40 S&w In A Glock, Is It Worth It

The Glock in .40 caliber has historically had more than its share of problems. The Glock 9mm Models 17 and 19 are thought by many experts to be the best 9mm pistols available, but the .40's have had functioning and reliabilty issues. Quite a few large departments, such as Detroit PD, have gotten rid of the Glock 22 .40 and either gone back to the 9mm Glock or adopted a different brand of .40 such as the Sig.

The functioning problems with the .40 Glocks often manifest themselves when mounting a light or other accessory on the frame rail. Apparently the polymer frame, originally designed for the 9mm, flexes too much in .40.

Having said that, the vast majority of people experience no problems with the Glock 22.

The Sig P229 is regarded by people I respect as one of the very best .40's. I own a Glock 19 9mm, a Glock 34 9mm and a Sig P229 .40 and consider that I have the best of both worlds.

The Glock .40's are definitely harder on brass than the Glock 9mm's are. I reload my 9mm Glock brass and never have had a problem with a swollen case or anything else.

Another thing to be aware of with Glocks is that you must avoid the use of lead bullets in factory Glock barrels, due to the polygonal rifling. Lead bullets in a Sig work fine.

Thanks for the "caps" reminder, and thanks for the info on the glock 40...from what i have read tonite from you both, it sounds like i would be better off going with the glock 19 and stay away from cast bullets? i have a friend at the police department who can help me out on a good deal on a glock. i was thinking springfield xd, smith m&p, walther p99 and the glock. the officer that did our ccw class named these guns as very good and reliable, so i was just going from that..i have owned s&w 41 and 44 mags for years and a ruger 22. have never reloaded for semi automatic in handguns before and found this forum and started reading all the negatives about the 40 S&W. my officer friend was showing me his glock 22c the other day and had me talked into it until i found out about the reloading issues. So, from what i think i'm hearing from you guys is, that the 9mm is ok to reload and shoot in the glock with no problems as long as you reload smart, not start out with maximum loads? right? thanks for the help Larry

Well, you never start out at maximum with any gun. There is a reason the lightest load in the list is called a "starting load". It's because you are supposed to start with it. Then you can work up, watching for pressure signs, either until you like the accuracy your load is giving you or your gun finds its personal maximum pressure based on one of those signs (then you back off 5% and call that your gun's maximum). There are lots of manuals with loads developed in commercial firearms whose chambers are too lose to be trusted in your gun.

I've never heard anything bad about the Glock 9's, but they seem to produce a lot of pregnant cases in the .40's, and I see these on the ground at the range all the time, waiting for someone to be fooled into picking them up with .45 ACP's by mistake. Regarding the polygonal rifling, though, lead is so much less expensive to shoot, that I would be looking at one of the aftermarket barrels with standard rifling right away. I would figure it would pay for itself pretty fast if I shot much.

Two Glock 23's, 3 G27's and 1 G22, and not one has had these mystical function problems. There are two types of people, those who like Glock and those who to refuse they are better than the **** 1911.

On top of the .40's, I have to my credit a G32, G26, and a G30.

The reason you hear about more problems with them than anything else, is because there are more of them in use. Glock owns 80% of the US Police market.

Now to really piss you haters corn flakes, I bought myself a nice Sig 229, with night sights and two barrels (.40 and .357 Sig). Loved that gun, soooo accurate. Then one day I started practicing with my carry rounds. Speer Gold Dot 125gr .357 Sig. The .357 Sig is supposed to be the most reliable feeding pistol cartridge ever introduced, and in a Sig pistol you would expect perfection right ? WRONG ! It was one jam after another when trying to use hollow points in it. After that I no longer trusted my life with it, so I let it go be someone elses problems.

I shoot pistols weekly. After literally THOUSANDS of rounds from dirt cheap crap bought at gun shows, to Blazer Aluminum, to Winchester Rangers and Double Tap, I have yet to have one failure, of ANY kind in my Glocks.

I'm not denying the lack of support at 6 oclock on the .40 calibers. But the .357 Sig is fully supported. If you want pictures, I'll be glad to post them showing the differences in the .40 and .357 chamber support.