I detailed my problems with using reloads on my Lone Wolf barrels in an earlier blog, ("The Truth About Lone Wolf Barrels for Glock"), and it took me awhile to correct the problem mainly because I had a bit of trouble finding a local Gunsmith who could do it. I went to four different Gunsmiths, and only one was able to do it.
To correct the issue, what needed to be done was to ream to widen the chamber of the barrel to approximate the dimensions of the stock Glock barrels as Lone Wolf barrels have smaller chamber dimensions. The smaller dimensions result in Failure To Feed (FTF) issues when using reloads that would otherwise function perfectly with stock Glock barrels.
Of the three who weren't able to do it (which shall remain unnamed as of now), one said there is no need for it as the barrel would widen up on its own (but after a couple of hundred rounds, that didn't happen); Another didn't even know that such procedure could be done; And the third was hesitant to do it, saying the chamber might become oversized. Seeing that they did not have the experience to do the job, I just decided not to let them do it.
I finally found one that is able to do it, it is one of the leading Gunsmiths in the Philippines (which shall also remain unnamed for now). Actually, they were my last option, and I thought if they couldn't do it, I just would've sold my Glock 22 Lone Wolf barrel instead. I didn't go to them at first as they were a bit far off from my place.
When I took the barrel to them and explained what I wanted to do, they immediately understood the problem, and said that they have done the same job on several Lone Wolf barrels already. It took them only about ten minutes to do the reaming, and the price was pretty reasonable at only Php 800.
'Still Jamming'
I tested the effectiveness of the reaming at my usual Shooting Range, using the same gun and reloads I used before. I shot in semi-auto, and the result was a bit disappointing, as despite the reaming, I still encountered jamming using the reloads. Out of 40 rounds, I ended with 4 jams, for a failure rate of 10%. This is roughly the same failure rate of 10-20% as before I had the chamber of the barrel reamed.
HOWEVER, I did notice some differences this time around. First difference is that the nature of the failure has changed. Before, the gun would jam during the feeding cycle (Failure To Feed) wherein the chamber would only close halfway thru. This time around, the slide would close over the chamber, but would not fully close enough to reset the trigger.
Another difference is that the jams were now a little bit easier to clear. Before you needed considerable force to clear the jams, as in holding the slide, and then hitting the frame forward hard with your other hand to release the jam. I still needed to do the same, but with noticeably lesser force than before.
'Cherry-Picking Rounds'
After encountering the FTFs, I asked the Range Officer to cherry-pick the rounds visually. This means just visually inspecting and feeling the shell of the cartridge, and if he sees and feels rounds with too much bulges in them, he should discard them and try to replace it with ones that will pass the inspection.
I shot the first 20 cherry-picked rounds in semi-auto, and the next 40 rounds in full auto. Out of 60 rounds, I still found one FTF. So while the failure rate was reduced to 2% (2/60), there was still a failure. The failure was relatively easy to clear, though, just again lightly smacking on the frame forwards while holding the slide.
This was an improvement compared to before the reaming, as the gun kept jamming solidly despite cherry-picking the rounds. Visual and tactile (i.e., using the fingers) to inspect the rounds aren't enough to screen perfectly the rounds, as there will always be errors in judgement. Besides, as I kept saying, these same rounds worked PERFECTLY with the stock Glock barrels.
'Parting Shot'
The overall result is disappointing, as despite all the trouble I went thru to ream the damn barrel, it is still not as reliable as the stock Glock barrels. I don't plan to have it reamed again, I am worried that if I did so, the chamber might end up oversized. I instead plan to shoot it a little bit more, and hope that the additional rounds will help loosen up the chamber some more to finally make it reliable.
If the chamber still doesn't loosen up, then I intend to just sell it, as my experiments with using Lone Wolf Compensator with it has not been satisfactory either, and I don't intend to use some kind of a supressor or silencer with it later.
Related Posts:
--> The Truth About Lone Wolf Barrels for Glock
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