What is the most dead solid reliable pistol (autoloader) design ever?

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"A properly set up 1911 is just as reliable as any glock and 4 times as pretty."

What is a "properly set up 1911."
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And how many parts and man hours would be required for this properly set up 1911 :confused:
 
M-1911, if made as JMB intended. E.g., no MIM parts, spring steel extractor, and a 7 round mag with the dimple on the follower.
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What exactly is the purpose of the dimple on the follower on 1911 mags? Other than making it a bit of a challenge to load the first round?

:confused:
 
Let me say that I am somewhat ignorant about firearms, and handguns in particular. As a kid I went "plinking" with my dad alot, usually with rifles, and took an NRA marksmanship course.

For years I held an ambivalent attitude about guns, until I moved to Washingon DC. One night walking on a street, I had to listen to a group of teenage boys argue the merits of shooting me ("Hey, give me the gun--let's shoot this guy in the back of the head and take his money"). I figured they were "joking" but the fact that my only option was to HOPE they were joking, really angered me. After that, I became a 2nd Amendment guy.

That said, I have two things to offer for this thread. One, if you wake up in the middle of the night to find a screaming maniac with a kitchen knife running towards you, why would you want an autoloader? Based on this thread, and my own (limited) experience, you just don't know for sure what will happen when you squeese the trigger on an autoloader. In a desperate situation, every time you squeese the trigger you have to be thinking, "I hope this goes off." I don't see that as being a question with a revolver. Am I wrong about this--on a revolver, squeeze the trigger--boom! The weakest link in a revolver is the primer--right?

Two, (and to the point of this thread) although I'm ignorant, I'm not wet behind the ears. Most of my hand gun experience is with the 1911, as an Army officer. Back about 1989, in my little corner of the Army, when I was a lieutenant, my number came up for range duty. I had done range duty before, on M16s, but I got tasked for an M1911 range. As it turned out, in my little corner of the Army, there had not been an M1911 range in a long time. And although the range was supposed to be for the officers and senior enlisted of my unit, many senior officers and NCOs showed up from our division headquarters.

Anyway, I had a bunch of yahoos show up at my range, some colonels and sergeants major from division HQ. They were wielding side arms that, over the years, had gone from the arms room to their holsters (once every few months) and back again. For the most part, they had not been cleaned, or fired, for years. I had a lot of trouble that day, trouble being a lieutenant having to direct a range full of colonels and senior NCOs--but we didn't have a single malfunction. I probably put a 100 people through that range, most of them firing decades-old M1911s that hadn't been fired or cleaned in years--about 5,000 rounds--no failures.

Finally, still proclaiming my ignorance, I'll say this--style matters. Style differentiates a man who will fight, from one who will not. In my humble opinion, an M1911 is a suitable weapon for a man, because it looks like a man’s weapon.
 
Finally, still proclaiming my ignorance, I'll say this--style matters. Style differentiates a man who will fight, from one who will not. In my humble opinion, an M1911 is a suitable weapon for a man, because it looks like a man’s weapon.
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Now THAT'S the most politically incorrect thing I've read in quite some time. I couldn't agree more with the sentiment.

Esto vir!
 
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the single most reliable handgun i've ever owned period. is without a doubt the ruger KP90DC it was the only pistol i've ever had that would feed empties, when me and my buddies would do practice drills, we'd load each others mags to see if we were pushing or anticipateing the shot . it fed them every time, i thought this was so cool that i put afew in backwards and it fed them too.
I had one failure to fire in over 3000 rounds and it wasn't the pistols fault. i was using ultra cheap lead ammo (3$ for 50) and the bullet was seated wrong, in that it left a 1/16 ring of lead above the case mouth witch wouldn't let the slide go into battery. not the pistols fault. it was the most accurate and easy to shoot of all my pistols, hope this helps :)
 
OK my .02....I have had no gun related malf's in any glock either issued by my dept or bought. I own a 17,19, and a new to me 21 as of yesterday. I could easily point the finger at crappy ammo, or magazine failure on beat to HE double hockey sticks issued magazines. They are the best combat pistol since the 1911 hit the market.
 
you just don't know for sure what will happen when you squeese the trigger on an autoloader.
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Speaking for myself, I know for sure whats going to happen when I pull the trigger on any of my "combat" guns. It's going to go boom, really loudly. If it doesn't, it's going to be the ammo's fault and in that case, it wouldn't have mattered a bit what gun or platform it was in.

Do autos have issues from time to time? Yes! They are a mechanical device and as such are prone to failure. However, after shooting each of my "combat" guns a whole lot, I have all the confidence in the world in them. My P90 is probably approaching 50,000 rounds fired through it with only a couple non-ammo related odditys early on. If after all that I can't rely on it, I don't think I could honestly say that I could rely on ANY handgun, regardless of the platform.
 
Hk USP, im sure if you did the homework on failure rates Hk would be right around the top or at the top of having the least.
 
mmmmmkay...

Now, the OP should have realized that this would devolve into "My gun is better than your gun" trashing thread where the GLock guys say that theirs is the best, BHP is the best, 1911 is the best <insert your fave gun here> is the best.

But what really kills me are the revo guys.... the ones who read the title, asking about AUTOLOADER designs and have to chime in with how the discussion should not center on what the OP Wanted, but be hijacked into the Revo guy's direction. So, unless you are talking about an autoloading revolver, it really isn't right to toss in your bias towards revos.

Now, the OP did not ask for an opinion whether the Revo is more reliable than the auto.... he asked what auto was the most reliable. nowhere in his question was... "Hey, I think i'd like to know what a revolver would do in reliability to an auto...."

So, thanks for Chiming in on the great Auto versus Revo debate and let's at least answer the guy's question instead of jumping in and bringing up a whole new topic.

Now, as to what is most reliable? Any mechanical object with parts can break, including revolvers, btw. So, in a purely subjective, but with some logical thinking in it..... What pistol out there is both simple in design, uses fewer parts than most guns, has been through enough torture tests to qualify it for stunt pay and also qualifies as the ugly duckling of the gun world?

Glock
 
It would be interesting to see the Glock, HK and Beretta tested objectively against one another in another military test. I wonder if the Beretta would win again?
 
Guns are mechanical devices... ammo is ALSO a mechanical device (of sorts)... the operator of this combination is human... when all three are thrown together in a shooting environment... anything can and does happen. I carry a well-maintained Glock 19, high quality ammo that I have tested, and I train regularly. The most dead solid reliable pistol is the one I carry.
 
a tuned 1911 would fire any ammo
even a tuned glock would choke on reloads

most firearm makers have produced 1911 clones
i'm sure glock would also want too. just a matter of pride though
 
So far HK and Ruger are at the Top for me

HK,
I've had 4 HKs over the last 10 years and never and I mean never had any
problem.

Ruger,
My Ruger P95, (my first semi) as jiggly as it is, has never had an issue IIRC.

Beretta,
My 92F only 2 jams, one ammo related one my negligence in cleaning
(thought I had cleaned it but hadn't).

Glock,
CHL proficiency test. Several jams.
Friend's Glock, 2 jams per mag even after "I" cleaned it.
Glock (compact .40) that I bought jammed every clip or 2, traded for a HK
and never looked back.
Friends Glock he bought new 9mm I think, takedown, cleaned, oiled, fired... bang, bang, jam.
Never could get it to work right. I need to ask him if he sent it in.

YMMV
 
a tuned 1911 would fire any ammo
even a tuned glock would choke on reloads
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That's BS.
Other than maybe a few LEO's or other instructors, there's probably not too many folks on this board that have seen any more rounds fired through Glocks (or any other handgun as far as that goes) than I have. I can count ALL of the non-shooter induced malfunctions that I have seen or experienced on Glocks on one hand. A few folks say that they have seen chronic problems or numerous malfunctions in Glocks. I don't believe it. I have seen, literally, millions of rounds fired through Glocks and others the results are very predictable. We used to keep a malfunction log on my range where we logged every malf of any kind on all weapons that were fired. It got to be so predictable that we finally gave it up. The 1911's won the award for the most malfs over all other types and the Glocks had 1 (one) over the 6 months or so that we did it. Everything else was somewhere in between.

Edited to add: I have personally shot many thousands of reloads through 9 different Glocks and have yet to have the first issue of any kind because of it. That is widely spread, unwarranted rumor spread by anti-Glockers that have little or now practical experience with the weapon.
 
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I agree with Desertscout.

I don't own and don't have any intention of ever buying a Glock, but I can't remember ever seeing anyone have a problem with a Glock when I'm at the range.

I have seen a number of failures with 1911 pistols at the range.
 
I’m sorry, but all the posts about the Glock?!

Don’t the French police carry 9mm Glocks? I mean come on guys! THE FRENCH? Any society that ranks Jerry Lewis as a comic genius and have mimes as street entertainment plus eat egg pie (quiche) and the men kiss each other on the cheeks? They can’t even hold cigarettes right! You just can’t take the French seriously, so how could you trust the Glock?? Is their even a Chevy pick-up in France, or do they have to go and borrow one from England or Spain when they need one? Please, an Austrian weapon favored by the French, ha!

Don't they also have man-purses too?!?!
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No,they don't carry Glocks- Beretta 92's and SIG Pro 9mm's- you need to edit this to include some facts and some funny.
 
4th Quarter yet ??

Wake me up when we get to the 4th quarter with two minutes left.

(Golly, gee whiz...I hope this one doesn't go into overtime....uhhhh, are we in overtime now???. Whooze ahead, the Glockophiles, the Siggies, or the 1911ers??? Anyone seen the hotdog vendor?)
 
Wake me up when we get to the 4th quarter with two minutes left.

(Golly, gee whiz...I hope this one doesn't go into overtime....uhhhh, are we in overtime now???. Whooze ahead, the Glockophiles, the Siggies, or the 1911ers??? Anyone seen the hotdog vendor?)
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Thanks for the useful contribution to the discussion with your 14th post.
 
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