What are the Most Durable Pistols In Production Today?

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Welding Rod

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Seems most guns I read about have one or more Achile's heel.

So what are the most durable pistols currently manufactured? IE the ones that can take the most shooting before parts failure or wearing to the point of functional reliability problems?

Any examples of pistols with rediculously high round counts? Particularly that may have ate a lot of +P and/or +P+ ammo?
 
Glock is generally spoken of as being very reliable and long lived for the most part, though individuals have seen other wise in some examples. I believe CZ pistols to be quite reliable, though some others speak otherwise.
Rugers are always spoken of as "built like tanks", and I don't recall reading of too many failures with them.
Most modern manufactured sidearms built for military or LE markets tend to be quite rugged and durable, actual life will be determined by loads used and certainly by maintenance completed.
Someday I will try to get a CZ Phantom and run it 'till it chokes.
 
Honestly, pretty much anything made by the bigger companies is about equal in terms of durability. Glocks, HKs, Sigs, S&W M&Ps, etc are all of equal quality.

You can check out pistol-training.com. Todd Green is an instructor who decided to do a torture test of a single pistol at a time until function impairing failure. His goal is to get the first 50,000 fired through the pistol within the first 6 months. He did an M&P 9 in 2008 that went over 62,000 rounds before the slide cracked and the lawyers at S&W told him to not shoot it anymore. In 2009 he fired more than 91,000 rounds through an HK P30 before a small sliver sheared off of the inside of the frame and started to impair function during high round count sessions. This year he's testing the HK45. It's got over 17,000 rounds so far without a breakage or even a malfunction.

The HK P30 has a ridiculously forgiving maintenance cycle also. HK recommends doing the first replacement of springs at 25,000 rounds which is simply amazing.
I think the Glock factory has a model 17 with something like a million rounds through it that still functions.
 
IME, no first-line manufacturers produce handguns that could realistically be described as fragile. Using ammo that is within spec, and doing proper PM procedures (which includes things like periodically replacing recoil springs in autoloaders) generally means that any given piece will run for many, many thousands of rounds. As they say, if you can afford enough ammo to wear it out, you can certainly afford a new gun to replace it. If you look at something like running light wadcutter loads through a S&W 686 or Ruger SP, I'm not sure you could wear it out at all.
 
Hi-Point. They have done stress tests proving the super strength of the slide on that pistol; you can find the youtube of a hi-point being run over by a tank, covered in sand, dropped out of an airplane, and then it shoots just fine, over 15,000 rounds without any failures to feed, eject, etc. Definitely the most durable pistol.

Of course, that's just my opinion.....
 
Most modern duty-type pistols are incredibly robust, which ones are the most robust won't be obvious for years, if not decades.

Any production process will pump out a lemon once in a while, and any material can have a bad batch. The failures get a LOT more attention than the pistols that just keep firing lead to POA, because of the persistence of internet complaints and gripes combined with the fact that nobody goes online to look up info or ask questions about a functioning device.

If you're shopping for a handgun, pick one from a major manufacturer that fits your hand and you are willing to:
- carry/conceal if applicable
- provide a LOT of ammo for
- purchase accessories (mags, holster, etc) for
- shoot the snot out of at the range

Even if there was a perfect gun that was rated as "most durable" you'd be running the risk of buying the one with an air bubble in the frame or a burr on the disconnector ... leaving you with a worthless rating for a class/family of pistols that doesn't apply to your individual gun.
 
Yeah, but can it be run over by a tank and dropped out of an airplane at 15,000 feet like a hi-point?
 
Yeah, but can it be run over by a tank and dropped out of an airplane at 15,000 feet like a hi-point?
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Probably just as much as any pistol
A tank's tread will apply force evenly across the pistol and the ground will take the brunt of the weight anyway, it may look impressive but that's more of a stunt along the lines of laying on a bed of nails.
As far as a 15k foot drop, after some point more height doesn't matter, because the object will be traveling at terminal velocity where wind drag is equal to gravity's pull, so again you're talking about a stunt, not a legitimate durability test.

I imagine most modern duty pistols would do roughly as well in such stunts, much like they do about equally as well in realistic longevity tests. I wouldn't be surprised if Hi Point's offerings did about as well, they're mighty simple and with spring swaps I imagine they'd hold up about as long as a M9/Beretta 92 with reasonable maintenance and care for both.
 
If I should ever fall 15,000 feet from an airplane and then get run over by a tank, I seriously doubt that the condition of my side arm will be very high up on my priority list at that time... :)

But it good to know I suppose.
 
If I should ever fall 15,000 feet from an airplane and then get run over by a tank, I seriously doubt that the condition of my side arm will be very high up on my priority list at that time...
Click to expand...
LOL
 
Man, every time someone posts a link to that prepared.com test, it just cracks me up. That's got to be the gold standard for abuse.

:D

Makes me want a G21, though...

:what:
 
This is like asking which is the best and the most solid truck -- a Ford, Chevy or Dodge? :scrutiny:

I guess, for the money, the Glock that went through all the torture tests and kept on firing - caked with mud, dirt, gravel, etc. I might own one if I liked them, however I have no use for one as I have all the guns I need. I'm certainly not about to take my German 45 and pack it with mud and let it rust and see how it shoots full of mud, pebbles, sand, etc.

Others do have valid points, as a lot of these tests aren't really showing anything, if you understand physics and the way things work, including gravity.
 
Are you talking about the sub-compacts which have always had a dual recoil spring or the Gen4 guns? The sub compacts are just as reliable as their big brothers and the Gen4 problems have been way overblown by a handful of guys on the net.
 
Glocks and then of course theres glocks and I'm pretty sure glocks or for that matter glocks or if you didn't want to go that route, glocks...or you could always just go with a glock, may I interest you in a nice glock? The glock is also a nice weapon and last but not least..... glocks. Oh yea I forgot about this one, GLOCKS!!!!
 
It seems that most people are saying Glocks. I say just put it through a fire test. Light the gun on fire and see if the Glock will last. Plastic gun and it will melt the handle. But as far as rounds through it and beating it up it seems to be the best out there. Sig Sauer used to have the slogan, "To Hell and back reliabilaty". They have put it through hell and it still fired everytime. The dropping test, fire test, car wash, barried it, ran it over, drug behind a truck. So Sig is my bet for best pistol out there.
 
IME, no first-line manufacturers produce handguns that could realistically be described as fragile.
Click to expand...

Agree.

Look at what fed and LEO agencies are contracting for, as they generally have testing standards that surpass the "average" firearm owners round count by thousands.

There is a reason why the "first-line" manufacturers get contract bids from professional agencies...
 
Glock.
In the 1997 Glock Autopistols magazine, Chuck Taylor had already put 125,000 rounds through a Glock 17. No parts breakage. He changed the recoil spring at 100,000 rounds, but said the pistol was still working perfectly. He only cleaned the pistol every 10,000 rounds. I know there were subsequent stories where he took the round count with that pistol higher, but this example alone supports the notion that Glocks are the most durable and IMO the most reliable, especially straight out of the box.
 
Smith & Wesson Third Generations in all stainless steel are reputed to be very durable. I've read of some of the CHP's (California Highway Patrol) issue 4006s shooting ~30,000 rounds of .40 S&W (a round that combines high pressure with high recoil) without serious wear to major components. Somehow Chuck Taylor found the time to fire over 100,000 rounds from a Glock 17 with no major component failure. (Any gun will need small parts like springs if you shoot it enough.) Even 30,000 rounds is 600 boxes of ammo, to put it in perspective.
 
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