Here's one for discussion.
Howard
Here's one for discussion.
Howard
A better question is, "How often, and how many rounds should YOU fire your carry gun for YOU to be reliable with it".
jd
It seems that people who do almost nothing, often complain loudly when it's time to do it.
Always enjoy your videos! Practical, useful information. Don't have experience with as many weapons as you have, but with those I have, my experience mimics yours.
Paul
Double tap.
Due to slow internet,, the constant buffering etc,, I do not look at too many you-boob videos. So,, while I didn't watch this one,, I'll politely describe what I feel makes a gun reliable.
When a gun is new,, I start with a cleaning.
Then, I take an assortment of ammo out, and "test fire" it for reliability, accuracy & sight adjustment.
Once I get it going,, I'm watching for any stoppages and Why it may have happened. (Different ammo, magazines etc.)
After I get it running w/o any hitches,, I usually prefer to shoot 200-300 rounds of it's chosen ammo while seeing if it will have any hiccups. If it doesn't fail to perform I call it good.
Funny thing,, My revolvers never seem to be an issue after just a few cylinders full.
The more you shoot the gun without a hiccup the more reliable it is. The more you shoot the gun without a hiccup with a wide variety of ammo the more reliable it is.
If a gun won't go several rounds without a hiccup in both senarios the less reliable it is.
Since nothing is perfect it is safe to say that a gun will hiccup sometime along the way if enough rounds are fired.
If a gun will function with 1 hiccup in 10,000 rounds can one tell which 1 round that will be that the gun will have the hiccup on? Could it be the next round, the 100th round or the 9999th round or the 10,000th round?
We can assume it will be somewhere along the 10,000 round count.
Does anyone know where it will be?
Now if a gun hiccups 1 out of 10 rounds we have a better idea but it could be round 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10.
But the prediction would be more accurate with the 1 in 10 gun than in the 1 in 10,000 gun.
Nothing guarantees the next round will work. The more you shoot, the more likely the next one will be problem. All you can do is be comfortable with you personal "it's probably going function" criteria. Four or five hundred rounds thru a Kahr with nary a problem, then the plastic mag follower broke. 900 rounds thru a S&W M329 when the barrel/ejector housing ended up on the roof of the pistol house behind me. Just my opinion of course.
FWIW,
Paul
Enough to get it quite fouled (with inexpensive, dirty firing ammo) and maintain it’s functionality with your chosen defense load!But, that’s just me! memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“LETS GO BRANDON”
I, myself, try to carry a clean gun. It may not be operating room clean but it is fairly clean. If I want to shoot my main carry gun I will be carrying another carry gun and I will clean my main carry gun before loading it and carrying it again.
But that is just me.
I always fire a pistol without cleaning it to see how long it will go. After that I clean it after every range session.
Revolvers are not without their issues. I've had lockwork screws come loose and bind up a system, blowing sand tends to bind them up, and ammo failure can lock them up (squib loads).
The thing I was taught is what do you do when it does malfunction, because any weapon can fail to fire on the next round. If you freeze, not good. Know the drills.
With a revolver, for me, 36 rounds of it's intended carry ammo is enough for me to determine it's reliability for purposes of CCW.
For an Auto, before I even fire it, I clean it, and work the the slide a minimum of 200 times. Then I fire it at least 200 times with a caliber appropriate, break-in round, say a 115-125 grain FMJ for 9mm, or a 90-95 grain 380 load. Then I start testing it with HP defensive ammo. If there were no problems with the break-in ammo, then 5 magazines of HP without problems is enough for me. I do not use any of the high dollar, "boutique loads", nor do I use ultra-light or heavy for caliber loads. My carry ammo will be of a weight and loading typical of what I used to break the gun in. I will usually shoot a qualification course with my chosen ammo, (or a similar handload--these days it is hard to find defensive ammo suitable for carry, especially at a price reasonable enough to burn up several boxes in practice.)
One practice I particularly eschew is that I often see people who have fired a box or two of practice or range ammo, and then load up with some exotic round that has a very dissimilar recoil force. If you are going to carry 65 grain Underwood's in your carry pistol, you need to confirm that gun will run that ammo and shoot it somewhere close to point of aim. A marginal gain in terminal effectiveness is not worth gambling on.
Last edited by rintinglen; 03-09-2022 at 08:00 PM.
_________________________________________________It's not that I can't spell: it is that I can't type.
Like you said in the video, 200 rounds also for my Kimber and mags. Extremely confident after that.
All my carry guns have well over 2000 rounds through them. When I was buying self-defense ammunition, I would put 40-50 rounds through each but that is expensive even if it only a one-time test. I have been very lucky and never had a gun that was not reliable.
I have decided to reload defensive ammunition using JHP factory bullets and that will make testing more affordable.
I would not trust a semi-auto until I get about 500 rounds thought it. If that model is used by hundreds of PD's or the military, I assume the design is sound, but I still want to put enough rounds through it to insure I have a "good" one.
Getting a lot of rounds though the carry guns was easy until I got into revolvers. I spend a lot more time with revolvers now as I hate picking up brass. But all my current carry guns are "proven" so not an issue unless I buy another one; in which case, I will go through the same protocol of 500 or so rounds of practice ammo and 40-50 using the defensive load.
Don Verna
Was just discussing this with a friend the other day...
I have never quite understood having to fire 2-500 round of one "chosen" carry ammo through the gun before it is "good to go"...depending on the caliber that would now be $300 to $1000 in to me wasted ammo... And what happens if it chokes on round 195...start over again??? Choose another round???
What I have come to do after buying a new gun (semi) that will be carried...
1) Clean and lube
2) Cycle the action by hand for a few minutes
3) Shoot the gun with some ball/practice ammo
4) Take one's chosen defensive ammo and SLOWLY cycle the rounds through the action looking for any hangups
5) Cycle the rounds through the action at full speed
6) Run 20-40 rounds through the gun...
If no hiccups it is good to go...
Bob
I think if a gun has problems it will generally show up in the first 250 rounds.
[The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze
In today’s era of expensive factory ammo, I will feed any new to me pistol my handloads ( which have been verified reliable in other pistols) for the first few range visits. If function is reliable with the handloads the I will test with factory fodder.
It seems that with a brand new gun, accuracy is just not quite there, but it does get better the more it is shot. About 100 rounds should do it.
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
Here's our take on reliability for carry guns.
http://www.thegunmag.com/testing-pro...sive-handguns/
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |