Is your ccw picky?

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Bfh_auto

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The thread about self defense ammo got me wondering if any of you have a ccw that's is finicky about ammo?
My wife and I carry a S&W shield and a compact.
None of these have every malfunctioned with any ammo I've run through them.
I can't see carrying a gun that doesn't feed flawlessly.
 
I have had plenty of handguns of all sorts that were picky about things.

Most of those I do not own.

By definition, none of them are carry pieces.

We may argue endlessly about size, weight, capacity, caliber, etc. But yes, absolutely: #1 must always be scrupulous reliability.
 
shoobe01 said:
I have had plenty of handguns of all sorts that were picky about things.

Most of those I do not own.

By definition, none of them are carry pieces.

We may argue endlessly about size, weight, capacity, caliber, etc. But yes, absolutely: #1 must always be scrupulous reliability.
Click to expand...

Now, I'm a revolver guy and they tend to not be picky about ammo, BUT if I had a 9mm that wasn't reliable with 115 grain, but was flawless with 124 grainers, I'd buy 124 grain self-defense ammo and be comfortable. I mean, except for the face that it doesn't have a cylinder.

Seriously, though how many types/brands/weights of ammo do you need to use before you are comfortable with the reliability of a handgun?
 
I wouldn't be comfortable with a gun that wouldn't function reliably with pretty much any good quality ammo that I stuffed in it. If, for example, a 9mm semi-automatic needs 124 grain to work perfectly, but does not work perfectly with 115 grain, that's waaay too thin of a line separating function and malfunction for me. If I did own such a gun, I would not carry it unless it was my only option, and I'd be trying to figure out what the gun needed to make it more broadly reliable.
 
Pudge said:
Now, I'm a revolver guy and they tend to not be picky about ammo, BUT if I had a 9mm that wasn't reliable with 115 grain, but was flawless with 124 grainers, I'd buy 124 grain self-defense ammo and be comfortable. I mean, except for the face that it doesn't have a cylinder.

Seriously, though how many types/brands/weights of ammo do you need to use before you are comfortable with the reliability of a handgun?
Click to expand...
I like to run a box of as many bullet weights and profiles as I can.
If it doesn't choke on any. Then the manufacturer did a good job.
My tec9 runs flawless with aluminum cased federal or cci ammo. Everything else is a nightmare of jambs. To me it means it's a failure waiting to happen. Obviously a tec9 is an extreme example. But it's the only thing that has failed me.
 
I think it's me that's picky... about my CCW being 100% reliable. I tend to choose a round based on it's reliability/performance first and then test it in my intended weapon. If they work together well I'm happy. In 9mm I settled on either golden saber bonded or gold dots in 124+P. Never a hiccup.
 
A couple of years ago I wanted a single stack 9mm for CCW. I liked the concept of the Remington R51 and bought one. Big Mistake!
Most finicky feeding gun I have ever owned. Went back to Remington 3 times before they swapped it for another piece of junk. I sold it at a big loss and never looked back.

I mostly said all that to dissuade anyone from ever considering that piece of garbage.
But, I will not carry a finicky gun. Won’t even own one.
 
My 9mm Shield was finicky when new after few hundred rounds FMJ it cycled JHP , Truncated Cone and 147 gr Flat Nose no problem
 
The only gun Ive had that was MAYBE picky was the Bersa 45, which was partially the subject of my thread "should I buy another 45". And I must admit that I did put someone else's crappy reloads though it once or twice. Many of the fails I had with it were with Winchester white-box 230's.

I guess I did have some issues with one of my KelTec P11's (had 2), but a wolf spring with new metal guide rod brought it up to par. Stock guide rods were polymer!

In the Bersa's case, the Ultra Carry Pro series started as 9mm, and those put Bersa on the map along with the Thunder 380. The ultra carry was built up later to accept 40 and 45. It's been my experience again and again...that if you try to adapt a design for different calibers when it was originally designed around a specific caliber, you will see a decrease in reliability....at least when the new caliber dimensions and power are quite different than the old.
 
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Some of the guns I bought as carry guns proved to be picky about ammo. They didn’t get carried.

That was after break-in and reasonable troubleshooting steps were exhausted.
 
I'm the picky one. If it malfunctions, I won't carry it or use it for HD.

If it's picky but I like it, it's okay for a range toy.
 
Had guns shoot everything but steel case ammo. I still carried them, but simply didn't carry the offending ammo in it.
 
Bfh_auto said:
I can't see carrying a gun that doesn't feed flawlessly.
Click to expand...
It may be that not all defensive ammunition functions flawlessly, but it is always important to find effective defensive ammunition that functions every time in your carry gun and stick with it.
 
I'm in before anyone justified carrying a picky 380 with FMJ because they think HP will lack sufficient penetration.
Also in before anyone justified carrying a 45 acp with FMJ because war, its a 45, or 45 FMJ is "good enough".
My carry pistols are not picky, they have proven reliable with HP or I wouldn't carry them.
 
It seems like I have put just about everything through my shield 9. The only thing that it doesn't like to eat is steel cases, like Tula or that Winchester forged stuff.
 
Thankfully my Semi's shoot Steel case just fine. Especially when, before the crap hit the fan, I was getting it at $6.44 a box delivered to the door. I shot a lot of it them and stored a lot of it as well.
My only regret is not Purchasing about 10,000 rds more when I had the chance.
 
It functions every time until it doesn't. The best you can say is that it worked pretty well in the past. Now I found that most ammo ran in my Glocks except for some Pakistani stuff and Speer Lawman years back. But every once in awhile, everything would jam. I did note that most jams in matches came from the guys who loaded their own (FLAME WAR!!).
 
I tend to be picky.
Many firearms will have a better "comfort zone" with one ammo over another.
I find that finding that comfort zone an enjoyable task, if only for collecting up the several boxes of JHP and getting to shoot them all.
Now, when that combo is found, I want, I insist on reliability with it. Or it's not going to get carried.

The Featherweight flex-matic 3000x might be perfect for carry, but if it will not make holes where and when I expect it to, it's not getting carried. If I have to carry the KlunkoMatic GobSmacker instead, I'll make the adjustments to do so.
 
unclenunzie said:
I think it's me that's picky... about my CCW being 100% reliable. I tend to choose a round based on it's reliability/performance first and then test it in my intended weapon. If they work together well I'm happy. In 9mm I settled on either golden saber bonded or gold dots in 124+P. Never a hiccup.
Click to expand...
Gold dots seen
GEM said:
It functions every time until it doesn't. The best you can say is that it worked pretty well in the past. Now I found that most ammo ran in my Glocks except for some Pakistani stuff and Speer Lawman years back. But every once in awhile, everything would jam. I did note that most jams in matches came from the guys who loaded their own (FLAME WAR!!).
Click to expand...
I lost single stage. I was getting ribbed by a guy about using a progressive. Then he loaded 30 rounds without powder.:)
 
I don't have a problem with a gun that doesn't like some ammo or even a whole class of ammo as long as I understand what's going on and as long as it's reliable with the ammo I use for carry.

For example, I have a gun that will bobble occasionally when used with aluminum-cased ammo. It's never had any trouble with other kinds of ammo. If I ran a decent amount of my carry ammo through it and it worked, I wouldn't have a problem carrying it even though it isn't 100% reliable with aluminum-cased ammo.

I have one carry gun that I've really only tested with a few kinds of FMJ and one carry load. So far it's been 100%. I don't feel the need to test it with a bunch of other kinds of FMJ and some other possible carry loads. I understand that I might find some other loads that it doesn't work with if I did that, but I'm ok with that since it works with what I want to carry in it.
 
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