Glock pistols can survive abuse but what about the cartridges?

Teapot

Teapot

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
27   0   0
Location
Hamilton, Ontario; the southern shore of Canada.
The Glock 17 can take environmental abuse and be able to keep working. However, the cartridges contained in both it's magazine and chamber may not be up to the task.

What cartridges would be able to tolerate submersion in salt water, mud, exposed to heat and cold etc while being contained in the box magazine of a Glock pistol and be impervious to the elements? The pistol would be fine but that is like having an automobile without fuel.
Does such a cartridge exist?
 
Any quality ammo should be fine for the short haul, and most mil-spec ammo with primer and case mouth seals should hold up as long as the Glock..........assuming of course that it doesn't reach detonation temp.
Some kinds of penetrating oils would probably be more dangerous than the other contaminants you listed.
 
I have accidentally ran cartridges through the washing machine before. All fired just fine after that immersion, including a couple of .22LR rounds that I expected to be dead.


Mark
 
After a while the cartridges turn green. I remember advertising photographs of a Glock 17 lying in the salt water on a tropical beach.
Where else would one fantasize about needing a Glock pistol? Certainly not a desert or the boreal forest! No, it must be coconuts, Polynesian girls, fresh fruit, fish, wild boars, no taxes or rent, and certainly no phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury. However in this fantasy there are probably cannibals that sail to the island from a bad island looking for long pig! That is when the perfection of the Glock will shine. The Glock will be cracking and the cannibals will be dropping like flies and littering the beach where you found the pistol (right at the water line so it was only half submerged). Their spears and arrows would be no match against the Glock. Seventeen cannibals would have alighted from their outriggers to attack your village of girls and seventeen would later litter the beach in various poses but all with a neat black hole in them. Smoke would curl from the muzzle of the Glock 17 pistol. Thank God it was not a Canadian pistol or you would have had to face the remaining seven cannibals empty handed.The girls would then all chant, quietly at first so that it was no more than the sigh of the wind. The chant would become a murmur and then a full throated cry and chorus of "Glock Perfection!" "Glock Perfection!" "Glock Perfection!" Well at least in the advertising video. It still would not be as bad as the PPS-50 photo of a man carrying that 22lr ppsh wannabe running down a little creek with napalm exploding behind him.

Well the pistol can take the abuse but honestly the cartridges may not be able to be submerged a long time in salt water. What about nickel plated cases, and cupro nickel bullets sealed with a bit of tar substance and special sealant for the primer?
 
Last edited:
Never underestimate the ability of cartridges to survive!

A couple of years ago I was involved with a dig on a WWI airfield when we recovered a number of .303 inch Pomeroy rounds (WWI air service explosive rounds). The cases just crumbled but the bullets being cupro-nickel were in reasonably good condition. I reloaded a couple in modern cases and we fired one, not expecting any terminal effects. The first round fired detonated on a 3mm card target after ninety five years in the ground!

Regards
TonyE
 
I can attest to police issue ammo and the cold and wet! Our detachment always leaves perfectally good rounds laying up at the range, I have picked up .223 that was under snow, laying in water after the spring thaw.....9mm that has been up there for at least a year in -30 -40 deg temps, then laying in water during the spring thaw. All shoot fine after cleaning the mud off of them :) These are not specifically ment for this abuse, a cartridge that has a case mouth seal, and primer seal should last for a long time in abusive environments!
 
Thanks guys, I have heard of old Great War and WW2 cartridges still in usable condition too. Always believed it was the exception rather than the rule.

I guess those cannibals would be eating long pig in cannibal heaven after all. Lucky the Glock was on the beach and the cartridges didn't get ruined.
I wonder if cupro nickel bullets are available?
 
Teapot said:
Just remembered that Glock pistols are worn by divers for use as a small bang-stick against sharks so the cartridges are still fine after submersion in water.
Click to expand...

Do you have a source for this?

Bullets in water dump energy like an elephant taking a crap.

Unless it is a contact shot I doubt it would do anything at all.

And I would NEVER attempt a contact shot underwater with my barrel full of water and the barrel against anything.

I like my fingers thank you very much.

That and I doubt the Glock would be good for a second round unless you cycled it manually.

It was designed not to be fired underwater, but to be able to be fired after being submerged without having to take it apart and remove the water from things like the striker channel.
 
Head on over to Glock Talk and you can read about it if you search. The Glock can fire underwater easily. Spring cups of the Maritime variety work best for the pistol though. How many divers carry them? Don't know.
Seaway bang-stick cuts sharks in half using no projectile, just air from the cartridge.
 
Teapot said:
After a while the cartridges turn green. I remember advertising photographs of a Glock 17 lying in the salt water on a tropical beach.
Where else would one fantasize about needing a Glock pistol? Certainly not a desert or the boreal forest! No, it must be coconuts, Polynesian girls, fresh fruit, fish, wild boars, no taxes or rent, and certainly no phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury. However in this fantasy there are probably cannibals that sail to the island from a bad island looking for long pig! That is when the perfection of the Glock will shine. The Glock will be cracking and the cannibals will be dropping like flies and littering the beach where you found the pistol (right at the water line so it was only half submerged). Their spears and arrows would be no match against the Glock. Seventeen cannibals would alighted from their outriggers to attack your village of girls and seventeen would litter the beach in various poses but all with a neat black hole in them. Smoke curled from the muzzle of the Glock 17 pistol. Thank God it was not a Canadian pistol or you would have had to face the remaining seven cannibals empty handed.The girls would then all chant, quietly at first so that it was no more than the sigh of the wind. The chant would become a murmur and then a full throated cry and chorus of "Glock Perfection!" "Glock Perfection!" "Glock Perfection!" Well at least in the advertising video. It still would not be as bad as the PPS-50 photo of a man carrying that 22lr ppsh wannabe running down a little creek with napalm exploding behind him.

Well the pistol can take the abuse but honestly the cartridges may not be able to be submerged a long time in salt water. What about nickel plated cases, and cupro nickel bullets sealed with a bit of tar substance and special sealant for the primer?
Click to expand...

Awesome, lol. If only it was short enough for a sig line...
 
If you need to submersed in salt water buy the HK underwater gun. Although cartridges can handle it sometimes, does not mean its their purpose and for certain are not reliable after submersion. Yes some will go bang, most in fact but not all and when a life is on the line, percentages matter.
 
I was handling a green ammo can full of Winchester white box .40 ammo that was reliable and fired fine. It was sprinkled on by rain and then closed up for several weeks then, then fired again. The failure rate was quite high, approaching 10%.
I do agree the top of the line rounds meant for field or duty use will accept a tremendous amount of abuse before failure. Their sealed cases keep the gremlins at bay.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom