handgun reliabilty in diress

[GASPASSERDELUXE]

I also bought one of the first Glock 21s.

I have  had no problems with it, but I did send it in to Glock for a free (I paid for shipping one way) upgrade to the slide.  They recut the extractor cut out to a different angle (I was told). 

Not sure of the details of the modification or why it was available, but it would seem that they would have applied the upgrade if it affected your pistol.

I bought mine in 1991 and sold it in 1994, if you got yours mush after 1994 iI might venture to say that I may have had something to do with your recall.

[Walter45Auto]

howdy all,i have a question,rather looking for opinions from gun owners,between a glock,a kimber,an hk usp,or a sig,which 45 acp would you have or use to defend yourself or your family in a life or death situation.which one would be your first choice?

Since the Glock I have (G30) is usually on my hip, and my Kimbers are usually at home, the Glock would be the one I'd grab first. Unless by chance I had one of the Kimbers that day, then I'd grab it. I don't own an H&K, so it wouldn't be one I'd grab. Can't grab what you don't have.   Same with Sig. If I had a Sig or H&K, I wouldn't have any problem going to those, if the ones I had hadn't had a lot of failures when I'd shot them. I'd grab pretty much whichever one was the first I could reach when SHTF. Also if the Sig was a .40 or 9MM, I'd grab the Kimber or Glock first cause they're .45's. I don't buy into the philosophy that a bigger bullet isn't any advantage.

[Walter45Auto]

I will also add that my Rock Island Government model is on the list of guns I wouldn't hesitate to grab. Boringly reliable and beautifully accurate. You don't have to spend $700 or $1000 to get a reliable accurate pistol.

[alfsauve]

I had a thought on this thread.   I have a renewed interest in revolvers and my buddy was extolling to me how reliable they were.  I pointed out to him their vulnerability is in the first shot.   The cylinder must revolve and the hammer must cock and fall.    Where as with a striker fired gun only the trigger must be free and clear.

This I think is a concern when carrying a gun on your person.   The possibility of an  external hammer fouling in clothing is a reason the revolver manufacturers made "hammerless" or shrouded hammer models.

To that end, for close-in personal carry, where clothing might get in the way, I suggest the striker fired guns over any with an exposed hammer.

 

[billt]

Before the Glock, and several of the other high reliability, Polymer framed semi auto pistols came out, it was said a semi was more apt to jam than a revolver was to break. I don't think that argument is valid anymore. Semi auto designs have gotten far more reliable over time, while revolver design has pretty much remained the same.

If anything the revolvers have become less reliable with the advent of all of these silly, stupid internal locks. Smith & Wesson had several models lock up, rendering the gun useless, when they first introduced their internal lock mechanism. This forced many owners to return the weapon to the factory for repair. My local gun shop had to send the first 3, X-Frame .500's he sold back because every one of them locked up, one on the first cylinder full of ammo fired through it. He stopped selling them for over 6 months until S&W got the whole mess straightened out.

During all of this the semi auto weapons just kept getting better and more reliable. Kimber along with Springfield Armory, as well as others like Les Baer have improved reliability of the 1911 to almost perfection. The Glock along with the Springfield XD have advanced the Polymer pistols to a previously unheard of level of reliability. 30 years ago it was difficult to find a factory semi auto that would feed hollow cavity bullets with any reliability without having a gunsmith do a "throat job" on the barrel. Now it's all but impossible to find a brand name semi that won't. Revolvers are still a formidable self defense weapon. But as long as semi autos keep improving the way they have been, they'll always be playing the role of catch up. Their ammo capacity limitation, along with the slowness of reloading, is yet another thing that hampers their popularity. Few of us can mimic Jerry Miculek.   Bill T.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

I would tend to agree with Bill. Improved materials, machining techniques, and Quality control processes leave not much to choose between a semi and a revolver beyond reload speed, which depends on how much you want to practice, and caliber. Some good pistol caliber's being just too long for a magazine that feeds through the grip.
One question I would ask Bill though about those X frames. How many were due to failure of the gun, and how many because the crimp allowed the bullet to work out of the case under recoil ?
I realize that when you need the cause of no bang is not important, but we should not blame a certain action type for an Ammo maker's mistake.

[billt]

The 3 that my local dealer sold that he had to send back were all do to the internal lock breaking, tying up the gun. From what I understand it was fairly common when S&W first introduced the .500 Magnum. There were other models that had issues as well, but the .500 was the worst.

[tombogan03884]

MB had that happen with his .44 Mag.

[Glockster23]

My go to handgun is a Glock. I have many others, but choose Glock for my protection. However, my wife prefers her new Smith M&P.

My Springfield 1911's are some of my favorites though. My experience has taught me to stick with the big name companies. Go to a gun store and hold a variety of guns to see which feels the most comfortable. Good luck.