Pistols with widest availability of parts?

[Run&Shoot]

The lack of parts availability for the Springfield XD except by sending it to the manufacturer got me to wondering about other pistols.

For example, there seems to be readily available and complete parts for the consumer (factory and/or third parties) for the Glock, 1911, and Hi-Power.

What other pistols are easy to get complete parts for?

Conversely, which pistols do NOT have parts available to consumers outside of sending it to the factory? Some that come to mind would be the XD and Rugers (correct me if I am wrong).

What about Beretta, CZ, HK, S&W, Walther, and SIG? I am mostly interested in well-proven designs, not every odd-ball or those prone to failures.

 

[aguyindallas]

1911's and Glock's. They are the MOST widely known, issued, carried etc...by far. The more out there, the more availability for parts/holsters/accy's you will have.

Not to say there are some other fantastic guns out there, like XD etc...but until ANY gun is VERY WIDELY addopted by military, LEO, etc...I doubt the need for large scale parts availability ever exists.

Its a supply vs. demand thing.

 

[JoeHatley]

What other pistols are easy to get complete parts for?

Plenty of aftermarket support for the Ruger MK series rimfires.

Joe

 

[SkiLune]

My instructor advised me to go with a 1911 style .45 for this very reason. I didn't, but still might. He told me the 1911 has the most widely available parts.

 

[tinygnat219]

1911 and Glock are the ones that come to mind. Glock has an amazing ability to have aftermarket parts available.

 

[briansp82593]

1911, glock, and m9-m92

 

[yhtomit]

Do any police depts / agencies use XDs?

As aguyindallas wrote:

"Not to say there are some other fantastic guns out there, like XD etc...but until ANY gun is VERY WIDELY addopted by military, LEO, etc...I doubt the need for large scale parts availability ever exists."

Does anyone know of agencies / bureaus / departments using XDs? It seems like a good candidate for a police gun, in .45 or 9mm.

More generally, is there a single site that one can go look at a cross-referenced list of what agencies use what issue guns?

timothy

 

[CWL]

1911 has the most. You can literally order every single part of a 1911 from a different manufacturer and still have plenty of manufacturers left over.

 

[CountGlockula]

All I really know is Glock...also their parts are inexpensive.

 

[j1133s]

1911 5"
Beretta 92
Glock 17

Lots of _affordable_ and _good_ _quality_ OEM and after market parts for the above 3 pistols. Many options to customize; many gunsmiths know about these platforms; many accessories, etc.

The 1911 in particular can soak up a lot of your $. IMO, the Glock and Beretta are somewhat limited in that the accessories and gunsmith works are more limited in cost.

 

[possum]

though the xd really dosen't have that many aftermarket parts i was looking on www.pistolgear.com and they have more stuff than they used to have, i don't remember all they had but they had some stuff that i hadn't seen before.

 

[glockman19]

It's got to be a 1911 or a glock. Glocks have only 34 parts. The fewer parts in the gun the fewer parts to replace and fewer you'll need to find. Also there are so many 1911's and Glocks parts are readily available

 

[10-Ring]

Off the top of my head, I would think it would be easiest to find parts for 1911's, Glocks & Beretta 92fs'.

 

[Run&Shoot]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the info. cnfirms what I had observed so far.

So far the concensus seems to be the pistols with best parts availability are:
- 1911
- Glock
- Berreta 92
- Ruger Mk II, III (in small bore)

I would add the Browning Hi-Power as well.

So here is another question. Which companies explicitly forbid sales of their factory parts and require the pistol to be sent back to the facotry for any repairs.

- Springfield XD


What about the CZ and HK?