After proofing your gun, when do you "go back to zero" after a malfunction?

[Hanzo581]

I wouldn't want a gun that needed cleaned to work after only a few hundred rounds.

 

[Bobson]

If I don't experience the same type of hiccup more than once every 200 rounds or so, there's not a problem. I wouldn't remove a handgun from my "carry rotation" for anything less than a 0.005% failure rate. My G19 had one FTE in the last 750 rounds, and a 13-year-old shooter was using it at the time. I consider it flawless so far, until I experience an error.

 

[tarosean]

I dont think 200rds is near enough to say anything about a pistol.

 

[Shipwreck]

If I have an issue in a handgun I use for self defense, I usually do not feel comfortable with it until I can go 1000 rounds again w/o an issue. I've previously made 3-4 trips in a month after a problem - to try and get it thru 1k quickly.

 

[Slamfire]

How do you truly determine the reliability of your firearm unless you shoot more than a few magazines through it without cleaning?

I did not mention that part of my 500 round initial test is not cleaning the gun for the entire 500 round test without a failure other than due to ammo, magazine or shooter err.

Obviously some, many posters, have never been on a Police Qualification range. A agency I worked for we qualified with range guns. This meant the revolvers, shotguns, semi-auto-automatic handguns and rifles were shot hundreds of rounds by many different shooters without cleaning and oiling all day.

Guess what? They functioned 100% all day.

That is an excellent testimony as to the reliability of current designs. They are getting better.

But I grew up around Bullseye shooters who really kept their M1911's well lubed. They said "the elbow was the drip point."

I have gotten in arguments with rather ideological nit pickers on other forums by stating that in the end, breech friction will stop every semi/auto matic weapon design. While today's designs may be more dirt tolerant, which is a great thing, but get enough fouling, let it get hard and caked, let the chamber foul, let the fouling lump up, get hard and caked, no matter how mechanically robust the parts, friction will stop the mechanism.

All mechanical designs work better clean.

 

[Bovice]

If I were to have a series of malfunctions, diagnose it and replace the faulty component, if it seems to be gone, I'll pretend it never happened. It's like fixing your car. Are you going to lose faith in it over a broken serpentine belt or a flat tire?

 

[Delmar]

If I am caught unawares from my home in a situation which calls for 500 rounds for me to fire, I guess its bye bye Delmar, because I don't carry that much ammo on my person from day to day, unless Im headed for the range

 

[Hangingrock]

The shooting instructors that I've known teach stoppage/malfunction/clearance drills as part of their of course of instruction. That said if one has a repetitive/intermittent issues then one must resolve the root cause/issue. There was a similar topic in the past with one respondent addressing statistics/probability. If memory serves me correctly the magic number was 300 rounds of the chosen self-defense ammunition with out problem then one was good to go.