Continuos reloading and chambering of the same round
may cause catastrophic
failure in semiautomatic handguns.

The security force at the Los Alimitos National
Laboratory recently reported on
the catastrophic failure of a semiautomatic handgun
when it was fired. The
internal explosion caused the frame to break while the
slide and barrel
separated from the weapon and traveled down range. An
investigation revealed
that the security personnel were repeatedly charging
(loading) the same round of
ammunition into the chamber.

Technical personnel at Glock Inc. Advise that repeated
chambering of the same
round may cause the bullet to move deeper in the
casing, further compacting the
propellant (gun powder ). If the propellant is further
compacted beyond factory
spec's, the pressure may increase beyond the guns
specifications causing it to
break apart. Sigarms Inc.'s personnel confirm that
reloading the same round five
or six times will cause the problems, noting that
reloading the same round even
once will void their warranty. Both manufacturers
stress the problem is not with
the gun but with loading the same round repeatedly