Glock 20's Blowing up?

[grfox92]

I'll start off by saying first and foremost that I am not looking to poke the bear, troll or get a rise out of anyone. I'm looking for solid info. at

I've had a Glock 20 on order for several months now and finally it came in.

I've been doing alot of research about upgrading barrels and such and have noticed an unfortunate trend.

I have heard quite a bit about Glock 20s and 29s blowing up. I've seen pictures and seen a lot of comments about this happening. I have also come across a guy who claims to have gone through 4 different Gen 4 G20s and couldn't get any of them to function reliably with failures to feed / jams while using hotter rounds like Buffalo Bore ect.

I searched here and on the Glock Forum and can't find specific threads but find people mentioning that it's a dead horse topic. A lot of guys blame it on hot reloads or double charges ect. but there seems to be a lot of talk only about the 10mm Glocks having these issues.

I live in Grizzly Central and that's the purpose of this firearm for me. I'll be carrying it loaded with 220 grain Hard Cast Buffalo Bore, but I have this un easy feeling about not trusting the gun when I need it or it blowing up in my hands when I practice with it, so I'm torn on what to do.

I work for the store that has the gun and have it on layaway since I've bought 4 other pistols in the last 2 months and just plan on paying it off.

I can probably return the gun to the shelf and apply the money to a different gun or just get it refunded and come up with a new plan.

I know alot of you guys carry these guns and will probably comment that you have never had an issue with yours....but there has to be something to it. There is just too many claims on this topic.


I much prefer the Glock in my hand as apposed to the Springfield but I haven't tried all the different back straps that the Springfield comes with, so that gun may be an option.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Gary

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[Rob5589]

Stick with stock barrel. Stay at 200 grain bullets. Stick with hard cast lead. Too many think it is a .44 magnum and load it as such and/or shoot lead that is too soft for the polygonal rifling.
If shooting heavy rounds, a heavier recoil spring may be needed.

 

[BigCountry49]

Agreed. stick with the stock barrel. I have g20 and was getting a lot of f2f with higher energy rounds (700+ ft lbs). I switched out the recoil spring to a 22lb and it handles the heavy loads fine. I would guess the people blowing them up are using super high pressure hand loads.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

I have a g20 and 29, have for a really long time. I have thousands of rounds on each of them, from target Ammo to buffalo bore/underwood/grizzlies hottest stuff and had zero problems. I’m sure some folks have had issues and imagine 99% of those issues are from user error, whether hot hand loads or combination of aftermarket parts. I know I’d trust any glock over anything Springfield cranks out.

 

[Wrench]

Not many have punished the 10mm's more than I have. The problem comes from mods. If you are going to shoot heavy recoil ammo for defense occasionally and not try to save your brass....run it stock.

If you intend to get more than one firing out of the brass or want to handload....it gets tricky. Too much recoil speed beats the gun, slow it down with more spring and suddenly slide velocity going forward is too much for the mag spring to keep up with....so it needs to be addressed.

In a g20 I'd avoid anything beyond a trigger polish. Too light and they won't reset.

Stock is hell on brass.....but works.

 

[rclouse79]

I had to put a heavier recoil spring in my 10mm with Underwood p+ ammo. I tried to shoot it stock and it wouldn’t cycle a full clip.

 

[grfox92]

Not many have punished the 10mm's more than I have. The problem comes from mods. If you are going to shoot heavy recoil ammo for defense occasionally and not try to save your brass....run it stock.

If you intend to get more than one firing out of the brass or want to handload....it gets tricky. Too much recoil speed beats the gun, slow it down with more spring and suddenly slide velocity going forward is too much for the mag spring to keep up with....so it needs to be addressed.

In a g20 I'd avoid anything beyond a trigger polish. Too light and they won't reset.

Stock is hell on brass.....but works.

Could you elaborate on the issue with brass and reloading? I just got a press. I haven't started reloading but intend to.

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[Wrench]

Could you elaborate on the issue with brass and reloading? I just got a press. I haven't started reloading but intend to.

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The stock barrel is going to bulge the crap out of the brass. Itll look like a bubble coming from the side of the case.

 

[MattB]

I bet more G20's blow up on the internet than at the range.

 

[TheGDog]

Called today and My G29 just barely came in today... so now gotta start DROS on it and wait another 10-days here in Kommiefornia.

What I remember from my research was that in hard cast... the projectile will have a tendency to tumble when 220gr, but will be fine at 200gr. (I wanna say it waqs shown on a hickok45 video?)

Also some reported complaints of flatnose hardcasts occasionally having feeding problems. But I recall the response was just polish the feed ramp.

I'm in KommieFornia, so I'll have to do the Lehigh Xtreme Penetrators anyway to be lead-free, so that doesn't apply to me. Those things work just fine for me, even in my lil Sig .380

 

[grfox92]

I have a g20 and 29, have for a really long time. I have thousands of rounds on each of them, from target Ammo to buffalo bore/underwood/grizzlies hottest stuff and had zero problems. I’m sure some folks have had issues and imagine 99% of those issues are from user error, whether hot hand loads or combination of aftermarket parts. I know I’d trust any glock over anything Springfield cranks out.

Could you elaborate on what the issue is with Springfield? The guys who have them love them. Guys who shoot others seem to have issues with them. I don't know anything about them. Looking for insight.

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[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Could you elaborate on what the issue is with Springfield? The guys who have them love them. Guys who shoot others seem to have issues with them. I don't know anything about them. Looking for insight.

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I’m looking out of the hunting world to people that run guns for a living. A lot of them (Sage Dynamics/Aaron Cowan, Courses of Action/Johnny Primo, etc) shoot tens of thousands of rounds a year and see even more rounds shot through just about everything you can imagine. Both advise against Springfield XDs and they have a huge focus group. I believe Aaron said he had 20 catastrophic failures in 2 years from XDs in his classes.
I’m sure the XD would be fine for most peoples purposes, but there is a reason 90%+ of high level firearm instructors out there are running glocks.

 

[Wrench]

I bet more G20's blow up on the internet than at the range.

Agreed....and I would love to watch some YouTube vids of guys running several mags of underwood 200 types through a 29 with any accuracy.

 

[tdhanses]

I’ve been shooting 220’s in my 29 for years, I do have an aftermarket barrel as they tumbled with the stock barrel, I also don’t reload.

 

[Rockwell]

KKM aftermarket barrel and no more smiles on the brass and can take 220's easily. If running a lot of hot ammo many switch out the rsa for something between 20 to 22lb recoil spring and adding a steel guide rod similar to what Wolff sells.

I've had no issues with my gen 4 29 shooting underwood 200's, they seem to be really accurate for me. It's the glock I shoot the best, followed by my 43, my gen 5 19 is another story as it and I just don't seem to jive together.

 

[MattB355]

I have a gen 4 Glock 20 all stock with a wolf 22lb recoil spring (gen 3 style). It has handled everything from Buffalo Bore 230gr to the underwood 220gr hardcasts, to the 180gr hot hollowpoint to the S&B 180gr mild loads. No failures to feed or malfunctions at all. I also swapped in the stock recoil spring and it worked fine too but with much more felt recoil. Keep the gun clean and it should eat anything you throw at it. BTW, some guys like to shoot 40 through the gun which can be done but it very hard on the gun (get a dedicated barrel for .40 if you want to shoot .40 through it).

 

[07yzryder]

I bought my G20 gen 4 used. Came with slide cuts, new trigger, sites, KKM barrel, the works. It runs fine for me, shot thousands of rounds from 180 coated lead, 180 gr FMJ, Buffalo bore 220gr, home load 220 HCFN, double tap. im horrible at cleaning and typically just look down the barrel after shooting lead and wipe it down with a light coat of oil after shooting so its not like i shoot 10 rounds and clean the life out of the barrel either.

the 20 throws brass into orbit for me, no matter the spring ive tried 5 springs in varying weights and ended up just saying eff it. i only load my brass and wont buy range pickup 10mm.

I'm going to assume a lot of the booms are from people running HOT ammo in older unsupported barrels, or running soft lead in the polygonal rifling which if im not can strip the lead and it builds up in there causing pressure issues.

 

[Mackay Sagebrush]

I have a gen 4 Glock 20 all stock with a wolf 22lb recoil spring (gen 3 style). It has handled everything from Buffalo Bore 230gr to the underwood 220gr hardcasts, to the 180gr hot hollowpoint to the S&B 180gr mild loads. No failures to feed or malfunctions at all. I also swapped in the stock recoil spring and it worked fine too but with much more felt recoil. Keep the gun clean and it should eat anything you throw at it. BTW, some guys like to shoot 40 through the gun which can be done but it very hard on the gun (get a dedicated barrel for .40 if you want to shoot .40 through it).

How is shooting .40 hard on the gun?

 

[mcseal2]

Mine needed the trigger bar stoned to remove a burr before functioning well with hardcast ammo. I added a 22lb spring and KKM barrel before finding the issue. It works fine with the upgrades.

 

[jdwerther]

I have almost every manufactured hot round through my G29 Gen 4, no issues. It's bone stock. I'm sure you've read already but stick with jacketed bullets with the stock barrel (polygonal rifling). I tried hard cast and yep they tumble. Underwood 200gr XTPs are my recommendation.