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Hey guys - had a question about how you guys check your guns for reliability. I've tried to put several hundred rounds through my handguns before I count on them for self defense, and I would guess most of you do the same. My question is how do you get to that mark? Do you do a couple sessions of 50-100 rounds or just one or two of 200+ rounds?

My 1911 has had Failure to Feed problems. Almost all of them coming at the end of a long session when I'm tired and my grip may be weakening. I know almost all defensive gun uses involve just a handful of rounds, but... Would you depend on a gun that can go 50-100 rounds at a time without a failure, even if you know it (or the user) tends to fail at higher round counts? That little "what if" voice in your head might make a difference.

BTW - I do have other extremely reliable guns I use for carry, but don't want an expensive 1911 to turn into a "range only" gun

Practice often with it to feel comfortable with the gun but don't shoot it to the point of fatigue in your hand.

My favorite evaluation is to just carry it as you would concealed and then pull it out and shoot the mag of ammo you have been carrying for SD. Since I shoot on private property I can shoot from a draw and rapid fire without being scolded by a range master. If it goes through that test I would feel good about carrying for SD.

I use a glock

Well, I am still fairly new to carrying, so I don't feel as though I am as informed as I could be, but here are my two cents.

1. I would assume that EVERY gun, at some point in time, will have a FTE / FTF. I know the few I have had are from my poor handling (shooting 300 rounds gets tiring) and trust that through good, repetitious practice of my firing stance and form, my weapon will not fail me.

2. Reputation of the weapon. This may be the wrong thing to base it on, but I'd much rather carry an XD or Glock over some Jimenez any day. You may pay more, but I feel it really goes beyond the "name brand" factor.

3. Comfort. I never thought, when I brought it, that my XD .45 would be my most comfortable CC weapon I have.

I'm really interested in hearing everyone else chime in on this topic as well...

Pinkycatcher wrote:I use a glock

Anygunanywhere

For semi-automatic pistols, I like to adhere to this protocol as closely as possible.

If you use that protocol, do not feel as though you have to do all of those tests in one range session. You can do part 1 in one range session, part 2 in another, and part 3 in a third one. If part 4 is necessary, that can be a separate range session, after having some time to think about the nature of the malfunction(s). Take your time, do not rush your shooting unnecessarily, and have fun.

Barring extremely unusual situations, you will probably only use whatever ammunition you have in the handgun and/or whatever reloads you carry on your person or otherwise immediately at hand. At minimum, starting from being fully cleaned/lubricated as carried, it should be able to consume this total load without a single malfunction. I have read of a standard of no more than 1 malfunction in one thousand rounds, and this seems much more exacting without becoming ridiculous.

To minimize false positives, I would avoid gun show reloads or other ammunition of questionable origin; use recently-manufactured factory ammunition only. Furthermore, using a single load for part 1 and 2 and a single load for part 3 may help simplify any problem solving that may be required later.

My daily carry is a Kimber UC II. I used Mr. Flintknapper’s methods for a break in before ever firing the gun. I have never had a failure to fire or feed with > 1200 rounds of various ammo. I guess Glocks are good. I guess if it ever fails as a gun, you can use it for a club.

My daily carry is a Kimber UC II, and it functions flawlessly with everything I feed it. When I first bought it and took it to the range, I had an issue with the slide locking back on a partially full magazine. Someone told me that it was a problem with some of these pistols having been released with improperly shaped slide stop levers. I called Kimber, and they sent me a new part, which dropped right in. The pistol has functioned perfectly ever since then. I saved the original part, just in case.

Here's the "just in case": Curiously, when the pin on the slide stop lever of my son's Taurus PT1911 broke right in half, I loaned him the part that had originally come with my Kimber, and it works perfectly in his Taurus. Go figure.

In any case, once the new part arrived for the Kimber, I ran 100-150 rounds of FMJ practice ammo through it, plus a box of 230 gr Federal Hydo-Shoks (my carry load), and it still ran beautifully, so I went ahead and started carrying it. Since then, I've run about 700-800 rounds through it, and it has never had any malfunctions since. I'm pretty sure it is reliable.

anygunanywhere wrote:

Pinkycatcher wrote:I use a glock

Anygunanywhere

sylus27 wrote:Hey guys - had a question about how you guys check your guns for reliability. BTW - I do have other extremely reliable guns I use for carry, but don't want an expensive 1911 to turn into a "range only" gun

You have gotten some great advice in this thread. I can't add too much, but now my three cents.

1. Reliability is the #1 criteria. As pbwalker says: Buy a gun manufactured by a reputable manufacturer. Your life may depend on it. I would rather have one quality gun that a dozen guns of lesser or questionable reliability.

2. If you find out that you have a magazine with problems and can't quickly find the root of the malfunction, trash it or use it for spare parts. Compared to losing your life, they aren't that expensive.

3. As for "expensive range guns," I have several and they will out-perform any "carry gun" on the market. They have been worked on and tuned by a master gunsmith and have better triggers and accuracy than any of my carry guns. If you don't have a need or use for a "range only" then sell it or trade it for something you will use.

Thanks for the quick replies. yerasimos - thanks for the link. I've got an M&P.45 and a HK P2000 that haven't had one hiccup in 500-600 rounds (each). I know I can count on those but would really like to carry the Kimber if I can root out the problem.

sylus27 wrote:My 1911 has had Failure to Feed problems. Almost all of them coming at the end of a long session when I'm tired and my grip may be weakening.

That raises the question if it's gun or if it's you. One way to check is to have someone fresh shoot the gun when it starts FTF for you. Another is to go shooting again the next day without cleaning the gun.

WildBill wrote:2. If you find out that you have a magazine with problems and can't quickly find the root of the malfunction, trash it or use it for spare parts. Compared to losing your life, they aren't that expensive.

+1 Just to expand, the link yerasimos provided included a suggestion to mark your magazines so you can positively identify any that give you problems. I pull out the Dremel and mark my mags with my initials, then a number that represents the order in which I purchased the mag. If you shoot IDPA, USPSA, or attend defensive shooting classes, having a unique mark on your mags will make them easy to differentiate from others of identical manufacture. Another plus to inscribing them.

sylus27 wrote:Hey guys - had a question about how you guys check your guns for reliability. I've tried to put several hundred rounds through my handguns before I count on them for self defense, and I would guess most of you do the same. My question is how do you get to that mark? Do you do a couple sessions of 50-100 rounds or just one or two of 200+ rounds?

My 1911 has had Failure to Feed problems. Almost all of them coming at the end of a long session when I'm tired and my grip may be weakening. I know almost all defensive gun uses involve just a handful of rounds, but... Would you depend on a gun that can go 50-100 rounds at a time without a failure, even if you know it (or the user) tends to fail at higher round counts? That little "what if" voice in your head might make a difference.

BTW - I do have other extremely reliable guns I use for carry, but don't want an expensive 1911 to turn into a "range only" gun

I wouldn't trust a gun if a less than perfect grip caused a Failure to Feed. My reasoning is twofold. I expect that in a combat situatuation that it would be possible or even likely that my grip might be changed because of neccessity or stress issues. The second reason is that there are to many good guns that are reliable to be messing around with one that works only under ideal conditions.

That being said I wouldn't be as concerned if the gun acts up because the gun is dirty after 50 or more rounds.

I carry an XD9 Service. I shot the snot out of it once I bought it (used) to make sure there were no problems. Probably 1,000 rounds before I carried it. (Big time overkill IMO) I make sure that it's properly cleaned and lubed and check for function regularly if I haven't had it to the range lately.

Only problems I've had were due to some reloads that weren't sized properly. Sorry again Charles for the PPOH class delays due to this!