Anyone Ever Carried An Unproven Gun?

[Devonai]

The second time was I had just got a gun I really liked (a Bulgarian PM) and simply wanted to carry it.

I'd wager that a Makarov that you can field strip and reassemble without any obvious defects will be more reliable than, say, your average medallion-protected taxi service.

 

[CajunBass]

I don't know that I ever have, but I wouldn't worry about it too much if I had to, or just wanted too. I do know I've never fired one near as much as I read here and on other forums people say they insist on before they'll carry one. Take it to the range, shoot it, it works (it always does) and I'm good to go. Never had one that didn't work with whatever kind of ammo I shoved in it either.

Right now, I've got a Smith & Wesson 669 on my desk that I haven't fired yet. Planning on going to the range with it later today, but it wouldn't worry me to load it up and go with it if I didn't have anything else.

 

[Kleanbore]

First, the odds you will actually use it are low. In point of fact, the odds of being in an armed encounter are so low....

It is a fundamental tenet of all risk management to consider the conditional probability---the situation that would exist in the unlikely event of what, in this case, would mean "having to use it".

What we do "proving" a gun is to establish that we can put enough rounds thru it to give us a warm fuzzy feeling of reliance on it - which is misleading and deceptive.

What???

The whole point of being "smart" enough to carry a "proven" gun is actually based on a lot of internet social posturing.

The principle of reliability testing predated the advent of the internet by many years.

 

[captainamerica]

Wow! What a mess; and potentially a life threatening mess. I'll bet your story has played out for a lot of people even if not to that degree.

 

[Snyper]

So let me get this straight...

It would be idiotic to test your carry gun with target ammo (which I agree with, of course), but it's 'smart' to call it good after a magazine's worth of self-defense ammo through it?

You might want to take a statistics class.

It would be idiotic to test it with ammo you wouldn't be using when you carry for self defense.

If it works with your chosen defense round, the performance with other ammo is irrelevant.
You aren't doing a "statistical" study to determine failure rates, or how many types of ammo will work.

You're only confirming the gun operates as it should with the chosen load.

There's no magical number of rounds that promises the next round will fire without a doubt.

 

[Warp]

There's no magical number of rounds that promises the next round will fire without a doubt.

Of course there isn't a "magic number" and nothing can prove the next round will work.

But there is clearly a relationship between the number of successful rounds fired and the proof that the gun/magazine/ammo/shooter combination are reliable. Reasonable people aren't going to fire two rounds and proclaim it reliable, but neither are they going to require 3,000 rounds.

Obviously, an intelligent person will realize that some number of rounds or range of rounds is a good spot to reach when testing or proving reliability.

 

[Fast Frank]

There's a lot of variables that influence choices.

Some of us have a half dozen choices when we decide what to carry on a given day. To pick an unproven pistol under those circumstances would be foolish.

Some of us only have one gun. That one gun may have just been purchased because of a situation. To not carry that unproven gun would be foolish.

Attempting to put some sort of rule in place that states a round count and then arguing about it on the internet is foolish too.

I'll carry what I need to keep myself safe, and I recommend you guys do the same.

 

[JohnBiltz]

I think I read that 200 round reliability thing in Guns and Ammo in 1972 and it was not new then.

 

[jhb]

Yep. I have carried a glock 17, 19, 20.....hk vp9, hk usp45...............many many others before i fired them. When i did run them they all worked without a glitch.

My reasoning was im not worried i need a gun as many have already said here. I wanted to carry them to see if they were comfortable enough and break in my holsters for them. Quality guns run. Except sig and youll see below and why. Now i own a lot of brand and models...ones that were unreliable out of the box were....springfield armory emp first gen, sig p238 first gen, sig p238 hd first gen.....all the other 80 plus ran including surplus. So brand new models i worry about if i havent run them. Cause ive had issues with brand new models except hk...but hks are truly the best.