[Kevin Gibson]

On my drive to work this morning, I got to thinking about pistol reliability and what makes a pistol reliable.

From a purely mechanical point of view, what makes or creates reliability in a handgun?

 

[William R. Moore]

Nothing like throwing a steak into the tiger cage, huh?

Vastly oversimplified: simplicity of design, robustly executed.

You didn't make any requirements about ease of use or suitability for any particular purpose.

 

[Charlie Petty]

Well...

high on my list would be a good magazine because they are the achilles heel of any pistol

I grow tired of the debate over which recoil spring to use and I'm pretty sure many pistols have been rendered useless by folks changing springs to upgrade a pistol that was doing just fine anyhow. I've often said that those who advocate frequent replacement happen to sell springs.

In fact "upgrade" has become a trigger word. If some of the other boards are an indication because so many just can't leave well enough alone. If the gun works how can just changing parts be an upgrade if it still works when they are through messing with it. Of course this is a great business builder for folks who sell parts.

Equally wearisome is the fuss over MIM parts by people who only know they are different and, therefore, obviously inferior. But if they failed at the rate alleged by folks who wouldn't know one if it hit them over the head...

So how's that for a start Kevin?

 

[shep854]

Nothing like throwing a steak into the tiger cage, huh?

Vastly oversimplified: simplicity of design, robustly executed.

You didn't make any requirements about ease of use or suitability for any particular purpose.

Throw in top-quality materials & quality ammo, and you'll have it nailed--presuming the shooter isn't a doofus...

 

[Skeptic49]

There is also perception of reliability. Just to add to the mix. But there is the Glock experience when you rush production or "upgrade" you run the risk of making a reliable system unreliable. Reference the Glock "light rail" and "frame rail" experience.

Geoff
Who notes his Series 70 MK IV with the fingers has never failed to fire and feed anything which fit in the chamber. (Some of my early reloads are best forgotten. I took to dropping all the rounds into the chamber of a spare barrel before I boxed them. Once setup my Dillon never missed assuming I inspected the brass for neck damage.

 

[Charlie Petty]

"presuming the shooter isn't a doofus..."

what are the chances of that?

BTW Geoff: Glock was just following precedent... the first 40s weren't so reliable either

 

[shep854]

"presuming the shooter isn't a doofus..."

what are the chances of that?

BTW Geoff: Glock was just following precedent... the first 40s weren't so reliable either

Pretty good, actually. I believe the polite term is, 'shooter-induced stoppage'.

 

[t-star]

relaible handgun- relabile toys - toronto canada

 

[t-star]

seriously, there's no definative answer- any handgun may fail at any time for any number of reasons- even the old iver johnson " relaible"

 

[Kevin Gibson]

"presuming the shooter isn't a doofus..."

what are the chances of that?

BTW Geoff: Glock was just following precedent... the first 40s weren't so reliable either

Right around '91-'92 Glock was an absolute mess. Most anything that wasn't a 17 or a 19 was having problems. Back then you could head to one of the shooting schools, or an IPSC match and see Glocks fail to fire by the crate load. Others would have feed failures, ejection failures…I even saw not one, but two Glocks where the shooter fired a round and when the slide made the return trip home; just kept going right off the front of the gun. That was quite humorous.

But I have to give Glock at least some credit. They have, and still do go to great lengths to improve their product. Sometimes they don't get it right, but they keep going until they do. These days they're a top notch pistol.

 

[Charlie Petty]

I think much of Glock's improvement... and they have... is that there was a big change in management in the US.

But when the .40 first came out we tested one for my PD, It had a whole bunch of cool stoppages... most spectacular was when the fired case rotated 180 degrees and tried to go back into the chamber.

But we can't disregard the importance of the polymer frame... which turned out to be revolutionary

 

[Solomon Kane]

All this talk of Glock reliability, and no Dean Speir. I wonder if anyone else misses him.

 

[Tim Burke]

I have more malfunctions with my GLOCK™s than I do with my social 1911s.

 

[shep854]

Depends on who's defining 'perfection'.

 

[DavidE]

All this talk of Glock reliability, and no Dean Speir. I wonder if anyone else misses him.

I believe he can be found here:

On The Beach Blog | Dean Speir's Profile

I miss the guy too, a lot, he's made me a better "gunperson."

David

Sweet Honey Mustard!

 

[Skeptic49]

But we can't disregard the importance of the polymer frame... which turned out to be revolutionary

Remington Nylon 66.
Geoff
Who bought the 10/22 anyway....:mrgreen:

 

[Snake45]

I believe he can be found here:

On The Beach Blog | Dean Speir's Profile

I miss the guy too, a lot, he's made me a better "gunperson."

David

Sweet Honey Mustard!

Same here.

 

[larvatus]

On my drive to work this morning, I got to thinking about pistol reliability and what makes a pistol reliable.

From a purely mechanical point of view, what makes or creates reliability in a handgun?

As with comedy, it's all about timing.

 

[Kevin Gibson]

Remington Nylon 66.
Geoff
Who bought the 10/22 anyway....:mrgreen:

Strange confession here... Can you believe that I have never owned a 10/22? I can't count how many I've shot, worked on, built, etc. But I have never personally owned a 10/22. After my first semi-auto .22 when I was a kid, I just decided I liked the manual action repeaters much more; pumps and lever guns. I've owned the Winchester 94/22, Marlin 39, and Browning BL-22. I currently have a collection of just about all of the Winchester pump action .22's. The 1890 was my first rifle, it's my first love, and when I reach for a .22, it's a Winchester pump. My latest is a nearly new model 61. But I've never really enjoyed the semi-auto .22's.

 

[Diamondback]

All this talk of Glock reliability, and no Dean Speir. I wonder if anyone else misses him.

Yeah, me too... colorful and caustic, he brought a life to this forum long missing. Between him, Patrick Sweeney and so many others... well, you guys from the old Am Back days are among my oldest and closest friends, and there seem to be less of our little "band of brothers" (note lowercase, NOT to compare with Major Winters and the bona fide heroes of his command) with every passing year.

Wherever y'all are out there, amigos, my best to all of you. At least in this younger man's heart, you're definitely missed... and the forum so much poorer for your departures.