Huh. OK, I should have said, as far as I know, there has only been one documented case that I know of the Glock had looked into.

BUT, I think any attempt to blame the design of the firearm is looking in the wrong direction. Proper examination of these cases, and a "gun writer" usually lacks the technical means to carry out in the metalurgical and mechanical sense, would most likely point to the ammunition. Manufacturers develop thier firearms for a specific pressure range. Exceed that at your own risk- it's like putting av gas into your car.

One fast note about "gun writers"" their job is sell copy, just like any other writer. They are experinced shooters, but how many of them understand what is actually happening when a trigger is squeezed? There are lots of automotive writers out there, and they are usually pretty good at saying what failed when a car breaks, becuase they are often trained as mechanics. But how many of them are qualified to design a subsystem of a car or determine the exact nature of a failure? How many of them understand the physics and chemistry of combustion? Gun writers are the same way. Most of them just know that A + B = C. They don't know what the + and = means, it just happens automagcially. Anyone who describes a catstrophic failure as a "kaboom", or shortens it to the cutesy "kB" is loosing credability in my eyes. <rant off>

As I stated elsewhere, there are thousands of .40 caliber Glocks in federal service in the US, and tens of thousands in state, county and local law enforcement and private service in this country. If there was a problem inherient with the design, it would have recieved a much wider publication. These agencies understand that all bets are off with the manufacturers if you run +P+ (and in many cases, +P) loads through thier fire arms. Not only are the firearms not designed to handle the materials stress of these loads, they are not mechanically designed to handle them. I've seen plenty of non-catastrophic failures with auto loaders with higher than standard pressure loads, that don't repeat when the firearm is switched to standard pressure ammunition.

Add in the quality control issues inherient with personally developed handloads, particularly too much powder and/or air within the cartidge, or using to hot a powder. I AM a little suprised by the number of catastrophic failures, in all honesty, but given the numbers of Glocks sold, it isn't that big. But I've seen just as many catastrophic failures from the Beretta and some other 9mms, and with a 1911, with +P and +P+ ammo, usually from reloaders, in terms of either there when it blew or handled the remains.

Other than barrel obstructions, I can not think of how the catfail with the G34 mentioned in the document you sent a link to could have happened with standard pressure ammo, unless there was a mechanical failure, most likely a failure to go fully into battery. Thats a wear and tear related issue. Competitive shooters go through more than a thousand rounds a week between compition and training. Guns do wear out, but the average shooter isn't going to put that much wear on the gun.

The point that Mr. Spier raises about feed ramps was the source, IIRC, about the upgrade about 10-15 years ago. Not upgrading that would be like not noticing if your car had something similiat to it. Reading the article reminded me about that. At this point, I can't think of a reason why a Glock would be in service that had that problem unless the metal itself had just erroded away from usage, and it shouldn't happen AT ALL with any Glock manufactured from around that date, which would include all but the first run or two of .40 S&W models, the distributors of which were notified, and the message passed on to the purchasers at the address on the 4473. Failure to pass it on would just be unprofessional.

Again, so long as the firearms are being properly maintained, there is no statistically significant chance of a inherient mechanical fault for a modern production Glock, or any other firearm from a reputable manufacturer, to suffer a catastrophic failure other than barrel obstruction or an ammunition failure. And bad ammo is possible from the factory. In the case of the G34 that blew with factory practice ammo, I would suspect that is where the fault lies.

Moral of the story- don't try to make your cartridge something it isn't, and stay up to date on the data on your firearm from the manufacturer. Have a GUNSMITH, not just the guy at the gun store, check it out ever few thousand rounds. Don't mess with the ammo, or try the cute and tricky ammo. Don't pull and swap parts unless you know what you are doing and are willing to take the risk. Abuse you gear, and it will fail. When it fails, it won't be happy. If it is really unhappy, it might try to go out laughing by taking you with it.