[Geezer]

I would appreciate opinions (Hey, everybody's got one, right?), about which is the most out-of-the-box reliable autoloader of all..calibre irrelevant, but accuracy is second most important thing.

I appreciate everything that gunsmiths do for our sport, but I have no interest in developing a serious relationship with one over my pistol.

I have medium/small hands, and can't remember more than two things at a time, so nothing complex.

God bless and y'all be careful out there.

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. I've found the following to be trouble free out of the box in terms of feeding and extracting:

Browning Hi Power Mk III

Glock 17 & 26

CZ 75

CZ 83

Makarov

SIG-Sauer P225

SIG-Sauer P220

Norinco 1911 .45 ACP

STI Trojan 1911 .45 ACP

STI Trojan 1911 9mm

Springfield Armory XD9

Best.

[Zundfolge]

Makarovs are pretty darn reliable (and accurate too). Only downside is the sights suck (thats why I had mine replaced with Novak sights).

EDIT: darnit ... instaposted :neener:

[10-Ring]

Really tough to be the Beretta 92fs. Comes in a variety of configurations: compact, fullsize, DAO, DA/SA, decock only, etc etc...something to fit every shooter ;) I've got 2 that have never hiccuped on me :)

[Omega]

If you have small hands Beretta 92FS probably won't feel comfortable...At least it happened to me :(
Try Walther P99 - I love this gun - comfy, reliable, not too heavy, good shooter, not overpriced. there are preban mags for her. I put about 2000 rounds through her - not single FTF or FTE. Just don't fall for SW99.
IMHO IMHO IMHO ;)

[BHPshooter]

I'll second the vote for the Browning Hi Power MkIII.

Unfortunately, that's the only one that I am qualified to comment on. ;)

Wes

[Zak Smith]

I've found the BHP MKIII, Glock, and HK USP to be very reliable out of the box.

I've had spotty reliability with CZ's, Makarovs, and some 1911's.

-z

[David4516]

Makarov.

Only auto-loader I've never had Jam on me. They are accurate too, thanks to the fixed barrel. And small hands are no problem(I know cause I've got smaller hands too), the Mak is single stack. And most importantly, they look kinda cool
:cool:

[SnWnMe]

Makarovs.

@$150.00/ea you can get 2 :)

Other ppls Glocks.

[Black Snowman]

I've never had a failure in my Glock 24P in the 5000+ rounds I've fired in it since new except in some reloads that were past max OAL and wouldn't climb the magazine properly. That's including a stint where I decieded not to clean it for a summer to see if it would malfunction. Got sick of waiting and handling a dirty gun so I cleaned it after about a 1000 rounds of that experiment.

It doesn't get much simpler than a Glock when it comes to operation. I used that to my advantage to help develop good saftey and shooting techniques as priority over trying to practice operation of controls. Ergos fit me well but everyone is differant. I think the newer style with the thumb indent and finger grooves somehow feel smaller and they don't seem to fit me quite right.

Glock, HK, Berretta, just about any models Ruger, Smith & Wesson, and Taurus revolvers. Hard to make an unreliable revolver of any quality. Lots of other good guns too. CZ has very consistant quality because they manufacture tooling also and so can afford to change their cutters frequently. I'm considering a CZ as a carry gun if I finally get to a state that has it or if it gets passed here in KS.

Don't have any direct or 2nd hand knowlege of much else. I've seen a plethora of 1911s with spotty issues, mostly space guns and parts guns. The guns created with the intention of opporating in hostile conditions like the Glocks, HKs, and Berettas are going to be pretty safe bets. From there it's a matter of finding what you can shoot best. Find some friends or a range where you can borrow or rent the guns you're interested in.

YMMV and the ususal disclaimers ;)

[Big Mike]

Beretta 92.

[Rich357]

Glocks, I've shot a number of them right out of the box. Only one, a G29, had a slight ejection problem with some really bad ammo. It has since then been completely reliable simply by switching better ammo.

Given my experience with Glocks, if I had to use a handgun out of the box to save my life, I would grab a Glock.

SIG, I have a few. All have been 100% out of the box.

Wather (P99), only one but it has been reliable.

Rich

[45auto]

Hard to believe...but for me it was a Colt 1991A1 in 45 ACP :eek: .

Playing the odds, I'd bet on a Glock 17 out of the box.

[cslinger]

I have found all varieties of SIG Sauer handguns to be absolutely reliable out of the box.

I have had Glocks that are good but still had some malfunctions, this doesn't make me think Glocks are bad it is just a qualifier that in MY experience SIG seems to make the more reliable handgun overall.



Chris

[HSMITH]

The G17 Glock is TOPS, I don't believe anything else could beat it. I put over 35K through one without a malfunction other than a dead primer. I am a 1911 and K frame S&W guy at heart but the G17 is amazing.

[HankB]

BHP MkIII has been exceptionally reliable of late - though I had three stoppages when it was new. Two were premature slide lock early on because the mag catch was just a tad too long and was hit by the nose of the bullet still in the mag, which nudged it upward . . . I stoned 0.010" off and had no further problems. Another was from rounds getting jumbled up in one of those 17-round Argentine mags. BUT . . . I have over 5000 consecutive rounds through it now with no more failures whatsoever.

Les Baer Premier II .45 . . . bought used, I've shot a few thousand rounds (mostly 230 grain lead bullet reloads) with no stoppages.

Glock 26 . . . one premature slide lock in the 1st time I shot it, because I positioned my thumb improperly. It's been fine since - I can't even seem to MAKE it malfunction by holding it limply, upside down, or whatever.

Glock 17 - fine in my hands, but when one of the ladies in my life shoots it with standard ammo, it chokes . . . probably "limp wrist syndrome."

Pistols I've observed to frequently be less than reliable - Colt 1911's, early production Kimbers, polymer Kahrs, Walther P99 in 9mm, S&W autos with two-digit model numbers (e.g., S&W M-59), Lugers . . .

[pogo2]

I own or have owned a variety of autoloader brands and models, and the ones that have never given me feeding or ejection problems include:

- Glock 19 and 23
- Sig P226 and P229
- H&K USP 45
- Colt Delta Gold Cup 10mm
- Walther PPK

I have seen a few problems with some 1911's (various brands) and S&W semiautos. I have no experience with Berettas, CZ's, Ruger (semiautos) or Brownings. And revolvers from Colt, S&W and Ruger have always been quite reliable for me.

[Graystar]

Hard to believe...but for me it was a Colt 1991A1 in 45 ACP. Why?

Springfield 1911A1 Mil-Spec...perfect out of the box, never had a failure.

Also:
Glock 23 - never had a failure.
S&W M41 - hundreds and hundreds of rounds before its first stove-pipe (but then again, that's what you'd expect from a $700 gun)

[Skunkabilly]

My Beretta 92. The design is funny with that locking block and slide mounted safety but it works.

[Dorrin79]

I'll toss in a vote for the Ruger P89.

Mine has been absolutely reliable with all sorts of sub-par ammunition.

[45auto]

Graystar,

Just half kidding. Mine has been very reliable, but after countless posts on 1911 problems, you start to believe them and I'm a fairly experienced 1911 user. :)

When I get back from the range and run through a couple of hundred with no problems, I'm back to normal. ;)

[Ala Dan]

1st place- any SIG-Sauer/SIGARMS "Classic" P-series
self-loader in any caliber

2nd place- Glock models 17, 19, & 26

3rd place- H&K USP full size .45 ACP

4th place- Browning Hi-Power "Practical model" 9m/m

5th place- Bersa "Thunder" .380 Auto


Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

[Sean Smith]

The real answer is, there is too much variability in production guns to give a real answer. What folks here are doing is guessing based on tiny samples. People say how great Glocks and Berettas are, but I had 1 Glock that had constant premature slide locks with hot ammo, 1 that was reliable but spectacularly inaccurate, and 3 out of 4 Berettas I shot were unreliable feeders. People whine about 1911 reliability, but 4/5 of the 1911s I've owned were extremely reliable, both stock and modified.

Spend your money and take your chances. :D

[Matthew_Q]

So my last two autoloaders have been totally reliable... but in ranks of reliability AND accuracy, it would rank:

CZ75B in 9mm

Springfield Armory 1911A1 Milspec Parkerized in .45ACP


Actually, the CZ did have one FTF, but I think it was the mag. Happened during the first 200 rounds of break in. Hasn't happened since. Ejected everything fine.

The 1911 has never had a hiccup, but only has about 600 rounds through it. Not nearly as accurate as the CZ. A little accurizing should cure that. :D

[caz223]

In my personal experience, I'd have to say SIG/HK/Glock.
Multiple examples of each. All have exhibited excellent accuracy.
The one smith auto I've had was 100% reliable, too.
The accuracy wasn't as good as above, however.
Soon to obtain smith CS9, and hoping that is as good as above mentioned guns.

[RWK]

My ONLY autoloaders that have NEVER had a failure-to-fire or a jam are Sigs: P-220 and P-226. They are extremely accurate, as well. I prefer several of my other semiautomatics; however, to answer your question specifically, Sig-Sauer would be my top alternative.

[Stevie-Ray]

Glock 26: No failures of any kind

H&K USP45C: No failures of any kind

Kimber Ultra CDP: Few RTB failures with STHP. Never with anything else. No longer use STHP.

Colt Delta Elite: No failures of any kind

Ruger KMK-512: No failures of any kind

Taurus PT-22: No failures of any kind

KelTec P-32: No failures of any kind

That's all for mine.

[Oracle]

Glock 17. It is, IMHO, the most reliable pistol made. I've never had any problems with my Glock 26, either, but I think the design and execution of the Glock 17 is more reliable than any other, including the other Glocks (although they are very close in their reliability, especially the 9mm models).

[Gary G23]

Sig
HK
SA XD

[jar]

STAR UltraStar
SiG 230
SiG 225
SiG 226
SiG 2009
SiG 2340
HS2000
Browning MK III Standard
FEG PJK 9HP
Arcus M-95
FM M-95
Browning BDM
Beretta 85

and of course, all of the revolvers.:D :D

[VG]

Lots of personal anecdotes, but in the Army acceptance testing of the P228 (now M11 in military use), they fired 5,000 rounds each through three pistols, with a total of zero malfunctions.

[Ian11]

I find SIG's in all its various calibers to be the most consistent in terms of reliability across the board...among other virtues. Whether its .45, .40, .357, 9mm, or .380. Whether its their classic P series or the SIGPROs. Although I will concede I have no experience or heard enough about the P245.

There are certain models I'd single out like the Beretta 92FS, Glock 17, 22, 23, H&K P7/M8, H&K USP/F, and I've had good luck with Colt 1911's. But in general I find reliability to a bit more spotty among their various models. When I'm in the market for a reliable defense gun I feel more comfortable choosing among the SIGs.

[Amegatek]

Another vote for the Ruger P89. Mine is rock solid reliable, and once I got it broken in, is very accurate. BTW, it was "combat" accurate OOB. :cool:

[boing]

The real answer is, there is too much variability in production guns to give a real answer.

Sean's right. You can never count on an out-of-the-box production gun of any flavor being absolutely reliable. Custom and semi-custom guns that have been function tested by the builder prior to sale don't quite count. Still, you do tend to see certain trends in threads like this.

For example: Sig-Sauer

See? :D

[J.BELLINO]

SIG,GLOCK AND KAHR(K9 OR K40).....NOTE KAHR IS GREAT IF YOU HAVE SMALL HANDS OR SHORT FINGERS.

[firestar]

I think the Beretta 92FS hold the title as "The most reliable semi-auto pistol ever", it is also pretty accurate in the right hands. Some will debate my Beretta statement but I have one that has not choked on ANY ammo ever! Wollf, S&B, Winchester, Cor-Bon, CCI Blazer, Federal, you name it, the Beretta will feed it and spit it out.

[WvaBill]

Makarovs are great...but the silly upside down safety always caused me to have to try to remember if I was carrying a Makarov or other when I would be needing to think of other things. No problem with a SIG.

[Mikul]

My H&K USP and CZ-75B have been phenomenally reliable. The USP even continued to work after a retaining clip gave way. It broke, but it didn't stop shooting.

I have taught a bunch of NRA handgun classes and seen all kinds of things, but there are certain guns that I just WAIT to see jam... and they never disappoint: Beretta 92s and Walther PPKs. I've seen H&K USPs jam and Sigs fall apart, but they're rare. In fact, I've only seen one instance of each. I've seen a lot of 1911's function flawlessly and just as many jam. Good magazines seem to be the key with them.

Glocks jam on occasion, but on the whole they keep on truckin'.

Yes, revolvers jam... all too frequently. They get dirty and fouled up usually. Sometimes the rounds walk their way out. I've seen a couple develop variable weight triggers. Several would stop firing after they got hot.

I've never seen a Springfield XD jam, but we don't see them too often.

[sphillips]

Glock 21,23,17
Beretta 92,96
Sig P220,P226,SigPro2340

[Slow]

1.CZ75BD
2.SA 1911A1 Loaded
3.Ruger P89
These are all accurate with stellar reliability out of the box

[Redhat]

Here's some more that I have personally owned with zero stoppages or malfunctions:

HK USP .40

High Power MKIII

Glock 23

Colt 70 Series

(jammed all the time until I got the extractor tuned properly...thanks to previous owner. 500 rounds since then and no problems)

CZ 75B .40 cal

Reliability is great but if you fail to practice immediate action drills...you're taking a big risk

[M2 Carbine]

Makarovs

Groups inside 12 inches at 50 yards offhand.

[sm]

Personal experience:

Caspian ( that count :p it ran from get -go , and kept doing so when taken out of box...:D)
BHP's
Kimber Series I, ( Target, Custom, Pro Carry)
Colt, ( Combat Commander,LW and a variety of series 70 and 80's)
SA
Beretta Jetfire, and Bobcat
Glock 26, 17, 19
Keltec P-11
Smith 3913

I'm forgetting some I'm sure...

[modifiedbrowning]

The only one of my autos that I have problems with is my HK P9S which I bought used and only has one magazine, so I am pretty sure my problem is a weak magazine spring.
All of my other auto's have been flawless.
P99 Black 9mm
P99 QPQ 9mm
P99 Military 9mm
P88
P88 compact
P5
Sig 225
Cz P01
Can't complain.

[P7]

I am absolutely amazed that only one person mentioned the HK P7 series.

Jeff

[Stevie-Ray]

Probably only one person can afford one.:D

[Longbow]

Glock 17!

[Marshall]

I've never had a FTF or FTF with my BHP's. My XD-40 is rather new but hasn't given me any either. BTW, I love that handgun!

[incursion]

Out of approximately 9956 rounds through my P7M8, I've had about 23 stovepipes. Out of approximately 4540 rounds through my Walther P99, I've had about 3 stovepipes.

[rde]

Never had any problem with:

Ruger KP95
Ruger KP89
S&W 6906 (out of production now)
Makarov
Bersa Thunder 380

Only out of box problems I have had (and am having) is with a Baby Eagle in 45.

[makarov5]

Makarov, Beretta 92FS, CZ 75B. No malfunctions, ever.

[bradvanhorn]

There are so many to choose from... :)

Where do I stake my life? I've never seen a Sig-Sauer P220 that wasn't totally reliable, and my new P220ST is no exception. Actually, my P225s have been just as reliable, but the P220 really stands out in my mind for some reason. But that's just me :D

[ACP]

S&W 3913. I've had two, they both ran (run) flawlessly. Same for the Browning Hi Powers. Wonderful 9mms.

[ninjalawyer]

SIG P239 in .357SIG. Between Sig-sauer quality and the bottlenecked cartridge I've never had a single problem. My P220 is nearly as good... 2 failures to feed in the first 100 rounds, but flawless performance since then. I've ever seen a Glock malfunction either, but I've never owned one.

[tbeb]

Check the Ruger model KP95DAO (stainless slide) and the Ruger model P95DAO (blue slide) to see if the grip fits your hand. The latter lists for $25 less. These are both 9mm, 4" barrel, double action only, and polymer frame. My P95 was 100% reliable out of the box with 115 gr. FMJ ammo and 2 types of jacketed hollowpoint--115 gr. standard pressure and 124 gr. +P.

[YammyMonkey]

Kimber Elite Carry, Springfield Loaded full-size (stock and Wilson mags) and G22C all had no failures, each with well over 1K rounds (I know, some of you guys shoot that much in one sitting). All 3 of my Glock mags started to crack near the feed lips at around 300 rounds each though. It was "just" the polymer overcoating, but it would prevent them from dropping free when empty.

Depends on the gun, everybody makes a lemon every once in a while. Buddy of mine has a Charles Daly 1911 that would FRTB nearly ever round until I let him use one of my Wilson mags, no more problems.

[Jeff]

The only centerfire autoloader pistols I've had were the HK USPf .45, which hasn't jammed yet in about 500 rds; and a Taurus PT99 I had about 2,000 rds through before I sold it. That gun never jammed, either, but it did start to develop a snagging problem with the mag release.

[Amegatek]

I mentioned my Ruger KP-89 as being both reliable and accurate in an earlier post in this thread. Now I need to throw in that my Mil-Spec has been %100 reliable and is scary accurate! :eek: I didn't know I could shoot a pistol that well. As a matter of fact, the Mil-Spec is going to be my carry pistol when I get my CCW. :D

[Ky Larry]

CZ-75BD 9mm, CZ PCR 9mm, Kimber Custom Defender II .45ACP. Thousands of rounds thru these 3 and never any problems.

[hansolo]

ZERO malfs of any kind going on 5,000 rounds: S&W 910s

[dogngun]

The most reliable pistols I have ever owned are these :

Browning Hipower and FEG clone

Bulgarian Makarov

Star BM (new to me, only a few hundred rounds, but has been perfect.)

Ruger Mark I Standard and MarkII Target model .22 rf.

Remington Rand 1911A1, 1940's GI pistol, perfect with ball only

Unfortunately, nothing else has come close to these pistols for reliability.
I have been shooting handguns since 1971, and carry mainly S&W
revolvers, but I'm looking at another Hipower.

Just IMHO.

Mark

PS Avoid ANY pocket size pistols - few of them work , none of them always work.

[BrokenArrow]

Gonna get a lot of different answers depending on where ya look.

Personal expereince? Rental range experience? Result from LE and military tests?

When the FBI tested their SA SWAT 1911s, they got 7 or 8 malfunctions in 80,000 rounds total (20K x 4 guns). Two guns had none at all.

The Glock 40s the FBI tested fired 120,000 rounds total w no malfunctions in any of the 6 guns. Two of them did break trigger bars though...

M9 Berettas have gone about 30,000 rounds between failures (168,000 rounds in 12 guns). The M11 (P228) did 1 in 15,000 when tested. The CZ75 did about 1 in 2000 when tested by Czech police...

Texas DPS had 100 officers fire 3000 rounds each (300,000 total) through P226s in 357SIG w no malfunctions. Georgia troopers fired about 500,000 rounds through about 2000 guns during transition training w/o any problems...

Guns I see mess up most often on local LE ranges, at local action matches, CCW Q fire? 1911s and Glocks. The least? HKs.

Cuzz that's what I see the most/least of... ;)

With JHP ammo in guns less than $1000, the 1911s seem the most finicky, but still more than good enough to bet your life on. Hey, the minimum reliability standard in the last RFP for the USMC 1911s last year was just 1 in 300 rounds w FMJ ammo. Why does anybody need more than they were willing to accept?

The Ruger failed the US mil spec tests the Beretta/SIG passed, but kicks SIG and Beretta butt at rental ranges...

Hear nothing but good about SA XDs, but I have run across several lemons...

Get what ya like, or flip a coin and like what ya get? :D