...during an Aim Fast Hit Fast class
...during a solo F.A.S.T. run.
All of your hands should be down. Mine is not, sadly.
It has taken me awhile to write this, mostly due to the mental trauma sustained in this incident. This is part of my healing.
It was during my 3rd FAST run of the class, on Sunday morning. After getting on The Wall the day before, on this run I proceeded to badly miss both headshots, reload, and blow my gun up on the first body shot.
It happened very fast, obviously. I remember dropping the gun; Todd says it was more of a touchdown spike. I remember looking at my now black hands from the partially burnt powder, and seeing and feeling all my fingers. That part felt nice.
Then the realization set in of exactly what happened. I just blew up my gun.
TLG was awesome. Not only did he not tell me to GTFO of class, he secured the gun and spent about 10 or so minutes un-jamming it to see the full extent of the damage. It was locked up extremely tight, and freeing the slide involved viciously pounding it on a wood block to get it back far enough to get the safety plunger out.
So how did this happen? The TLG version of the story is that after seeing the headshots miss, I purposely grabbed a magazine that contained a 9mm bomb of my own deliberate manufacture, in order to use my one allowed reshoot due to "extreme equipment malfunction". While very hilarious, it isn't true.
The most likely answer is that I simply screwed up. Screwed up fantastically. A textbook double charge is my current assumption. But I am open to other possibilities, particularly ones that don't make me appear so bumpkin-ish.
At that time (SEPT 2011) I had been reloading for around 8 or 9 months, and had reloaded about 7k trouble-free rounds. Like most accidents firearm-wise, it only takes one.
Damage
As you'll see in the pictures, damage is actually not that bad. Nothing appears to be permanent.
The extractor was lost. We never found it. I imagine its still in orbit. Or perhaps some of it is.
The White Sound HRED I had installed (aftermarket spring loaded extractor bearing) was half-destroyed. I have the big rod, but the spring and the small part that contacts the extractor were lost. I imagine they are wherever the extractor is.
Half the casing was sealed in the chamber. Apparently this is not difficult to remove.
The magazine shot out of the gun, and was destroyed. The magazine catch seems to be fine.
And of course my pride was grievously injured.
As bad as it was, it really could have been much worse.
My Glock is currently back home at Glock INC in Georgia, being inspected for damage by the pros at the factory. If its ok, it will get a new extractor, the new ejector, and the latest recoil spring assembly.
I can't wait to get it back. I have been shooting a couple of my gen3 Glocks since, and its shown me how much I really dig the GEN4 frame.
I still reload. I recently passed the 13k mark on my 550b. But I'm alot more careful, and I don't reload as much at one time. I actually have an idea of how I could have done this. It involves me loading for a long period, becoming fatigued and letting myself get distracted.
And now, pictures of the carnage. I fear you'll be a little disappointed.
the casing sealed in the chamber
The other half of the casing. The deformity is pretty amazing. I can't even read the headstamp, as it is totally flat. The pressure apparently literally flattened out the headstamp. Awesome.
more of the case
the magazine. as mentioned, its toast.
here the "track" the magazine catch cut through the magazine can be seen.
my Gen4 17, before it got sent back to Glock.
a humble tribute
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Originally Posted by TGS
