Pistol Reliability

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Roamin_Wade

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On a scale of 1-10, where would you put a Ruger LCP that has been kept in a pocket with lint on it as far as reliability to function flawlessly for all 7 rounds?
 
No bottom feedin' , shell spittin' auto would ever get a 10 on reliability from me regardless of brand, age, design or cleanliness. That said, lint wont hurt anything unless theres a big piece blocking the primer from being stuck. A chambered round will generally prevent that. I would still use a holster for pocket carry.
 
Where lint can cause problems is in the magazine. I don't pocket carry, but I do carry a spare mag in my pocket from time to time. When I do, I clean all the lint out of the pocket before putting the magazine in. And I check the mag once in awhile to make sure there's nothing in it but ammunition.
 
Just tested this very thing. Not an LCP, but a Taurus TCP. Had been carrying it in a pocket holster every day for about a month with no cleaning other than wiping the slide down with oil once or twice, maybe blowing in the hammer channel a couple of times. With the first shot I actually saw the dust bunnies fly out of the barrel and float to the ground. After that, no problems with the next 6 rounds. Slide felt a little gritty and crunchy (I tend to get a bit of sand and dirt in my pockets at work) but no failures.
Now, that's not to say your LCP won't give you trouble, my Springfield 911 started choking on that same trip. But its issue was being fairly new, it's a little picky about being dirty(gummy from powder residue) and mostly dry. As soon as I hit it with some oil, it ran fine.
My advice is shoot the living snot out of that LCP, a few hundred rounds of the dirtiest ammo you can find without cleaning. If you have no failures doing that, some grit and lint isnt going to slow it down. A worn in gun, one that may even be a little loose, is in my experience, much more reliable than a brand new, super tight gun
 
I would give it a 10.
I pocket carry my LCP often. I take it to the range every trip and fire the ammo in the mag.
I clean it at that point and load fresh ammo.
 
Holster or not, youre still going to get dust bunnies, dirt, ect, in the gun if youre carrying it regularly. Its just the nature of the beast.

I dont pocket carry, and I do use a holster and mag carrier, and I have to blow the bunnies and crap out of the gun(s) I carry, at least once a week. And there are usually a bunch of them too, especially around the muzzle, front sight, and trigger area. With mags like the Wilson 1911 mags, those big, long, opens slots in the mag, really suck in this respect. Its like they are there to suck up lint and dust.

The only holsters I use that seems to keep things to a mimnimum in this respect, have been my Smart Carry's, which is kind of puzzling when I think about it. Everything else seems to be a dust/dirt magnet.

Never had an issue with it causing problems with function though, but I do keep after things too.
 
I have owned 4 of them since they first came out and shot them until they were no longer shootable and had to be replaced. As far as reliability when using good quality ammo, I rate it a 10. However at around 1200 rounds or before you really need to seriously examine the frame, rails, and grip for crack issue and split rails. I have moved on to other Pocket guns that I prefer more. But while I do not feel they are the best shooters or best build or able to handle a large volume of ammo downrange, they were all reliable. Also it is important to change out the recoil springs are a regular basis and not shoot any high pressure ammo.
 
The gun is being carried in a holster right?
I sure hope so!!!!! In my 40+ years of dealing with CC (instructing and investigating) I find pocket carry WO a holster to be the MOST dangerous thing I have ever encounter with CC.o_O The pocket holster is absolutely required to make it safe and to keep it 'running', free from dirt and debris.:)
 
Sold my LCP. I had an average of one FTF every 500 rounds. That was the constant theme with the LCP...499 out of 500 reliability. (It was pocket carried.)

I am commenting on my personal experience only with MY LCP. In no way is this a comment in LCPs in general. Perhaps it has to do with my shooting technique. In any case...my LCP and I were not a perfect fit

I feel that any CCW needs to be constantly practiced with. Minimum 200 rounds per month. I usually put 400 -500 rounds in my CcW per month. And at that rate.. I felt that I would wear out the little LCP much sooner than other guns that were larger in size.


Ended up selling it...and switched to Glock 26. (Not a single failure in over 4000 rounds.)

And later moved up to Glock 19. And no failures ever in thousands of rounds.

If I need to pocket carry, 638 revolver gets the nod.
 
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I have been shooting pocket guns for years and carried kinds of positions. Never had a failure because of lint, dirty etc. None of my have light triggers, all DAO. The only times I have failures are when the gun is shot with a high round count during a training session and they get very dirty. Typically 150-200 rds. If a little bit of lint stops your gun, then maybe time to find a new one.
 
It means he's never seen a cylinder lock up tight in the field and need a ton of work to get moving freely ;)

The LCP I had always went bang regardless of pocket lint, but I didn't carry it for long so ... a 7?
You are correct on that, never had a revolver lock up in the field. I have had revolver failures too, never said id rate any revolver a 10 either. I can count in one hand the number of failures from revolvers VS the countless ive had with autoloaders. I dont use a revolver for CC anymore, i did for years though.any well made auto would get a score of 7 or 8 out of 10 in my book and a well tuned and tested revolver with ammunition i produce personally i would rate a 9... there is no 10.
 
However at around 1200 rounds or before you really need to seriously examine the frame, rails, and grip for crack issue and split rails.
Wow, I hadn't heard that they were that bad. That's got to be amongst the worst reliability records out there if that's typical of them.
 
Wow, I hadn't heard that they were that bad. That's got to be amongst the worst reliability records out there if that's typical of them.

No, it is not a reliability issue. As I mentioned, they are very reliable up to a point. These are small guns and there is a heck of a explosion taking place on each shot. Depending on the build quality, some last a long time, some don't. I shoot them often, many do not shoot them much at all. I had one LCP go up to 2200 rounds before it went down. But I check all my guns after each shooting session. As far as the LCP, if you do notice the start of a crack etc. contact Ruger and they will take care of it. I have had them replace grips, and the whole gun.

As far as the comment "Sold my LCP. I had an average of one FTF every 500 rounds. That was the constant theme with the LCP...499 out of 500 reliability. (It was pocket carried.)"

I never heard that before, and I was on the LCP forum for years. My guess is that at 500 rounds, it is due for a Recoil Spring change. And I learned from experience with the gun to change out the springs at that mark of 500. Some say it was over kill, but I just learned from experience. I still have one LCP left and it is running fine although I do not shoot it much anymore.
 
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You are correct on that, never had a revolver lock up in the field. I have had revolver failures too, never said id rate any revolver a 10 either. I can count in one hand the number of failures from revolvers VS the countless ive had with autoloaders. I dont use a revolver for CC anymore, i did for years though.any well made auto would get a score of 7 or 8 out of 10 in my book and a well tuned and tested revolver with ammunition i produce personally i would rate a 9... there is no 10.
With either, Id give them both a 9+ if youre using a quality gun, maintaining the gun properly, and using good ammo.

I shoot a number of both regularly, and with good ammo, stoppages are usually pretty rare with any of them.

In those fairly rare instances there is a problem, the number one thing you notice is, the autos are almost always quickly back in action with a simple TRB, where the revolvers are usually DRT, and not going back into action without tools.

Properly built and maintained guns are usually pretty reliable and not a problem. I learned my lesson early on, and try to avoid things that are pushing the envelope, like "little" 1911's, things of questionable quality, have less than stellar reviews and/or numerous complaints, and things with a short RSA life.

Anything that wont go a resonable amount of rounds before starting to fall apart or needing springs changed in only a few thousand rounds makes no sense to me. You have to practice with what you use if you hope to be proficent with them, and that means shooting a good number of rounds through them in practice on a regular basis.

And no matter how perfect you might think what you have is, you also need to know what to do with them should they happen to stop, and be well versed at getting them quickly back into action, or on to the next thing, and be able to do so immediately, and without thought.
 
With either, Id give them both a 9+ if youre using a quality gun, maintaining the gun properly, and using good ammo.

I shoot a number of both regularly, and with good ammo, stoppages are usually pretty rare with any of them.

In those fairly rare instances there is a problem, the number one thing you notice is, the autos are almost always quickly back in action with a simple TRB, where the revolvers are usually DRT, and not going back into action without tools.

Properly built and maintained guns are usually pretty reliable and not a problem. I learned my lesson early on, and try to avoid things that are pushing the envelope, like "little" 1911's, things of questionable quality, have less than stellar reviews and/or numerous complaints, and things with a short RSA life.

Anything that wont go a resonable amount of rounds before starting to fall apart or needing springs changed in only a few thousand rounds makes no sense to me. You have to practice with what you use if you hope to be proficent with them, and that means shooting a good number of rounds through them in practice on a regular basis.

And no matter how perfect you might think what you have is, you also need to know what to do with them should they happen to stop, and be well versed at getting them quickly back into action, or on to the next thing, and be able to do so immediately, and without thought.
I agree, bound up revolver is bad news and in my experience is usually not field repairable. I may be kind of goofy but i consider glocks to be reasonably good quality (all my carry guns are glocks) but have broken parts, most recently was the end of the slide lock lever spring broke off and the slide would lock open every shot unless manually held down - that gun had about 750 rds of medium power factory ammo through it at the time.
Not to bash on any brand but ive had the worst couple of kahr pistols ever. No one really shares this experience and ill just leave it at i rarely got through a single magazine without issues.
Ive had others that were picky with bullet profile and others that were picky about functioning with ammunition that is of differing power factors.
Then others that devoured mountains of 50+ year old mil-surp ammo like it was nothing.
I know im rambling here, my point is mechanical failures are one problem any gun can and will suffer from. Ammunition complications are more common and revolvers rarely suffer from that (except for bullet pull/creep, but if the cartridge is tailored to the specific revolver and is produced accordingly it is not likely)
 
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