Have you seen handgun parts fail?

Yes, I have. Revolvers, semi-autos and single shots all fail in more ways than I can enumerate. I have experienced failures in all three types from broken or worn out parts. If it moves it will wear and break, if it is subjected to pressure and/or stress, it will break. More often than not it can be traced back to human caused, and I don't mean just using it, I mean abuse and/or neglect or workmanship in manufacture and assembly and end users foolishness.

Grip safety on a SA 1911 broke internally. The gun still fired but the safety was strictly ornamental after that. It taught me to check the safeties regularly.

had a 1911 firing pin break

A new S&W 27-2, first box of shells, failed. Upon disassembly the hammer stud sheared off. I sent it back to S&W who replaced the stud and renickeled the gun. It was very, very accurate but shot 12" low at 25 yards with the highest sight setting. I got rid of it.

I had a new S&W 41 quit firing in the first 150 rounds. I sent it into S&W. After it was returned, it quit again in the first two boxes of shells. I sent it back a second time. After that it worked fine.

Because of the above, I haven't bought a S&W since 1979.

Start shooting IDPA or USPSA matches, you'll see all kinds of part failures:
Personally seen:
1911 sear spring fail, (hammer follow)
1911 Ejector bend and seize a slide (STI MIM)
1911 Extractor break
1911 Front Sight break
2 Magazine floor plates break spewing rounds on the ground.

Me and my usual friends all shoot 1911s hence the 1911 list. You see failures in Glocks, M&Ps, CZ's at matches but I'm not close enough to those to say I saw a break first hand. No doubt you see a lot more ammo problems at matches too, mostly shoddy reloads.

yep, hammer and trigger studs in a revolver here - can't wait for the stud fixing the rebound slide to go! the cylinder stop stud, not being highly stressed, will probably last forever.

Kimber 1911: Slide stop developed a small crack. Also grip safety doesn't work, in the same manner as Ichiban's SA 1911. Still need to call them about it (been pretty busy lately).

Glock 35: Front sight fell out during a range trip. Lost it, bought another, and it hasn't happened since (friend owns the gun now, and it's still intact.) It also hasn't happened on any other Glocks I have owned (a 21C before I owned the 35, and my current Glock 19)

A couple of 1911's with inoperative grip safeties, broken extractors and front sights falling off.

A Glock 17 that continued to not "let off" when the trigger was pulled, even after a couple of trips back to Glock to repair it.

Interarms PPK/S that had a continual problem with the hammer following the slide down.

Two S&W 940's, the original, and its factory replacement, both that locked up due to internal parts breakage before the 200 round mark.

A couple of broken "hands" on others.

Ruger SA's with virtually no cylinder gap that would constantly bind up after one or two cylinders full of ammo.

Back before Loc Tite...

Cylinder retaining screw backed out on my Model 29, allowing the cylinder to drop off the gun during a reload.

Ejector rods backing out, not allowing the cylinder to open, tying up the gun.

Had the transfer bar on a Ruger Blackhawk break once. The hook on the hammer that connects to the mainspring on my Redhawks break on a semi regular basis.

I was a LE firearms instructor for almost 30 years so I saw many breakages in revolvers and semi-autos. Most were not predictable which is the best argument for a BUG. I oversaw thousands of guns in my time and failed parts are not that common in quality fireaarms. I have also seen guns that have gun 30 years or more of regular use (say about 1000 rds a year) that have never failed. Being mechanical things some are more durable than others and when a part fails is usually directly related to how much use it gets. Some observations:

Rugers- The only Ruger I ever had a part fail was my P90. The spring for the mag release broke causing the mag to fall out while I was qualifying. Once this was ascertained, I finished qualifying by holding the mag in with my left palm. Sent FEDEX overnight to Ruger on Monday got it back that Wednesday.

S&Ws- Timing issues with revolvers that had been well used (some for 20 years a few new) and frames cracks in alloy frame 9mms.

Colts- Revolvers, timing issues and not easy to fix. My Combat Commander started dropping the hammer to half cock after about 20K rounds. Had it rebuilt and only small internals replaced. All major compoenets still in use. Barrel is fine but I shoot mostly lead bullets so no wear issue there.

I've seen a brand new Python where the hammer was whacking the frame on the way down and took factory 4 months to fix it (this was in the 70s).

Glocks- front sights fall off and I've seen recoil spring guides break and a few broken extractors.

I've had broken bits in a S&W Model 15 lockwork (can't recall which piece shed a chunk o' metal) jammed up the rebound slide, rendering the handgun inop. I've also broken the firing pin in an Astra A70.

Have you seen handgun parts fail?

Click to expand...

Yes. Way too many to list.
Guns are inexpensive, mass produced pieces of machinery that take quite a beating. What's suprising is guns don't fail a lot more often.

This was the last failure I had a couple months ago.
Micro Desert Eagle.
The slide cracked sometime within a 19 shot string. I didn't know the slide had cracked until I was cleaning the gun. (Magnum Research made it good)



Heck, I had a brand new Ruger Mark II that would fire when the thumb safety was moved from Safe to Fire.

I've seen the slide stop spring break on a couple of pistols. It results in both the slide not locking back when it should as well as occasionally locking when it shouldn't. Since the little piece of metal is just flopping around, it randomly catches the slide while shooting.

No, I'm not a gunsmith. I mechanic my own guns, thats all, I've pretty well figured out how to do most everything except weld and I have a friend that is an artist when it comes to the "blackmagicartofburningmetel"

Beretta 96D - broken trigger return spring
- broken firing pin safety spring
- cracked frame

broken strikers on M&P and glock
broken firing pins on AR and 1911
broken slide stop on 1911, cz
screwed up timing and ejectors on S&W revolvers
broken welds on bomar sights on s&w revolver
broken springs in just about anything
broken extractor on 1911, 2011, cz, XD, glock, remington 700, etc.
broken ejector on 700, ar, 1911
cracked slide on glock, 1911
broken bottom lugs on 1911 barrels.
Pretty much every adjustable sight will eventually break after too many cycles.
glock front sights bite the dirt all the time.

I shoot USPSA at a couple fairly active clubs. As one USPSA guy put it "we don't shoot guns, we wear them out." A lot of these failures are often jsut a matter of what wears out first after lots and lots of rounds.

My first gun was a Cobra Patriot .45ACP. I took it shooting the day I bought it. I had a jam every round. Well, more of a lock-up. It would feed but the trigger would not reset after a shot was fired. Everyshot. I'd have to pull the slide back about an 8th of an inch to reset the trigger. I went right back to the store I purchased it from, and got rid of it.

EAA Windicator, the frame split under the forcing cone, sent it for repair, got it back in three months and trigger was not resetting without pulling it. Sent it again, another two months. Now, it sits in a box and I don't know what to do with it.

Brand new Beretta Tomcat, after 66 rounds, when the trigger crapped out entirely and then fell apart, literally. It would have been laughable, were the (*#^@( gun not so #*(*#@() expensive to begin with.

Actually broken parts, only two, both 1911 collet bushings. One dropped a collet finger 9adn did not stop shooting. The other was a replacement collet bushing that developed a 9 o'clock crack between fingers (still have that one as a backup).

Had the recoil buffer block come loose in a Camp 45, but that just needed epoxy to put back right.

Had a Taurus auto that was pure single action, the hammer would not stay back after firing (was not meant to be an SAO). Turned out to be misaligned frame holes for trigger & sear pins--traded it for something that worked, and Taurus fixed for the next customer (with a new frame).

I was shooting a new Taurus revolver that looked like a 4 inch model 10. On the 2nd or 3rd cylinder of 38's, the frame cracked from the top of the strap at the hammer all the way down to the trigegr housing !! That was scary ...... Taurus pot metal guns .....
After that ...I swore off Taurus and stayed with either Colt or S&W.
Ohio Rusty ><>

Dang M2 thats one heck of a crack.

Im glad my ruger has never done that either :scared:

I was shooting a new Taurus revolver that looked like a 4 inch model 10. On the 2nd or 3rd cylinder of 38's, the frame cracked from the top of the strap at the hammer all the way down to the trigegr housing !! That was scary ...... Taurus pot metal guns .....
After that ...I swore off Taurus and stayed with either Colt or S&W.

I listed some of the more common failures I've seen above. I did see a S&W M66 cylinder blow up after 400 rds of magnums. I haven't sworn off S&Ws. There are lemons everywhere by every manufacturer.