Portland Police uninterested in cause of exploding Glocks

[MrSandman]

http://www.gssfonline.com/hot_topics/pressrelease.htm


GLOCK, Inc. has been made aware of two incidents involving the Portland Police Department in which two GLOCK Model 21 pistols were damaged while allegedly using Federal brand Classic HI-SHOK practice ammunition.



This will respond to an article dated March 4, 2004 in The Oregonian newspaper wherein Chief of Police, Derrick Foxworth, was quoted as stating “the bureau’s training division did further analysis and determined the explosions may have been caused by a defect in the weapon or a design problem.” GLOCK, Inc. absolutely disagrees with this unfounded conclusion and stands behind its Model 21 pistol, which has had an excellent service record since its introduction in 1991. It should be noted that the Portland Police Department has used the GLOCK Model 21 pistol for the past 12 years.



We have repeatedly asked the Portland Police Department to allow us to do technical examinations of the pistols and ammunition. As of the date of this Release, our requests have been denied. The Portland Police Department has only provided us with pictures of the damaged firearms. A review of these pictures appears to indicate a classic over-pressured ammunition problem.


Could it be that there was non-standard ammo being used as specualated here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x45018

Or does the Portland PD no longer trust Glock?

[RC]

1. A few gun nuts with home loads here?

[Superfly]

2. Federal Hi-shoks?

Practice ammo?

That's a premium self-defense load and one I use (when not using Speer Gold Dot). If they have enough money to practice with Federal defense loads, they have enough money to buy a better gun, namely the Sig 229.

Disclaimer: I am not a fan of Glock, but for other reasons.

[-..__...]

3. Not to worry.

The police are authoritative on firearms issues. They'll get to the root of the problem. :eyes:

[MrBenchley]

4. The Glock Sport Shooting Foundation....Wow...

THERE's an unbiased source (snicker).

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

5. Not bashing cops here

but it stands to reason that sport shooters would have more trigger time than cops. Hell I have more trigger time than most cops, and I'm not even competing at the moment.

Simply saying that if these guys are an organization of high volume shooters, they will likely have run into a lot more problems than a couple of cops from Portland.

[MrBenchley]

6. And if they do

how likely is it they'll put out a press release telling the world? (Not likely at all....but hey, let's all pretend otherwise...)

[slackmaster]

7. Sounds like the Portland PD is covering their butts

I wonder what they don't want us to know.

On edit: And they're doing the public a terrible disservice by stonewalling Glock. If there actually is a problem with the guns or the ammunition, e.g. a manufacturing defect, it would be in the best interests of everyone to determine if a particular batch of pistols or of ammunition needs to be recalled.

[TX-RAT]

8. No more Glocks

Our department switched to 220 sigs. There were rumors about glock malfunctions and actual explosions within the department of public safety. They now carry 226 sigs in 357 sig.

[slackmaster]

9. They switched based on rumors?

I agree the Sigs are better weapons in many respects, but if there is a systematic problem with Glocks shouldn't that have been fully investigated?

[TX-RAT]

10. Rumors was a bad choice

There were reports of Glock failures within the Texas dept of public safety and parks and wildlife. A good friend had his 21 blow out the magazine during qualifying. I was not a witness to that.