped in trucks, ships, and possibly trains and airplanes from manufacturers all over the planet to other continents.