How many of you own ONLY 100% reliable semi-autos?

[Rexster]

All of our present autos have been 100% reliable from round one, except one, which had a very early failure to go completely into battery, in the first 100 rounds, and has been fine since then. That one pistol, a Seecamp LWS-32, was being fed Winchester Silvertips made after Winchester changed the dimensions of the .32 ACP Silvertips, resulting in that ammo being removed from Seecamp's list of recommended ammo. I switched to Gold Dots, and life has been good. I cannot hold that one malf against the Seecamp, IMO.

I have owned problematic auto-pistols in the past, and they went away. Now, I have to set-up mock malfunctions to practice clearing them, though a few off-brand 1911s, my three Kimbers, and a problematic Glock seem to have given me a lifetime of ingrained reflexive response to malfunctions. Indeed, my first handgun was a Detonics, which taught me all about clearing malfunctions from the very beginning of my hand-gunning days.

 

[JR24]

Not necessarily a requirement for me, but all of my guns have so far been 100% reliable, barring ammunition or magazine issues.

 

[genstab]

Gotta get my two cents in. My first semi-auto actually bought was a Browning Hi-Power Practical. I had inherited a FN model 1910 7.65 mm which was a war souvenir- the holster has Japanese markings and my uncle, a Navy pilot, brought it home from the Pacific. He'd evidently bought it from some Marine who got it the hard way. My grandfather had it, then my father, and now I have it. I checked with Anthony VanderLinden, a FN/Browning expert and author, who said the Japanese bought a large shipment of pistols from FN in 1940 because their pistols were so bad and mine was probably one of them. Anyway, that gun misfires occasionally though it's been to a gunsmith- what the heck, it's not a modern gun- but my Hi-Power doesn't with about 300 rounds through it. I consider it reliable.

I also own two FN-HP DA 9mms (same gun as the Browning BDA-9) and a HP-DAO Compact with a second one (a DA Compact with decocker this time as my full size DAs have) on the way. These are all FN Herstal guns, not the Beretta or Sig they sold for a while. I have fired one of the full size ones for some 300 rounds also and consider it a fine well made gun that FN missed the boat on by not advertising more strenuously. (I mean they manufactured them in two separate time periods- and then left their customers without an adequate spare parts backup. What were they thinking?) And the Compact with a 10 round magazine is the prefect reliable concealed carry gun.

I'm not worried that these guns are no longer being made because they're well constructed as well as truly classic. I don't feel like buying a plastic gun and these seem to be the last of the FN steel guns besides the venerable Hi-Power itself- and who knows how long it will be made as the military and law enforcement aren't buying it any more? Prices are still up there for good used ones though.

Do I trust them 100%? Yes- though if your life is truly at stake do you hedge your bets? Yes. I have a S&W .38 Special (okay, one is a Colt Detective Special) near where I keep each of the three semiautomatics in my house just in case. Had the guns anyway so why sell them? You never know. But I'll grab the FN/Browning first because of its higher capacity.

Best regards,
Bill in Cleveland

 

[1SOW]

Realistically, there is no such pistol. 'Something' will eventually wear or break or go out of adjustment at exactly an inopportune time, and the pistol will fail. My Browning 'Sweet 16' shotgun failed----once, 10 years ago or so.

Most (maybe just many) modern service handguns, with reasonable maintenance will perform reliably.

I have one well-used Sig that hasn't ever failed in any way.........yet. It and other pistols that have had some problem or another , I still feel are reliable enough to trust in a bad situation.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Shoot 'em enough and something will eventually fail.

 

[noob_shooter]

G19, XD-9, G27.. absolutely no FTF/FTE after who knows how many rounds... thousands for sure..

 

[BK]

I hand load and for some reason I force all my pistols to show me where they will malfunction. None of them will cycle after a squib load. My carry pistol won't feed empty shells for example and my Springfield won't feed wadcutters. So I don't think they are 100% reliable, but they are reliable enough for all intents and purposes.

 

[lucky-gunner]

I've had a couple handguns that weren't 100% reliable, but I quickly got them fixed or traded/sold them away.

I've only had 3 that were problems though.

 

[mavracer]

To be truely 100% it's gonna have to feed anything from the lightest target load to the heaviest defensive load all the botique rounds too from the light and fast Glasers and RCBD to the heavy stuff from buffalo bore.
For my defensive guns I don't need 1000 rounds without cleaning, I just need to have faith that I know how to get it through a IPSC/IDPA course every time.
I've also got a few that are not in my defensive gun catagory. I've got an old Walther P1 some target 22s that'll jam on occasion. I've also got a BHP that I just put a Barsto barrel in and it isn't quite broken in yet.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

I'm down to 3 pistols now---G19 and P95 have been completely 100%.

My Ruger MkIII's only problems have been ammo related and not the gun---dud rounds from an ancient bulk pack wouldn't go off even when hammered 3 times--I even stuck them in my 10/22 to see if they would work---no dice.

 

[Mike1234567]

There is no "100 percent". You can come darned close but it's not humanly possible to achieve 100 percent. On this world there is no such thing. Close enough is close enough, though... 99.999 percent ain't too bad.

 

[triplebike]

I have never experienced any failure of any kind with my handguns below. Their listed by time purchased oldest being first.

Stoeger Cougar 8000 (NIB) - approx 5000 rds

CZ 75B (NIB) - approx 6000 rds

Beretta 92FS (Italian) (NIB) - 8000+ rds

Stoeger Cougar 8045 (USED) - approx 3000 rds

Beretta 92FS (USA) (USED) - approx 9000 rds


PS - No I DID NOT add up how much I've spent on ammo (LOL)

 

[1911Tuner]

You can come darned close but it's not humanly possible to achieve 100 percent.

Oh, sure ya can. It's like demanding one-hole accuracy. If you want to shoot into one hole...shoot once.

If you fire the gun once...and everything performed as designed...it was 100% reliable. If the same gun fires a thousdand rounds without fail...it's been 100% reliable. If you have a stoppage on the 1001st round...the gun has been 99.9% reliable up to that point.

If it then goes another thousand rounds without fail...

But the same can be said if the gun hangs up on the first round or the 10th or the hundredth round...and then goes on to run perfectly until it hits the 2000 round mark.

The problem is in not knowing when that hiccup will happen.

The question is: Is it reliable enough for you to trust it? The answer will vary from one shooter to the next.

A wise, old Master Gunny once told me:

"Expect your weapon to malfunction."

 

[Skylerbone]

Just a .22lr plinker that has an ocasional problem digesting target ammo. It isn't a deal breaker for me because I know, as has been mentioned, that any of them can and eventually will malfunction.

I do not however subscribe to the break-in period for FTFs and such, a center fire should feed reliably from the start or corrected to do so.

 

[Montenegrin]

Best handgun I had is Zastava Arms M57 7.62 (Yugoslavian copy of TT-33) .I probably have put over 9000 rounds through it and it never ever jammed.Really strong pistol that requires a really small amount of cleaning.Never had any malfunction and problem with it.Only ''problem'' is that it has really really strong recoil

 

[Bobson]

No such thing. Try running your guns harder. Or find a club with tougher comp stages.

What does this mean? Go longer without cleaning them? Shoot at targets that are harder to hit? (How would shot difficulty even make a difference in reliability??)

IDK about Glocks because I've never done the research, but several different groups of people have "torture tested" the XD. One specifically did a 20,000 round torture test that included dropping it in mud and leaving it overnight, throwing it off a dirt and gravel embankment, freezing it in a block of ice, running over it in a truck, etc, etc, and the gun never had any reduced accuracy, FTF, FTE/stovepipe, or any other malfunction.

Could they have just lied about all of that? Sure. But based on my experiences with the XD (and everyone else I know), I doubt they did.

I can't run a gun any harder than that, and I don't have the time to even try.

And to answer the OP's question, I'm the same way. I can't justify going out and spending money on any gun that I'll know I need to send to a smith for absolutely anything - even minor trigger upgrades. If it won't perform at or above the level I'm happy with from the moment I pick it up, I have absolutely no interest in it.

 

[Mike1234567]

A wise, old Master Gunny once told me:

"Expect your weapon to malfunction."

And practice often, quickly correcting every malfunction you can think of.

 

[Blue Brick]

100%

 

[rich642z]

Sr 1911.from ruger with 3,000 rounds of ball and hps and not even cleaned since first cleaning. So far,no malfunctions of any sort.

 

[WinThePennant]

My two main guns: P226 & P250.

Both have NEVER failed me (at the range).

 

[doc540]

Of the half dozen or so I own, all are 100% reliable.

Wouldn't own any of them if they weren't.

 

[Moptop]

100% so far!

Believe it or not this little thing hasn't missed a lick. I've never read a bad review on it yet. Not bad for a $140 pistol.

 

[StrikeFire83]

^ Strange looking, but 100% in a .22 lr handgun is pretty impressive.

For those still interested, I went shooting this weekend and the round totals have been updated in my signature.

 

[MCgunner]

Not including .22s, I do.

 

[Skylerbone]

What some have indicated and others may not have considered is that given enough usage they will all most assuredly fail. Be it round 1 or 1,000,000 everything wears out. If a favorite Glock has a FTF after 5,000 rounds between cleaning is the first thought sell it or clean it?

Lemons are lemons and ought to be sorted quickly but an otherwise reliable firearm exhibiting problems is worth diagnosing.