Hey guys - I'm having a thought about this. It ain't painful so I thought I would pass it on. Here's the thought:: Glocks are known to last about forever and are supposed to shoot a billion boolets before ya gotta fix anything, which also means the barrels should be pretty (dang, darn) good. Glock has used the polygonal rifling so maybe that adds life to a service pistol barrel, which menas that rifling differences or not, those barrels have to be built for long (like a billion rounds or so) use.
Now here in the US lots of us bore lapp our rifles and pistols. If Glock or the polygonal rifling guys advocate against the use of cast bullets so as not to build up dirt, then maybe that rifling can benefit a bit by lapping to take some of the rough edges off. We do a lot of that with rifle barrels that come rough from the factory and I have done that with some pistol barrels and have always seen an improvement in accuracy when using cast (jacketed shoot better too). A military pistol isn't necessarily built for accuracy and since the Hague or Geneva Convention banned lead bullets for military use, the use and accuracy of cast bullets is not a manufacturing concern - hence maybe rough riflling not so conducive to shooting cast bullets accurately which lead to the original and painless thought that possibly the Glock barrels, as well as that S&W barrel might benefit from bore lapping and shoot cast slugs better. So that was my thought all rolled into one.....
HWD: if you are just wondering how well those 230 gn casst slugs will shoot in your 99/45, then get some a give it a try - that's about the only way I can think of to find how how cast bullets shoot. Do yourself a favor first though: group the pistol with your current jacketed ammo or with the most accurate jacketed ammo you can find, then shoot your cast loads and see how they compare. If cast shoot OK but you think they can be more accurate I would try bore lapping before spending the $ for a new barrel. Drop on down to Veral Smith's Forum further on down the forum list here at Graybeard's and read what he says about lapping, it might help that 99 shoot better.
Chris D: Yep, they blow up ocassionally and this has happend more often with the Glocks in 40 S&W caliber but it isn't the fault of the gun, it is the ammo that has caused those failures (or the folk shooting the reloads). A squib load caught in the barrel during rapid fire drills is a prime cause of the following round blowing the barrel. Also, the 40 is a high pressure round in a short case and reloading errors can cause serious spikes in pressure. However, all that being said, you have to look at the hard evidence in every situation before making a judgement and the sheer statistics on the #s of Glocks and the amount of ammo they use up speaks much louder for the gun itself than for some of the concerns. Just a thought - when was the last time anyone told you about a 1911 45 barrel blowing, or someone doubling up on a squib load; probably happens a lot more than we think.... JMTCW. Mikey.
