What To Do With A Broken Gun

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Sinsaba

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I carried and trained with a G17 for years. It had a mechanical malfunction once, I caused it by polishing the wrong part too much. I have the ultimate faith in it.

About five years ago I changed to a Springfield XD 45 Tactical. Another trouble free gun. What's better, it is a .45 caliber and holds 14 rounds. As if it couldn't get any better I simply shoot it better than the G17.

A couple of weeks ago, it broke (I most likely have in excess of 5,000 rounds through it). The trigger &/or striker won't reset. I sent it off to Springfield and they are going to fix it at no charge.

Here's the question. I knew what caused the breakage on the G17 and after fixing it myself I had no problem trusting again. I'm having a little niggle in the back of my mind about the XD though.

I think maybe it is because I don't know the operating system as well that I could diagnose and repair it myself. Then I tell myself that Springfield is bringing it back to factory reliability so I shouldn't worry. Then I ask myself, "should I really have trusted it in the first place?"

Do YOU fully trust a gun after it has broken?
 
If I sent it back to the factory and they gave it a clean bill of health I would shoot it say at least 100 rounds of its good then it's good to go imho
 
I've never had a gun that broke. But then, I'm not a home gunsmith & I only tinker within the limits of my ability. But, to answer your question, if something on my gun broke & the manufacturer repaired it, I wouldn't trust it until I fired at least 300 rounds through it without an issue.
 
i have had to send 2 guns in for repair,both were new and came back functioning perfect,it does leave some doubt in your mind as to whether it will act up again.
With that said I would shoot it and see how it behaves
 
If you look at it logically, if you don't trust it any more you will need a replacement. You know less about that gun than the one that was just repaired. Would you trust a new, unknown gun more than one that is factory repaired fresh? Answer that and you have your answer.
 
Everything breaks given enough usage.
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Yup, its a fact of life. Its also the reason I have at least one exact duplicate of what I use. If you have to fix it or send t off, you dont skip a beat and the spare goes in the holster.


This also sounds like a good time to pick up an armorers CD on what you carry, and learn about your gun. Most things arent that difficult to fix yourself, if its just normal parts issues.
 
You have two questions here:

"What To Do With A Broken Gun" and "Do YOU fully trust a gun after it has broken?"

The answer to the first depends on what is broken. Some failures aren't worth the time and effort to repair, such as barrel damage which results in deformation. Others are simple component failures, like broken springs, firing pins, extractors. Some I can fix myself, some I'd rather not get involved with.

So, if it's simple and affordable, I'll have it fixed. If not, then I won't, and the gun will either become a non-firing keepsake, source of parts, or disposed of.


As for trusting the gun...again, it depends on the nature of the fault and what had to be done to repair it. If it's repaired, and proven reliable, then I don't have a problem trusting it. If not...well, then it follows the same path as one that's non-repairable.
 
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Do YOU fully trust a gun after it has broken?
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After it has completed my 500 round T&E yes.

I'm having a little niggle in the back of my mind about the XD though.

I think maybe it is because I don't know the operating system as well that I could diagnose and repair it myself.
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Do you diagnose and do all of your own repairs to your vehicles?
 
I would trust a firearm after it had been repaired, assuming I knew what went wrong and broke it down to verify it myself. I'd then shoot a few hundred rounds through it before putting full faith in it.
 
100, 300, 500, a few hundred...........

It seems many like to pick an arbitrary number that magically ensures reliability, when I imagine the gun that broke had met those numbers.

Any mechanical device can break at any time, and more use makes it more likely.
 
Watch a disassembly video of an XD or XDm. There is a spring in front of the striker and three springs that are part of the trigger linkage system, plus a spring that is part of the trigger itself. If any of those springs break, the trigger won't reset.

Most likely one of the springs has broken. Springs break - that's a fact. It can happen to any gun regardless of who manufactured it.

If you're going to have the attitude "should I have trusted it in the first place" - you've ruled out every model of gun manufactured as they've all had failures of some type.

The factory will bring it back to factory specifications - that's equal to a new gun. Maybe the safest thing is to just quit shooting...then you'll never have any type of failures...and you can be safe in the knowledge that nothing can break.
 
Just to reiterate, things break. It's better to accept that and achieve "trust" with a maintenance schedule. If my gun broke at 5k rounds and I got it back fixed I'd trust it after a single box probably.

But I'd start getting real nervous carrying it once I got back up to 5k without re-doing the same fix preemptively, just in case.
 
A couple of weeks ago, it broke (I most likely have in excess of 5,000 rounds through it).
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what is their maintenance schedule? Did you follow it?
 
It seems many like to pick an arbitrary number that magically ensures reliability, when I imagine the gun that broke had met those numbers.
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Your problem with that is what?

I have owned many different handguns over most of my misspent life during which I carried for self-defense. During this time I have had guns that had mechanical problems that went away after shooting a few hundred rounds.

I know some shooters don't believe in breaking a gun in and that it should function perfectly straight out the box with the first round of ammunition.

500 rounds is a number I arrived at based on both competition and self-defense. With competition I am not only looking for FTF and FTE but for action problems such as the gun doubling or hammer following the slide.

My 500 rounds are more than T&E. They are also teaching me about the gun. I learn how to best grip it, where the controls are at, when to shoots with different ammunition, preferences with certain ammunition, how to use the sights for POI.

Any mechanical device can break at any time, and more use makes it more likely.
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Your point is what? Do you leave your guns unfired to avoid the possibility of a part breaking?

You have a gun whose track record is zero because you will not shoot it. My guns have a proven track record of at least 500 rounds.
 
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Any mechanical device can break at any time, and more use makes it more likely.
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Your point is what? Do you leave your guns unfired to avoid the possibility of a part breaking?

You have a gun whose track record is zero because you will not shoot it. My guns have a proven track record of at least 500 rounds.
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I think the point is that if you use a piece of equipment, at some point, you can expect it to require maintenance because usage wears out parts.

You can either do regular preventive maintenance or you can do maintenance when something fails.

There is a real mean-time-between-failure - and that interval directly relates to the amount of usage (time, repetitive cycles, etc.).

I think that's really all that poster was attempting to convey. It's rather straight forward. I don't think the poster said anything about leaving a gun in a box - only noting that a relationship exists between usage and the potential for parts failure.
 
What to do with a broken gun? Fix it and keep going.

As said - EVERYTHING will break given enough time. Semi-autos, revolvers, Glocks, XD's, etc. You use it enough, something will break.

The part that broke will be replaced by Springfield. When it comes back it's working again.

This whole voodoo around treating a gun as if it's tainted by evil spirits if it ever hiccups - even after the problem has been resolved - just smacks of nonsense to me.

Fix it, put a couple boxes of ammo through it, and then carry on.
 
This whole voodoo around treating a gun as if it's tainted by evil spirits if it ever hiccups - even after the problem has been resolved - just smacks of nonsense to me.
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Wonder if these same people sell their vehicles when they get a flat tire/dead battery/shredded belt????? :scrutiny:
 
The water pump goes out on your vehicle.
Do YOU trust the vehicle after repairs have been made?
 
Onmilo said:
The water pump goes out on your vehicle.
Do YOU trust the vehicle after repairs have been made?
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Of course I do. I just replaced the water pump on my Blazer a couple weeks ago. The engine has over 260,000 miles on it. I'm aware stuff will break on anything mechanical. I know what I'm doing, I replaced the pump, and solved the problem. Of the many issues my truck has, the water pump is no longer one of them. I trust it to get me back and forth, to and from work.

Why would guns be any different? Parts break with use. This is a fact of life.

However, if its under warranty, it goes back to the manufacturer. Otherwise, I strip it down, figure out what broke, and replaced it as long as it's cost effective to do so.
 
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