Most reliable semiauto pistols

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jiminhobesound

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I do not own one but it seems that the Glocks have the reputation of being the most reliable semiauto. What is your opinion? I assume the most expensive guns will be the in the top echelon but what about the average gun for the average budget? This has probably been hashed over before but it would have been before my time on the forum. Thanks for your responses.
 
Glocks are reliable unless limp-wristed, when they become totally unreliable.

That probably doesn't seem like an issue (you'll never limp wrist your gun, right?), but if you consider that gunfights are not the same as standing at the range shooting a silhouette, then it becomes a consideration. If you look around the web (Youtube) for actual CCTV footage of gunfights in convenience stores or whatever, you'll see that most defense shooters are not standing up in a practiced shooting stance, simply because they are being shot at it. Instead, they are ducked behind counters, etc, and throwing lead any way they can. That's real life.

I never even considered this until a guy named "Sturmgewehr" started doing limp wrist tests on various handguns. If you pull those up on Youtube, it's an eye opener.
 
I've purposefully tried "limp wristing" while shooting my Glocks, never caused any malfunctions
 
I mostly agree with #4, most quality brands have figured out how to make a reliable pistol by now.

The Glock and M&P pistols have an especially good reputation, but that could simply be a result of how widespread they are, how many are seen by professional instructors when students bring them to class, and the general absence of poor aftermarket magazines for those styles. (Lately there are cheap Korean Glock mags and they are a good way to lose some of that reliability, in my personal actual experience.)

Really, any quality design, originally designed since 1980 or so, made by a decent company and used only with quality mags, should work pretty well.
 
Most reliable??? Revolvers, Glock, Springfield XD, M&P, FNP. These seem to be the favorites anyways. Revolvers are reliable by nature, the others are striker fired pistols with proven backgrounds, at least on the internet forums, I'm assuming that since you put this under autoloaders that the revolver is out. I love my XD and glocks have been a proven model for a long time.

Certain calibers also tend to have less bugs. .25 and .32 autos as well as anything rimfire can be picky about ammo and reliability for rimfire is always a matter of question. 380s are a bit better but are still is a group of firearms that can be finiky. Anything else will give you a wider selection of more reliable guns.

On 1911s, best reliability from the thousands of posts that I've probably read on the matter claim that full size .45ACP (in other words a standard 1911) that are mil-spec tend to be the most reliable, at least without spending thousands of dollars.

My little motto is the tighter the tolerances, the more accurate the gun, and the less reliable as well.

And yes, this question has been asked a billion times from bar rooms to online forums and a lot of the answers come down to a matter of opinion.

I think to answer your general question (If I'm reading it right) there are plenty of guns around for under 1000 dollars that are very reliable. Glocks can go for less than 600, SAs are around 600-700, and reliable 1911s start at around 700. I recommend that you find some guns in your price range that "fit" you and then search the forum to get peoples opinions about how accurate they are.

,the gecko
 
I am a glock fan and a glock will most likely be my next purchase, but with that said i saw a glock have a major malfunction during the last IDPA match i shot in. My FNX has almost 5000 rounds thru it and it has never had a single malfunction of any kind.

It is tough to say what the most reliable gun will be because i think any gun can have a malfunction, but I would still think that Glock is very close to the top of a reliabilty list.
 
Browning-designed pistols utilized the "double-bounce" method for feeding the round from magazine to chamber. Take a look at a Browning .32 sometime and see how steeply the bullet needs to jump from mag to chamber.

That's why, for a while, 1911s were famous for choking on anything but hardball and SWC (which preserved the bounce contact points in the bullet profile), unless the ramp was polished and the chamber throated. Of couse, most 1911s now are designed around hollowpoint ammo.

Glock uses a higher bullet presentation, longer/less steep ramp and a chamber design that does not fully support the casehead, all in them name of smoother feeding. And other companies have adopted all or some of that. Nevertheless--and contrary to claims!--Glocks aren't perfect. I have found some cheap bulk .40 HPs that my Glock will choke on. Makes for great range practice, but obviously not carry ammo.
 
I have 4 guns which have never had one single ftf from the time they were pulled out of their boxes. These are the guns that I would trust my life with. Not all of these guns have a good reputation, but they are 100% for me.

Glock 21sf
Glock 27
Taurus pt111 mil pro
Smith & Wesson SW40ve (Sigma)

I have other guns that have had a few ftf's but are still pretty reliable, but the ones on my list are all certified 100% completely reliable from the first day I took them out of the box.
 
I think the most impressive ive seen or read about was the HK by pistol training .com

but i have no doubt in the slightest that my M&P, Glock and HK's and XD's all will go bang when i want them to.
 
Rugers have been more reliable than Glocks for me. Glocks were fine after break-in, but Rugers have never required break-in to be reliable for me.
 
I've purposefully tried "limp wristing" while shooting my Glocks, never caused any malfunctions
Click to expand...

I got it into my head once a few years back that I might shoot better and feel less recoil with my Glock 27 if I gripped it very loosely. I also tried that "technique" with a CZ PCR, S&W 9VE, and a USP .40. Guess what? It didn't help at all, in any way, but it also didn't stop any of them from functioning just fine.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the CZ 75, 85, SP-01, P-01, PCR, all of them, they are incredible. Even the Kadet kit on my PCR frame is reliable enough that I would be ok (from a pure functional standpoint) using it for a defense gun. Obviously the 9mm slide is smaller and in every way better suited for it, but the Kadet works and it works well.
 
Oh and I'm going to second the FNPs, the one I have has been flawless. Also HK puts out a very reliable product.

I mostly agree with #4, most quality brands have figured out how to make a reliable pistol by now.
Click to expand...

I'm going to second this as well. If you buy a current production service-type pistol, you should expect it to function well. A misfeed or something every once in a great while is nothing to lose your head over, but there really aren't any guns that you can expect trouble from without some manufacturing defect causing it. Usually those can be taken care of pretty easily, if not by you with a little diagnostic troubleshooting and maybe replacement of some small expendable parts or cleaning up some rough spot that got past QC, then by the factory itself.
 
These seem to ooze reliability allmost all the time IME:
Glock
FN
Dan Wesson
Les Baer
HK



These don't IMLE:
Sig
Cheaper 1911's (Sig, Kimber, Rock, Para Ord,etc.)
Keltec


I noticed a lady and her son haveing a ton of trouble with her Glock 19. And it was kicking her really hard. When she shoed me her grip I immediately noticed she was holding it low. Afraid of the slide biteing her.

I showed her that the Glock slide couldn't bite my much larger hand if I choked up on the pistol and tried to cycle the gun by hand and get it to bite myself. As soon as she switched to a "high tang" grip all her problems dried up. So Glocks can definately lose reliability if you hold them oddly/weakly.
 
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The most reliable, huh!

I've only shot five or six different weapons with any frequency that I feel I could really have an opion. The worst was a S&W 5906 (either shot myself or supervised the shooting of thousands of rounds thru several of these), and I would have to say the best were different 1911's and a Glock 27. The 1911's I have also shot a couple thousand rounds thru, personally (mostly 45's, but some 9mm), the Glock just over 800 rounds from the my current weapon.:)
 
Guns that have never failed me that i have shot a lot and still own:

Glock 19, Beretta 92, Sig 226, HK USP 9 and Browning Hi Power. I know others have said limp wristing a Glock will stop it but I have never had my Glock 19 fail though I have tried to stop it. Limp wrist, upside down , sideways, it always goes bang.
 
The most reliable semiautomatic pistol the short answer I don’t know. Now for the long answer the pistols I have long term experience with the S&W-4506 would top my list. I’ve often opinioned that the S&W-4506 out Glock’s the Glock in reliability. That said there are others but the S&W-4506 simply stands out.
 
Alot of "most" reliable guns IMHO.Glocks,HK,Sig,M&P's,and XD's being up there.As far as the limp wristing comment on glocks goes and actual combat situations....Ill take the Glock any day in a fire fight.Sorry,i think the anti-glock hate is BS.
 
Most Reliable Pistol?????


ANY pistol, if you dig, is going to have issues here, issues there and so on. But that BULL that stresses the "limp wristing" resulting in jams with Glocks hasn't been the case with me. Now I'm not trying to get into nor will I indulge myself by suggesting that any one is best or better, more or less reliable or mine is bigger than yours or I can pee further, etc... BS all the way home.
BUT I will say that I have deliberately limp wristed numerous Glocks and never once did any of them jam. Now I did get a jam on my Hi Power, the spent shell case got hung up, when I limp wristed it. But that was a fluke because I love the Hi Powers! As good as any others in my opinion.

So I don't KNOW which pistol is or isn't most reliable, but when I CCW it's either my G19 or my G30. Neither has ever jammed. BUT WAIT... Lately I have been carrying a drop dead fantastic SW 60-15 357MAG J frame that's incredible to say the least. BUT I can hear them now "Wellllllll you better not feed that J frame a steady diet of 357 ammo 'cause..." Come on, give us a break you would need to send more 357 rounds down the tube of the J frame than I'll probably ever do, to wear it out. Besides any 38 +P hollow point defense round will suffice, which is what I keep loaded.
So which is most reliable? I guess the one you've used most, feel most comfortable with and have confidence in.
 
This is honest experience Ruger P85 6000+ rounds with zero nota none hiccups. Most of those were reloads. Wish I never sold it.:banghead:
Next is G19 with 5000+ rounds with only the plastic sight came off but the gun never stopped firing.
 
Kingofthehill said:
I think the most impressive ive seen or read about was the HK by pistol training .com

but i have no doubt in the slightest that my M&P, Glock and HK's and XD's all will go bang when i want them to.
Click to expand...
Have a link to the HK article? I didn't see anything on that site.
 
Quite the video you referenced "kodiakbeer". Didn't surprise me a whole lot. Once I had cut a tendon in my strong hand as was forced to shoot weak handed for quite a while. Started out with my G19, and got the only jams I ever had with it untill I got the hang of being a lefty and squeezing tighter. Pretty much showed it would not be much good with a sprained wrist or whatever other injury a person could get. I still have the G19 and a 36 by the way. I just don't carry them much anymore because I don't always use a holster. I prefer a pistol w/o an arming device on the trigger to stick in my pants. My most often carried guns IWB 4-5 o'clock are a sig 239 or cz75 compact.
 
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