How Many Rounds Till Failure

If you are asking; "How long a GI 1911 will load, fire, extract, eject, reload and fire again, without cleaning, with US GI ammo?" I would answer well over 1000 rounds. The 1911 is the AK of handguns. Without relubrication it will be very worn, but it will function

I don't shoot my M1911's unless they are heavily lubricated. Bullseye shooters told me the elbow is the drip point for oil. So I lube the heck out of my pistols.

Just today at the range I met a Vietnam/Iraqi veteran. His Beretta M92 was bone dry. I told him to lubricate the thing, he told me that the Army said not to, oil attracts dirt. His pistol functioned fine.

Another time, another Vietnam Veteran, his Rock Island 1911 was malfunctioning, it was bone dry. After I lubed the thing with motor oil, it started working again. He had been told in the Army to run them dry, they had been told that oil attracts dirt.

Well I ain't dropping in no combat zone.

A guy with a LLama 1911, his gun was bone dry and it was malfunctioning. A little bit of motor oil and it starting functioning correctly.

It depends a LOT (nearly entirely) on the manufacture and condition of the gun when you begin. I will say 1,000 rounds would be very low IMO, Todd Jarrett put that through a Para 1911 in a little over 10 min if I remember correctly.

I would expect at least 25,000 but wouldn't be surprised with over 50,000. It would be worn to crap, very loose, inaccurate as heck but still functioning. The recoil spring would defiantly be the week spot, if we say changing the springs but not cleaning, who knows?

Even though it may function great bone dry wear will be greatly accelerated. In a sandbox I agree with dry lube or no lube, but for normal use it will last much longer with some lube on the moving parts. Oil will attract dirt but dirt won't wear down hardened steel very fast (sand will) and with normal cleaning it's not a real problem. Lube, shoot and clean. Repeat as necessary. I have a Springfield with well over 70,000 rounds through it and it's as tight as the day I built it back in the 80s. It has never had anything but CLP used on it. If I remember correctly John Browning's original Ordnance Board tests required him to fire 5,000 rounds with no failures and he was only allowed to dip it in a bucket of water every couple of hundred rounds. It passed.

I ran 500 rounds through my TRP with out cleaning or lubing. I started feeling the slide drag at about 350-400. It made it to 500 rounds without any issues, but I am sure the problems would have started soon after the 600 mark.

I still haven't cleaned it, but I did lube it. I am going to run about 300-500 more rounds through it before I clean it.

My 1911 is very tight and if I am fire high round counts in short periods of time I get about 200 rounds then feed problems begin. If it is fired more slowly to avoid overheating it will go all day.

I don't know the limit on my Kimber, because I've never hit it. Several hundred.

As for the Beretta not needing lube in Iraq, I suppose that's why the safety on the one I was just issued was seized after getting home from the sandbox. A little CLP.....MIRACLE!! IT WORKS AGAIN!!

I've gone thousands of rounds without cleaning. But I will reoil it because I don't want to abuse my guns. It looks like a messy much in there right about now...

If it is stainless steel then it will need more frequent lubrication than carbon steel. I would frequently shoot (a properly lubed IMO) pistol in excess of 600 rounds on a range trip, then clean and lube that night. Shooting a pistol till failure is not something I want to do with one of mine but if you send my your pistol I promise to tear it up.

I must not be in the loop when it comes to torture testing weapons. I keep all my pistols and rifles cleaned, lubed and ready to go after each range session. Oil is cheap, my guns aren't. Even my carry pistol gets unloaded, cleaned and lubed once every two weeks just to make sure that if I needed it to perform it would.

kenno said:

The 1911 is the AK of handguns.

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No Way !! That Title has to go to a Glock.

http://www.theprepared.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90

When the US military decided to set a reliability standard to be met by pistols in competition to replace the 1911 they took a couple dozen as close to pristine 1911's they could find in the armory and tested for a mean time to failure. As they felt the 1911's reliability was adequate for their needs they wanted any new pistol to at least be as good. The number that they came up with was 600 rounds to mean time failure.

The Beretta and the Sig both far exceeded the standard set for the contract.

No Way !! That Title has to go to a Glock.

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I literally just scrolled down to see how long it took this exact comment to be posted. I was shocked that I got all the way to #15! Haha

Mine will make it to about 500 rounds and then may start to choke without a couple drops of lube on the rails. I have only figured that out a few times because I try to keep my firearms clean and ready to go.

Damian

500 and 600? Yikes. I've had well over that in my custom STI 2011...very good fitment and no issues. Runs great. I'd expect 1K or more out of a quality handgun. Guess I need to run my Nighthawk and Wilson to failure and see.

The most I've fired without oiling is about 600 rounds....and that is with a stainless 1911. (Baer...super tight)

Its went well over 2,000 without a thorough cleaning more than once.

In my opinion, any handgun worthy of being carried should be able to put 2,000 rounds down range without being lubed during that 2,000 rounds with zero malfunctions. Just my opinion though.

What practical purpose is there in requiring a carry handgun to go 2000 rds without lubrication? Most guys I know don't shoot 2k rounds in 5 years through their carry guns.

What type of malfunctions are you concerned about: ammo glitches or gun problems. I've got nearly 90000 rounds through one of my 1911-never had any malfunction that I can remember. My carry gun is at about 45000 without a glitch of any kind as well.

No practical purpose in requiring it...but there is peace of mind in knowing it will do it.

Heavy training days will see around 500ish rounds fired without stoppages or needing to reapply lube. I generally don't fire more rounds than that in one session, and I clean and relube my firearms after each use.

With proper maintenance you can identify wear on parts and springs prior to them contributing to stoppages, and with proper lube, you can reduce friction and wear on parts, and ensure your gun operates as smoothly as it is capable of doing.

Good maintenance, mags, ammo, and proper lube will enable any modern firearm to fire far longer than any defensive situation will ever require.