Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

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Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Macross » 02 Oct 2020, 8:52 am

I got a new Glock 34 gen 5 recently. Its had a significant jam three times now. First two were slide failing to go into battery and unable to rack the round out or manipulate the slide at all. Ended up tapping the slide forward with a rubber mallet and firing the round. The third just the other day was a spent round that wouldn't come out and again locked the slide up. Ended up stripping the slide and pulling the striker etc. out the back and man handling the barrel out. Rod down the barrel to push spent case out.

The three jams have been with my hand loads. I've been reloading for about 6 or 7 months and have run thousands of my loads through my CZ Shadow 2 without a single issue. I case gauged all my loads and am confident that my ammo is very consistent. I'm just perplexed as to why we are having such sever jams with the new Glock.

Is there anything specific about Glocks that would cause them to not like hand loads. Are the tolerances in the chamber super tight? My CZ will eat anything.

Each time I got the director of our club, who is a certified Glock armorer to assist with the jam. I've been shooting pistols for about 2 years so am fairly competent but wouldn't take on a jam with a live round without some assistance. Especially with a new gun that I'm not 100% familiar with.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by wanneroo » 02 Oct 2020, 9:24 am

Interesting. Usually I find Glocks are very generous about such things and CZs like short OAL 9mm.

One thing I would do is check your chamber, there could be a ring of brass in there or some buildup which is giving you issues.

Forcing the slide home with a mallet I would say is a no no. I had a Glock jam like that one time and of course finger off the trigger, put a nub of the front slide along an edged hard surface and push down to rack the round out.

I imagine we are talking 9mm here, what sort of OAL are you running and what sort of bullet? What case gauge are you using?
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by wrenchman » 02 Oct 2020, 9:54 am

Did you drop check them in the barrel it sounds like they are tight
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Macross » 02 Oct 2020, 12:04 pm

wanneroo wrote:Interesting. Usually I find Glocks are very generous about such things and CZs like short OAL 9mm.

One thing I would do is check your chamber, there could be a ring of brass in there or some buildup which is giving you issues.

Forcing the slide home with a mallet I would say is a no no. I had a Glock jam like that one time and of course finger off the trigger, put a nub of the front slide along an edged hard surface and push down to rack the round out.

I imagine we are talking 9mm here, what sort of OAL are you running and what sort of bullet? What case gauge are you using?


Yes the 34 is 9mm. We did try and do your trick of putting the slide against the bench and pushing down to rack it out.. but it was stuck real good. Range officer grabbed the mallet, gave it a few gentle taps forward and pulled the trigger... it extracted ok. but you are right, i would have thought that was a no no... but it worked.
OAL for my rounds is 28.4mm and im using Tigershark 123gr copper plated round nose bullets. All my rounds go through a Dillon 9mm case gauge.
The pistol is new and only fired a few hundred rounds. It has had two good cleans and no build up in the chamber. Im just wondering if maybe its throat is a bit on the small side and dosnt like reused cases??
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Bugman » 02 Oct 2020, 1:08 pm

Some time back I was given some used 9mm brass. After running them through my Lee 9mm dies, I had similar problems as you. After a bit of investigation, it appears that these cases were fireformed via a Glock and that to re size them for my CZ I would need a different die set up to resize (a russian die...i think)
Anyhow it wasn't worth the trouble and so I just bought new brass for my CZ.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by wanneroo » 03 Oct 2020, 12:24 am

Macross wrote:Yes the 34 is 9mm. We did try and do your trick of putting the slide against the bench and pushing down to rack it out.. but it was stuck real good. Range officer grabbed the mallet, gave it a few gentle taps forward and pulled the trigger... it extracted ok. but you are right, i would have thought that was a no no... but it worked.
OAL for my rounds is 28.4mm and im using Tigershark 123gr copper plated round nose bullets. All my rounds go through a Dillon 9mm case gauge.
The pistol is new and only fired a few hundred rounds. It has had two good cleans and no build up in the chamber. Im just wondering if maybe its throat is a bit on the small side and dosnt like reused cases??


I had to convert your mm to inches, but the OAL seems to be within spec and on the shorter side.

Do you use a Lee Factory Crimp Die at the end when reloading your brass? It post sizes the case and removes the belled mouth from your expanding die after you have seated the bullet. I've reloaded many tens of thousands of 9mm and swear by that die.

There are a bunch of videos on Youtube on this die but here's one with a guy using plated bullets and it seemed to solve his problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfGihVSDPxc
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by ob1 » 03 Oct 2020, 12:34 am

Remove the barrel from the slide.
Place one of your reloads into the chamber and press down with your thumb to seat it in the chamber as hard as you can.
Turn the barrel vertical and the reload should drop out. If not, you have a problem with your reloading.

Also, you don't say which powder you are using in your reloads. If the powder is too slow for 9mm it can leave unburnt flakes in the case after firing. As the case extracts these unburnt flakes fall from the case into the chamber, making a very nice wedge to jam the next case being fed into the chamber and causing an intermittent jam that leaves no traces if you manage to clear it or fire off the round.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Diamond Jim » 03 Oct 2020, 1:08 am

I agree with wanneroo - Glocks are one of the least fussy pistols about - that's one of their attractions. My G34 (Gen 3) is yet to have a jam of the type you describe (touch wood) but my G22 (.40S&W) was particular in that it would not reliably feed if the cartridges were at the upper end of the OAL range. From memory I had to keep to just under 29mm and I do the same for 9mm.
Glocks do leave a "bulge" where the case is not supported by the chamber and this is typically not removed by some (or most) resizing/depriming dies. I understand a "bulge buster" die is available if you want to completely remove the bulge but I've never bothered.
Does the new Gen 5 run the factory barrel or an aftermarket one? I understand the aftermarket match barrels have significantly tighter tolerances than the factory ones. If you are running brass fired in a different firearm that could be a factor. Have you tried with factory ammo? I'm not suggesting switching full time but just to narrow the problem down to either gun or ammo.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Macross » 03 Oct 2020, 8:37 am

Hi Guys... thanks for these replies... some great info there and some things to think about.

Wanneroo, I am reloading on a Dillon Square Deal, so not able to change out the Dies as it uses proprietary ones just for this press.

ob1, Im using ADI powder, specifically 4.0gr of ASP450. I've found this to burn very cleanly and have never found unburnt powder in the frame of either my CZ or the Glock. Before reloading, i would often find granules of unburnt powder from factory ammo in my CZ, but have not seen any since switching to reloading and using the APS450. Also, doing the plunk test on the barrel has always been fine.

Diamond Jim, I have been gathering brass from the range so its a mixed bag. I am wondering if i may be reusing some brass that has a bulge in the base and even though its passing the case gauge, it may be too big for the glock... not all the time but just the odd round. As I mentioned, my CZ seems to eat anything ive put through it. Perhaps the new Glock is a bit picky.
I've only got the stock barrel in it. I have run a bunch of factory ammo through it and its been fine. The three times Ive had the slide lock up on me has been with my reloads. So I think I can safely say the issue is with my ammo and the Glock. Ive got some virgin brass that i was using to make comp loads with. Perhaps i will switch to that unfired brass and try that in the glock for a while.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by ob1 » 03 Oct 2020, 12:09 pm

The Dillon SDB die will not size all the way to the bottom of the case, so any used brass with an over-sized base area is much more likely to stay over-size in the SDB. This also happens on a 1050 and other Dillon presses, but to a smaller extent, and there are always a few over-sized cases from range pickups that will fail the gauge even after a pass through the resizing die. This is why checking every finished case for size by pressing it into your chamber is important while you trouble shoot. Ensure that you press each round and it drops out freely.

Do you check every case by pushing it into the barrel chamber with your thumb, or only occasional samples? For a while, check every case.

Some time back I tried shooting off a batch of case gauge failures as throw-away practice ammo and most of the cases fed and fired OK even though they failed the gauge but there were also multiple jams of the type you describe.

Try reloading a batch of known new cases that have only been in your gun. There should be no problem with brass that has been fired only in your gun. If there are problems, something else is happening.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Tubs » 04 Oct 2020, 9:08 pm

Macross wrote:Hi Guys... thanks for these replies... some great info there and some things to think about.

Wanneroo, I am reloading on a Dillon Square Deal, so not able to change out the Dies as it uses proprietary ones just for this press.

ob1, Im using ADI powder, specifically 4.0gr of ASP450. I've found this to burn very cleanly and have never found unburnt powder in the frame of either my CZ or the Glock. Before reloading, i would often find granules of unburnt powder from factory ammo in my CZ, but have not seen any since switching to reloading and using the APS450. Also, doing the plunk test on the barrel has always been fine.

Diamond Jim, I have been gathering brass from the range so its a mixed bag. I am wondering if i may be reusing some brass that has a bulge in the base and even though its passing the case gauge, it may be too big for the glock... not all the time but just the odd round. As I mentioned, my CZ seems to eat anything ive put through it. Perhaps the new Glock is a bit picky.
I've only got the stock barrel in it. I have run a bunch of factory ammo through it and its been fine. The three times Ive had the slide lock up on me has been with my reloads. So I think I can safely say the issue is with my ammo and the Glock. Ive got some virgin brass that i was using to make comp loads with. Perhaps i will switch to that unfired brass and try that in the glock for a while.


I hear u man. The Gen 5 is a great toy to have (accurate!), and I also use a square deal to reload.

Have u checked the consistency of the powder throwing of the Dillon? I have given up on my square deal powder thrower - it was throwing anywhere from .9 to 4 gn of aps 450 so I got three or four instances where the bullet was only half chambered, the slide wouldnt budge - farrrk! With pistol pointing forward I had to insert a small screw driver gently into the breech and applied backward leverage on the slide until it would slide back. Nerve racking to have a live round in a pistol that is half chambered and you cant retrieve it.

I check all of my powder loads now manually and no issues now. I still use the dillon to de-prime, re-size, crimp etc, just not to powder. Ended up buying an auto powder dispenser - worth it if it saves future squibs and other nasties.

Note I have a Shadow 1 and I have never had a jam - I think it is just the physics of firing a much heavier pistol.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Diamond Jim » 04 Oct 2020, 10:40 pm

" I have run a bunch of factory ammo through it and its been fine. The three times Ive had the slide lock up on me has been with my reloads."

Factory barrel - that eliminates my other avenue.

OK - that suggests it's something with the reloads if nothing has changed between shooting the factory rounds and the reloads.

Factors include:
Sizing - you run them through a case gauge so eliminate that.;
Case length - too long can hang up in the magazine and cause issues.;
Inconsistent powder charge - I've never used a Dillon so I'm not familiar with their system so I can't help there. On the subject of powder, I have almost exclusively used the now discontinued AP70 and AP100 so I can't comment on your choice of AP450 but a brief dalliance with AP30 (it was what I had on hand at the time) was an issue with tiny powder charges and what I think might have been inconsistent ignition in a mostly empty case. Just a thought but if it's ejecting the previously fired case that suggests your reloads are not under-powered.

It seems to be a problem going in to battery.
I hate to suggest it but have you disassembled the gun as in detailed strip - are you certain it's been reassembled correctly and appropriately (i.e. minimally) lubricated? Is the guide rod in the correct way around (I think that it would be difficult to get that wrong in a gen 5)? Not trying to be a smart @ss - just trying to list the things that I would go through if I had the same issue.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by wanneroo » 05 Oct 2020, 12:02 am

Tubs wrote: I have given up on my square deal powder thrower - it was throwing anywhere from .9 to 4 gn of aps 450 so I got three or four instances where the bullet was only half chambered,


That doesn't sound right. I had this happen on a new Hornady powder measure and even though I had cleaned it when I bought it, the powder was clumping up either due to static or moisture and I was having the same issue with very inconsistent throws. Had to clean it out again and then it was good.

I would disassemble that Dillon powder measure and see what is going on inside there.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by wanneroo » 05 Oct 2020, 12:11 am

Macross wrote:Wanneroo, I am reloading on a Dillon Square Deal, so not able to change out the Dies as it uses proprietary ones just for this press.


Well if you have to, you could always use the Lee FCD on a single stage press or a Lee hand press after the rounds come off the Square Deal.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Macross » 05 Oct 2020, 8:02 am

Thanks again for all this input guys. Its really started my cogs going and I have tried to go back over everything to find a cause. I think this morning I have worked out what's happened. Early on when i started reloading, i was case gauging and plunk testing my rounds... I was being over cautious and double checking everything as I was learning. I started to find that range pickup brass would sometimes be slightly too tight on the gauge but plunk test fine on my CZ Shadow 2 barrel. This lead me to the conclusion that the throat of my CZ was generous and a case that was boarder line in the gauge was fine to shoot.... IN MY CZ. So i started to let slightly tight rounds pass the gauge and into ammo supply.

Fast forward several months and we purchase this new Glock for my wife... I started feeding it my hand loads and low and behold, some of the questionably sized rounds that should have been weeded out are in various batches of ammo because they work fine in my CZ. The Glock then gets feed a slightly over diameter case and it jams in the barrel real good.

We were still in the first 12 month license period and had to PTA our new Glock to our club. So its not been home yet and it still lives in the club safe... waiting on PTA as i write this to bring it home. Hence I've never done a plunk test with the Glock barrel.

Lesson here is that if I'm making rounds for different 9mm guns, I have to be strict when gauging them and not let anything slightly over spec through. I guess with hind sight this should have been obvious to me but it wasnt till i started to really go back through everything that this popped back into my mind. Thanks for getting the cogs turning guys, it was very helpful to reanalyze everything to work out what was happening.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by wanneroo » 05 Oct 2020, 11:39 am

Macross wrote:Thanks again for all this input guys. Its really started my cogs going and I have tried to go back over everything to find a cause. I think this morning I have worked out what's happened. Early on when i started reloading, i was case gauging and plunk testing my rounds... I was being over cautious and double checking everything as I was learning. I started to find that range pickup brass would sometimes be slightly too tight on the gauge but plunk test fine on my CZ Shadow 2 barrel. This lead me to the conclusion that the throat of my CZ was generous and a case that was boarder line in the gauge was fine to shoot.... IN MY CZ. So i started to let slightly tight rounds pass the gauge and into ammo supply.



I've never been big on the "plunk test". OK the ammo fits, well what if it doesn't?

What is nice about reloading is that we can tailor ammo to specific guns if need be.

That said, with most everything I have, I load to SAAMI spec and the case gauge. Reason being whatever ammo I grab, whatever gun I grab it needs to work. If I have a bunch of 300 blackout rifles or 9mm pistols or whatever, everything needs to interchange with one another. Even if I make something custom like the hot 9mm I make for the Uzi and the Suomi, it still needs to work in all of the 9mm pistols.

A proper case gauge is always going to give more data points on where the case is hanging up if it doesn't fit. I case gauge every single round I make and if it doesn't fit I reject it(make sure you keep your case gauge clean too). Even with all the diligent work I do, I reject anywhere from 1 out of every 100 to 200 rounds on average. It could be the bullet got seated funky, could be some issue with the rim, a bulge in the brass that made it through the resizing or some other defect. The bullet gets pulled, powder gets dumped back in the hopper if possible and brass gets discarded.

All that has served me well as I don't have jams in my guns whatever it is I'm doing. I go to these pistol matches like the one I went to last Saturday and there are always a couple of guys that have multiple jams every stage, racking endless live rounds onto the ground. I have asked in the past if they case gauge their ammo and not a single one has ever said they do. Clearly they've got something going on with their reloading but wont spend the $20-$50 for a decent case gauge to check their work.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Macross » 05 Oct 2020, 1:18 pm

wanneroo wrote:I've never been big on the "plunk test". OK the ammo fits, well what if it doesn't?

What is nice about reloading is that we can tailor ammo to specific guns if need be.

That said, with most everything I have, I load to SAAMI spec and the case gauge. Reason being whatever ammo I grab, whatever gun I grab it needs to work. If I have a bunch of 300 blackout rifles or 9mm pistols or whatever, everything needs to interchange with one another. Even if I make something custom like the hot 9mm I make for the Uzi and the Suomi, it still needs to work in all of the 9mm pistols.

A proper case gauge is always going to give more data points on where the case is hanging up if it doesn't fit. I case gauge every single round I make and if it doesn't fit I reject it(make sure you keep your case gauge clean too). Even with all the diligent work I do, I reject anywhere from 1 out of every 100 to 200 rounds on average. It could be the bullet got seated funky, could be some issue with the rim, a bulge in the brass that made it through the resizing or some other defect. The bullet gets pulled, powder gets dumped back in the hopper if possible and brass gets discarded.

All that has served me well as I don't have jams in my guns whatever it is I'm doing. I go to these pistol matches like the one I went to last Saturday and there are always a couple of guys that have multiple jams every stage, racking endless live rounds onto the ground. I have asked in the past if they case gauge their ammo and not a single one has ever said they do. Clearly they've got something going on with their reloading but wont spend the $20-$50 for a decent case gauge to check their work.


Yeah really good points. No more sneaking rounds past that fail the gauge cause they fit one of my guns. As I am newly returning to shooting after handing all my guns in in 1996, i only had one 9mm pistol initially... My processes worked fine, for one gun, but adding a second of the same caliber has uncovered a bad decision to allow slightly large ammo through. Looks like my bullet puller will start to earn its keep, as I seem to get a fat round every couple of hundred rounds or so from range pickup brass.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by wanneroo » 06 Oct 2020, 12:38 am

Macross wrote:
Yeah really good points. No more sneaking rounds past that fail the gauge cause they fit one of my guns. As I am newly returning to shooting after handing all my guns in in 1996, i only had one 9mm pistol initially... My processes worked fine, for one gun, but adding a second of the same caliber has uncovered a bad decision to allow slightly large ammo through. Looks like my bullet puller will start to earn its keep, as I seem to get a fat round every couple of hundred rounds or so from range pickup brass.


My philosophy is not to have a big attachment to brass or fret about brass life. I think in some situations it is warranted, it might be an expensive cartridge you are shooting, a curio and relic where brass or ammo for it is rare or expensive or you are just a man tight on funds that hunts for food or extra money and you've only got a couple dozen cases you've got to get the most out of. But for common stuff like 9mm, brass gets lost at the range, there are production and quality variances in brass or there is some issue where it gets damaged and doesn't reload well where it fits the gauge. Oh well. Hopefully you will not have any further problems from here on.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by vmaxaust » 13 Oct 2020, 7:59 pm

[quote="Macross"][quote="wanneroo"]
I've never been big on the "plunk test". OK the ammo fits, well what if it doesn't?

What is nice about reloading is that we can tailor ammo to specific guns if need be.

Buy a Rollsizer...

https://www.rollsizer.com/

Rollsize ALL cases and then separate by head stamps. This process brings cases back to OEM spec regardless of which gun they were fired from. Then continue with the normal loading process...bell the case top, size, prime, drop powder, seat bullet and taper crimp. Your 4gr of APS450 is getting up there in terms of velocity and pressure so your cases are taking a beating. Rollsizing them makes a huge difference when loads are so powerful.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Macross » 14 Oct 2020, 9:23 am

Rollsizer Whoa... hard core bit of kit there. Would look totally out of place in my humble little reloading room.
Yeah 4gr is as far as I go with APS450... and only for my glock as going much less and it has trouble cycling 100%. 3.9gr seems to be the lowest ive had no issues with. Perhaps as it wears in a bit it may be happy with less powder. 3.8gr gave me two or three stove pipes out of 100 rounds.
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Re: Glock 34 Gen 5 hand loads and jams

Post by Florey55 » 24 Oct 2020, 3:49 pm

I'm a bit late for this topic, but I also have a Gen5 Glock 34.

My one has operated flawlessly with 3.8 gr Bullseye - with 124gr RN or 125gr Cone.

I also use a Lee Factory Carbide Crimp dies on the last press station
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