Pistol Blows up in Marshall County Deputy's Hand

WTRF-TV ^ | December 4, 2009 | Leigh Ann Towne

[Sam_Damon]

A Marshall County Sheriff’s Deputy is recovering after a pistol blew up on Tuesday (November 30 -- sd) during qualifications, according to Chief Deputy Kevin Cecil.

The veteran officer was using a Glock 21 .45 caliber pistol with out of country ammunition at a shooting range outside of Moundsville, Cecil said.

It’s believed the ammunition was bad, causing the receiver to blow apart in the sergeant’s hand.

[Sam_Damon]

Mods: posting the older article because WTRF has not updated their site with the information the deputy is now out of the hospital. IIRC what I heard on a recent newscast of theirs, the injured deputy will be off duty for a month as a result of this accident.

Questions to the banglist: any ideas what might cause the Glock 21 to fly apart like this? AFAIK, the Marshall County (WV) SD has sent the pistol and ammo in question back to Glock for analysis.

[rahbert]

+P+ ammunition? Uncleared barrel obstruction?

Without seeing the remains of the weapon its hard to say.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I heard there were some slide failures.

[edcoil]

“with out of country ammunition”

Why are our police and sheriff’s buying ammo made outside the USA?

[MrB]

Squib load followed by a live round...

[Sam_Damon]

True.

AFAIK, the only pix might be at the sheriff’s department. Perhaps they might release a couple. We’ll see.

[AnAmericanMother]

My guess, if he was using cheap reloads, is that somebody at the factory double-charged the shell. With a .45 ACP, that would be enough to shatter the case and the receiver as well.

I'm not as familiar with the Glock as the 1911A1 and the Sig, but whatever the weak point of the receiver is (locking lugs, ejector mount) would blow first, and if that's in the rear of the receiver you take the brunt of it on your hand and face (hopefully he had good shooting glasses).

[CrappieLuck]

Maybe a squib??

[TheThirdRuffian]

I am personally suprised a GLOCK would do that, barring barrel obstruction.

I have several .40s, and they are seriously stout weapons.

Curious if the .45 is a “hollowed out” .40 or somesuch, making thinner walled (and thus weaker) by design.

[muddler]

Double charge.

[Busywhiskers]

“Why are our police and sheriff’s buying ammo made outside the USA?”

Maybe because it was available.

[AnAmericanMother]

With a .45 you ought to hear the squib. Unless he was in rapid fire mode and had already pulled the trigger while going "Huh?"

Usually everybody who hears the < ploop > yells "CEASE FIRE!" at the top of their lungs.

[DesertRhino]

Don’t think you are supposed to shoot unjacketed lead rounds in those due to the rifling technique used. Cheap reloads with lead foul the barrel to the point this can happen.

[Tarpon]

Loading error -— double powder charge ...

[TheThirdRuffian]

Taget practice?

[Xenalyte]

Yikes ping!

[saganite]

Bullet stuck in the barrel from a squib load and subsequent failure when the deputy fired the next round. You said he was using questionable ammo so it’s possible. With a squib load the gun doesn’t go bang like it would normally and the slide won’t feed the next round so you’ve got 2 warning signs that something is wrong. I have had a squib load in my .45 (I reload so the fault was all mine) but I knew to check the barrel for an obstruction. Of course, it may not have been a squib load but it’s one possibility.

[PGalt]

Interesting post and thread. Thanks to all contributors.

What is the root cause? How many time has that ever happened? What is the probability of that happening? What variables need to be addressed?

[Deaf Smith]

There is a difference between 45ACP & 45AGP.

[headsonpikes]

"Guns don't kill people - ammunition kills people!"