Glock 17 Gen 4 & lone Wolf barrel, (with a few pics)

[Slapstick]

I shoot a lot of cast and plated bullets so I went looking for a replacement barrel with standard rifling for my Glock 17 gen 4. After doing a little research I picked up a Lone Wolf 4.5 inch stainless for it. The fit is perfect, a true drop in replacement. Being a little longer than the stock Glock barrel it sticks out of the frame just a hair, about a 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch or so. I actually prefer it, give’s the gun a little more personality and doesn’t inter with a thing.

Reliability has been outstanding. I’ve taken it out 3 times now a shot a variety of ammo through it without one problem, no FTF’s or FTE’s, it shot everything I threw at it. After about 450 to 500 rounds using cast and plated bullets there was no leading or copper fouling.


Accuracy was on par if not a little better than with the factory barrel, that is to say it’s capable of shooting tight groups, me not so much, but still at 10 yards off hand I was keeping the rounds in about a 4 inch group. That’s not bad for me shooting this gun and I hope to get better now that I can shoot it more often with my reloads, (there’s just something about the Glock grip angle that throws my shooting off but then I’m not used it either ).

My impression is that it’s a worthwhile investment for any Glock shooter that likes cast or plated bullets.

 

[24Carat]

So noobish question here what are three primary benefits over the stock barrel and what do they cost? Cost benefit over "Perfection"?

 

[dsol]

I was hoping you were selling one... I hate paying retail when I can help it. I need to go and bite the bullet and get one for my G17 as well. I have a ton of cast reloads I can't shoot through the factory barrel (well I can, but it sucks), so I need to get me a second cut rifling barrel for blasting my cheap stuff.

24Carat - the factory barrel has rifling that works great with jacketed bullets, but not with cast bullets. Also the case is fully supported in the aftermarket barrels, so reloads are safer.

 

[Slapstick]

So noobish question here what are three primary benefits over the stock barrel and what do they cost? Cost benefit over "Perfection"?

Basically there are 2 reasons, 1) a fully supported chamber and 2) standard riffling over polygonal. If your a reloader the fully supported chamber means no Golcked brass, (slight bulge at the base) and standard rifling allows shooting cast or plated bullets with out worry of lead buildup in the rifling decreasing accuracy and upping pressure. Polygonal rifling has a tendency to lead more than standard rifling. It's not to say you can't use them but Glock does not recommend using cast, plated or reloaded ammo in their guns and if you do use lead in a polygonal barrel it requires a lot more judicious cleaning. That's been my experience anyway.

 

[SMHurt]

You should post your findings on Real World Reviews ..... others might be interested in your findings.

 

[HICKMAN]

as far as "glocked" brass, you can take care of that with a Lee resizing die.

All of the modern glock's chambers are supported, they couldn't sell them if they weren't. Glock's chambers are a little looser than the after market barrels because they are built that way to eat any ammo. I had an after market Storm Lake barrel that was so tight it would take any of my reloads, had to send back to them to open up a little.

For those that want to shoot reloads thru a stock Glock barrel, just get moly or poly coated bullets.

 

[Slapstick]

as far as "glocked" brass, you can take care of that with a Lee resizing die.

All of the modern glock's chambers are supported, they couldn't sell them if they weren't. Glock's chambers are a little looser than the after market barrels because they are built that way to eat any ammo. I had an after market Storm Lake barrel that was so tight it would take any of my reloads, had to send back to them to open up a little.

For those that want to shoot reloads thru a stock Glock barrel, just get moly or poly coated bullets.

Hickman I’m going to have to disagree with you on few points and I’ll explain why. I do agree that the Lee dies do an exceptional job of putting “Glocked brass” back into spec but that just exasperates the problem of shooting reloads in a Glock barrel .

The problem with shooting reloads in Glock barrels is because the chambers are looser and the feed ramp design is part of the chamber (hence the unsupported part of the chamber). When you shoot a round in the looser chamber you're fire forming the brass to the chamber size, which in Glock’s case is a tiny bit more than most. When you resize the brass back to spec your putting more stress on the case than if you shot it through a “normal” chamber. This leads to faster case failure. If you do have a case failure the looser chamber will allow more of the gases to go around the bullet and case back into the chamber. Hence the famous “ Glock Kabooms”.

The problem with shooting cast bullets in polygonal barrels is the pressure spike that occurs when the bullet hits the rifling. Lead is soft but it’s also a bit sticky as it deforms into the rifling and with more bearing surface on the polygonal rifling there’s more of a pressure spike.

So when you combine a weaken case due to reloading “glocked brass”, a loose chamber and a pressure spike as the bullet hits the rifling you stand a chance of a catastrophic failure. Granted it’s a very small chance that all 3 will come into play with enough force to bring about that catastrophic failure but why take the chance?

As far a moly/poly coated go I seen mixed reviews on them. If your barrel has a tendency to lead then they may not be the greatest thing to use. Some people complain that it’s a pain to clean out while other say there’s no crud at all. From all I can find out it’s definitely a “your mileage may vary” kind of thing. About the best I can figure is it all about the left over micro machining & tool marks left in your barrel from manufacturing, the more there are the faster your barrel will foul and less you’ll like them.

Glock makes an exceptionally reliable firearm in its price range but to give that reliability there were tradeoffs and one was in the chamber design. Fine if you use new factory ammo but maybe not so much if you reload so all & all an aftermarket barrel with standard rifling seemed to me to be the cheapest and best option. I know that many people do shoot reloads with cast bullets in Glocks without a problem but again, why take the chance?