caliber question

[shattered00]

Is a pistol that is in the caliber it was designed around (for instance a Glock in 9mm) generally more reliable or accurate or both when compared to a caliber that was added after the original design?

Note: I was not trying to pick on the Glock - I just thought that it was originally designed for 9mm so I used that as an example.

[Bullet Bob]

That is the general consensus among most published experts, including some well-known pistolsmiths. Of course individual cases will differ - someone will have a .40 Browning High Power or Beretta that is a paragon of reliability, but overall it does seem true that the original caliber a gun was designed in is the one that works the best on average.

[JackOfAllTradesMasterAtNone]

And I'm not quite sure why it hasn't spawned much debate yet -even with the short time that this has been posted. Personally, I would say in most cases that is not the norm. There are plenty of initial offerings of caliber for a pistol that work really well, that have also worked well with the same platform shooting a different caliber. Yet, I'm sure the opposite is also true.

-Steve

[Freddymac]

But then again, I have NO evidence to back that up.

[MCgunner]

The Glock is a reliable design, period. Not sure that it was either "designed specifically for the 9", nor that it's any less reliable in any other caliber. Any design will have to be redesigned around another cartridge. The Glocks seem to be pretty much 100% in any caliber.

[Jim Watson]

I think most guns do better in their original caliber and configuration unless the redesign for a new caliber is exceptionally thorough.
In particular, the Glock 17 was brought out by Gaston G. to serve his country's army. It passed typical rigorous infantry board test procedures.
Everything else in his product lineup is a commercial effort made mostly to sell cheaply to Americans.
Glocks are a fair ways from 100% in add-on calibers. You don't see debates over KaBoomed! 9mms, for example.

Colt .38 Super seems to be an exception.

[unspellable]

It's not always the case that a specific gun was designed specifically for the cartridge it was introduced with.

For example the S&W N frame was introduced with the 44 S&W Special, the cartridge designed specifically for the revolver. But the N frame was also designed from the get go to take the 45 Colt.

The S&W K frame and the 38 Special were designed for each other, but at the same time S&W made the cylinder longer than the 38 Special needed in order to accommodate the 32-20.

As for new chamberings on an old platform the Luger and the 7.65 mm Parabellum cartridge were designed for each other but the Luger went on to much greater fame with the later 9 mm Parabellum cartridge. And before you say that it wasn’t reliable know that some where along the line somebody decided to shorten the 9 mm cartridge to less than the original DWM minimum length. That’s the reason the Luger has a poor reputation for reliability, today’s ammo is out of spec.

So for a given design, a new chambering may or may not need a redesign.