Anyone completely worn out a handgun?

There have been many a reasons I have sent handguns down the road but wearing one out is not one of them.

And that's a price range of $100-500 for me so not all just cheap throwaways.

I still have a couple of $1-200 guns that have several hundred or thousand rounds through them with no issues.

I thought that I had worn out the barrel on a Colt Government M1911 in 45 ACP with over 3000 rounds through it.

I installed the "worn out" Colt barrel in a Thompson M1911 on a lark and the accuracy of the gun improved alot over the OEM barrel. I guess it was not worn out.

I have a Beretta M84 with a round count approaching 4000 rounds. The slide peens over the frame under recoil making disassembly more difficult. It has become more pronounced during the last 1000 rounds or so requiring cleaning up of the frame more frequently. While the gun still still shoots well, I've retired it to limited use. This is about as close to wearing out a handgun as I have come to.

Rifle barrels, that is a different story.

Buddy wore a bbl out on a Smith 29.
He shot a LOT of 180's cranked w H110 (or similar).
Flame cut only goes so far on topstrap, but forcing cone erosion continues LOL

He just had another bbl put on. Should be good for a long while.

I did see a Smith 66 that was shot a lot, over many yrs.
The forcing cone split and the frame even cracked.
Owner said he shot a boat load of magnums through it, over many years.
Smith said it's toast, think offered him credit to a new one. Think he kept the gun......as a cool paperweight.

Hookeye said:

I did see a Smith 66 that was shot a lot, over many yrs.
The forcing cone split and the frame even cracked.

Click to expand...

I forgot about this. I cracked the forcing cone on an S&W Model 19 shooting a steady diet of 158 grain full power loads at IHMSA handgun silhouette targets. Great revolver but not up to the task as I learned the hard way.

S&W replaced the barrel on their dime, circa 1982 and I still have the revolver but I stopped shooting lots of top 357 Magnum loads through it. I started shooting a 10" Contender in 357 Magnum and later a 7mm Int. Rimmed Super 14 barrel in IHMSA silhouette after breaking my Model 19.

I have a early New Model Ruger Single Six, bought new around 1972. It had been fired so much over the years it became out of time. Unless you cocked the hammer smartly the cylinder would'ent come around enough to lock up, but would still fire and would spit lead out of the cylinder gap. It always shot high too, even with the rear sight all the way down. I called Ruger and explained and they sent me a shipping label to give it a safety ck. Got it back in about 3 weeks with a cleaned up forcing cone, perfect timing, a new taller front sight, they even touched up the blueing. NO CHARGE !!! How's that for customer service !!!

Wore out many Ruger LCP's.

When I bought my Sistema, there was no rifling left in the barrel...I mean none...looked like a sewer pipe and accuracy was garbage. But a NOS Colt barrel dropped right in...a little fitting on the new bushing and no more problems...and there's been a few thousand rounds through it since the swap. But for the most part...anything can be repaired. I've seen cracked frames, worn rails, broken internals...with enough time and money, anything can be rebuilt, repaired or replaced. Kinda like "anywhere is walking distance if you got the time".

I guess I’ve been lucky. Have bought a couple of guns that were already worn out but was able to fit replacement parts and return them to service. I’ve never worn one out myself.

I haven't personally worn one out, but...

I purchased a Smith and Wesson Military & Police 38 special ("pre Model 10") revolver maybe four or five years ago. It was made in 1915 or 1916.

It's my only handgun where the rifling is obviously worn. The cylinder is also a little bit loose. It's safe to shoot and doesn't "shave lead", but it sure doesn't lock up as tight as my newer Model 10 derivatives.

It actually shoots fine, about as well as the tiny sights and my old eyes will allow, and I wouldn't call it "worn out". I shoot some mild reloads through it every once in a while. It's fun.

However, I think it's safe to say that I could easily wear it out if I felt like it. If I decided that I was going to put hundreds or thousands of stout loads through it until the barrel was bald and/or it "shook itself loose", no doubt I could easily do so.

I don't know how many thousands of rounds the old girl has had fired through her over the last century, but I am guessing it's been a whole lot. If that's what it takes to make a quality handgun semi worn out, then I don't think that (with my modest shooting habits spread out over many guns) I will live long enough to wear out any of my modern handguns.

Doubtless professional competitive shooters and firearms instructors wear out some handguns, but the more average shooter who makes it to the range once or twice a month probably won't manage to.

Yes, many M9 pistols when I was in the military were shot out beyond repair. They only lasted us a couple of years. Also I cracked the frame on a civilian 92 that I had bought as a training pistol back then. I have a Glock 17 that I fired so much that a slide rail came out (don't know when as I rarely cleaned the pistol- the interesting thing is that it continued to function). When I realized that the rail was gone, I sent the gun back to Glock. They reassembled it to a new frame and replaced all of the small parts free of charge, and I had it back inside of a week.

No...
I have tried very hard to wear some out but after thousands and thousands of rounds they just keep on working.
Mostly S&W and Ruger revolvers...worst thing that has ever happened is that a Ruger .45Colt BlackHawk tends to have the cylinder pin creep forward when shooting heavy loads. Doesn't happen with my standard load of 8grs of Unique and a 250 gr LSWC.

Glock 23 frame rail broke at a couple thousand rounds. (replaced at no charge

LCP frame broke at a couple thousand rounds. (replaced at no charge)

Kel Tec PF-9 slide broke at 698 rounds. Replaced at cost of shipping.

I've had other parts break but those I consider catastrophic/irreparable. The glock and the Ruger were still running by the way.

I've got a couple of old .32 revolvers that have issues with the barrels and forcing cones, and there's certainly not a cost-effective way to make them good shooters anymore. But they came to me in that condition, so I'm not certain whether it was use or abuse that got them there.

I've only worn out one gun so far. My old Beretta Bobcat in .22 LR.

Nope, and I doubt if I ever will. I work enough hours that it limits the amount I get to shoot, and I shoot enough different guns that I doubt any of them will ever truly become unserviceable.

I did it to my first Colt Agent in the later 70s. I had access to government .38 spl and pounded probably 10,000 rounds thru it at 4000 a year practicing with the weak 130 grain FMJ . I got real good and could tag 55 gallon drums up to 300 meters away with that 2" barrel. THEN I got a line on the Winchester 110 +P+ ammo that came out in about 1977 for federal agents use and pounded another thousand or so thru the poor aluminum little thing and it was just plain worn out, but still could fire safely ! I sold it to some one as a tackle box gun ! I bought another and shot thousands of non +p+ out of it, and some +P+ before selling it to a good friend, and it was not worn out. My last one has a few hundred rounds thru it, it will be my last. It just seems to point itself where I want to hit

My personal worst is a Phoenix hp22. I have worn out 2 of them. Frame is some cast metal, I wouldn’t call it zamak but it’s not far off. I wore the slide rails out. Polished the burrs and galling off and shot it a while longer before the same problem showed up. One was the frame wearing, the other the slide itself. These are $100 guns though and had eaten about 12-15000 22lr with minimal cleaning I did keep the slide rails lubed, but soft metal mating surfaces just wear no matter what you do.

wore down a sundance A-25, railes bent out on the frame. Fixed it once, and they bent immediately after. Sadly, this was within one box of ammo. I hear they were mostly better than this, but mine was near end of production. Really good design, but the frame was made from zinc, and I don't think it was Zamak. BTW, I did not buy this in ignorance, it was a novelty I thought might be fun. I figured it would last longer, but wasn't expecting a target piece. I really like that size range, and appreciate 25ACP. Only conventional guns Ive seen worn out were .22 rifles from the 60's or older.

chicharrones said:

I've only worn out one gun so far. My old Beretta Bobcat in .22 LR.

Click to expand...

I have a Bobcat, and was wonder what kinda life it'll do, any idea what your round count was?

I have a Colt King Cobra that has seen probably 95% or more of its rounds as magnums. At about 35k, the barrel started coming unscrewed. I took it to a gunsmith, expecting the forcing cone being worn enough to need the barrel set back. The gap was still in spec. The gunsmith put the barrel back on with red Loctite. I went back to shooting.

FWIW, similar thread from a while back:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/wearing-out-firearms.837832/

mjsdwash said:

I have a Bobcat, and was wonder what kinda life it'll do, any idea what your round count was?

Click to expand...

Not really sure. Less than 4000 if I have to guess. It's not like the gun could eat a brick of ammo at one sitting. I had to clean the chamber at least every 4 magazines worth to keep it running.

What made me give up on it, after a few repair attempts, was that the cut outs in the slide for the recoil spring levers had wallowed out to the point the slide was loose in battery. Meaning you could pull the slide back a little bit before the recoil springs put tension on the slide. It caused all kinds of light strikes, plus fired cartridge brass would bulge out into the feed ramp.

I still have it, but it will be a "buy back" gun.

Never worn out a gun but I have a Colt Gold Cup I bought 40 some years ago, after 10's of thousands of rounds over the years I've had one broken roll pin in the Ellison rear sight and the trigger pull has worn to a scary 2lbs. or less.
Still one of the most accurate 1911's I have ever owned as long as I shoot FMJ ammo out of it

Curious, have any of you folks ever just flat out worn a pistol out to the point that it became unreliable and unrepairable?

Click to expand...

In a word: No.

I don't think I have even come close to wearing out any pistol I have owned. I have a 40+ year old Colt Combat Commander and an almost equally vintage Beretta Model 70S. Both have had thousands of rounds through them over the years yet neither gun shows the least amount of wear or require any parts replacement (of course it doesn't hurt matters that both guns are all steel construction and the Model 70S is also hard chrome plated). Both are extremely reliable and are still capable of some very decent accuracy with the right ammo.

I have no doubt they will continue to run like this for another 40+ years (or more)!