How many malfunctions in how many rounds constitutes a "bad

[DevsAdvocate 112]

Cross-posted this on ARFCOM...

 

So, how many is it for you all before you it reaches a point where it is completely unacceptable?

 

2 malfunctions in 100 shots?

Any malfunctions in 500 shots?

 

Assume that you use decent quality ammunition and care for the firearm properly.

[Old School 611]

Cross-posted this on ARFCOM...

 

So, how many is it for you all before you it reaches a point where it is completely unacceptable?

 

2 malfunctions in 100 shots?

Any malfunctions in 500 shots?

 

Assume that you use decent quality ammunition and care for the firearm properly.

I had one in 10,000 in my GLOCKs and it drove me nuts and I had to find out why.

So I would say any malfunction requires an answer.

[Caine 147]

Assume that you use decent quality ammunition and care for the firearm properly.

Have you ruled out a bad magazine?

 

Acceptable for me depends on the gun to be honest. Some guns are just "fun guns" to me, and I don't get too bent out of shape if I get a few malfs. i.e. I recently picked up an old mossberg .22 bolt rifle. First time out it had a few issues extracting, but, it's not keeping me up at night cuz it's just a "d*ck around at the range" gun for me.

Now, if that had been one of my ARs or one of the 9mm handguns, my reaction might have been different. 2, maybe 3 malfunctions and I would start seriously looking into the problem.

[Guest]

Acceptable for me depends on the gun to be honest. Some guns are just "fun guns" to me, and I don't get too bent out of shape if I get a few malfs.

 

exactly

 

i think that the number of failures to be considered "bad" or unreliable would depend solely on the purpose of the firearm..

 

just plinking at the range:

Who cares...there really is no cut off.. there are firearms i would own just to own without any real care in the way of reliability, especially if its just something to have fun with at the range.. no real purpose.. I kind of viewed the GSG in that regard.. cool fun little 22.. some people say they can be touchy at times.. but again if its just a fun at the range thing... not really worried about it..

 

competition guns/ hunting guns:

I would expect a VERY low round failure count... because ANY failure could really ruin a day in EITHER activity..

 

Self Defense:

In a gun I plan to use possibly for self defense, I would except 0 failures without knowing EXACTLY why it failed so that can avoid it in the future..

 

i had some failures to eject in my Glock when i first got it.. but turns out it was only due to bad form.. i have had ZERO malfunctions in my Mossberg, and ZERO malfunctions in my Saiga.. with lots of ammo through both..I dont know about exact numbers.. but the ONLY guns i would personally accept failures in would be guns i just plan to knock around with at the range.. or certain collectible guns...

[Shane45 807]

As already stated there is a lot of variables. Some of which you may never know. Was it bad form, was it bad ammo or mag? Did you drag the slide of your auto on the barrier while shooting? So make sure you perform those malf drills! Heres the real question in my mind. How many continuous rounds? I have had some convo's with Pat Rogers on the subject as well as several other trainers. They contend that any POS AR can usually squeak out range session after range session with low round counts and never show a malf. Those same guns fail regulerly when doing say a 1200 round carbine class.

[coldsolderjoint 84]

As already stated there is a lot of variables. Some of which you may never know. Was it bad form, was it bad ammo or mag? Did you drag the slide of your auto on the barrier while shooting? So make sure you perform those malf drills! Heres the real question in my mind. How many continuous rounds? I have had some convo's with Pat Rogers on the subject as well as several other trainers. They contend that any POS AR can usually squeak out range session after range session with low round counts and never show a malf. Those same guns fail regulerly when doing say a 1200 round carbine class.

 

If I need 1200 rounds to defend my house at any one point.. I've done something horribly horribly wrong.

[Caine 147]

If I need 1200 rounds to defend my house at any one point.. I've done something horribly horribly wrong.

I know your comment was somewhat tongue in cheek, but, the point he's trying to make is that not all ARs (in this example) are made equally. If your AR makes it thru a class like that without any hiccups, then you can, with some certainty, conclude that that AR is good to go.

 

Then there's also the zombie horde to consider...

[Shane45 807]

Exactly right.

 

And speaking of mafunctions the 1911 gets picked upon regulerly but at the last 4 matches I have attended which is roughly split 50/50 between 1911's and service pistols(Glock,Sig majority) I havent seen any 1911's go down. 1 Sig, 1 S&W revolver and 1 Glock went down with an unrecoverable failure. Sig was a broken extractor, glock was a sheered locking block. I think the revolver failure was that the firing pin pierced the primer and stuck locking up the revolver but I didnt get to examine that one.

 

One should not put to much weight in my example though, the sample is to small so just take it as interesting info. What I mean by this is for example there has been 1 revolver at each of the last 4 matches and 1 failed but a 25% failure rate for revolvers would be very misleading.

 

Out of my own equipment I did have an issue that induced a failure drill once at a recent match. I suspected it was a T&E mag. I was able to reproduce the failure in practice confirming it was the mag. Needless to say it is now my administrative load mag :roll:

[Ray Ray 3,566]

Good question DevsAdvocate

 

This is kinda weird but only one of my semi-auto's has ever jammed on me. It was the XD and there were 2 in the first 50 round box. I found that the problem was self induced as I didn't seat the magazine all the way.

As for revolvers, well, that's a whole other story. Aside from my Charter (which, btw, runs flawlessly now) my 686 was having a few light primer strikes and might need to go back to S&W for a look-see. But that is strickly a plinking gun.

 

I'm always afraid of having a malfuction with a semi which is why I'm more of a revolver guy.

[Shane45 807]

Dont fear the auto