Reliability
 

What would you say is the most reliable pistol on the market, or at least one of the most reliable? How about the LEAST reliable? And while you're at it, read some people saying that the DE is really shaky in this area. Is this true, and why? Thanks.

Most reliable:

Smith and Wesson Highway patrolman .357 revolver.

Least reliable...Everything else really.

What are you after?

-bear

There was a thread a while back where a guy was convinced the DE was the greatest gun ever made. People said it was jamomatic and so I asked why. This is what I got.
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...t=desert+eagle

quoted from Dostoevsky I found this while searching the internet

http://www.zvis.com/dep/depclip.shtml

I have shot a .50 cal DE and had absolutely no problems or jams. In the manual it actually tells you a bunch of reasons why it would jam and how to avoid them. As far as reliability goes I have the utmost respect for beretta, S&W (Though my 469 jams every now and then), and Springfield(not the 1911's). The least reliable guns I have dealt with were 1911's.

revolvers will always tend to be more reliable, as they cannot have magazine feed problems, nor ejector probs- thus many self defense experts recommend them- and six should be enough unless you are rambo

I have heard many bad things about the dessie, those that i know who like them keep theirs immaculate, and that may be part of not having problems- me, though, I feel that if I ever need a gun it will probably be under bad conditions, thus I do not want to have to worry if it will fire or not

I don't know why people give 1911's such a bad rap. Supposedly, when they were considering it for military issue in the Philippines, they fired 6,000 rounds through one and experienced no jams or problems of any kind. I am planning on getting one of my own this year, so I guess I'll find out for myself.

If you want it to go bang every time, get a revolver. If you are set on autos, go with a glock, xd, or p99. They seem to have the best overall reliability of autos from reviews, and my XD has never given me any trouble.

Good, hell, moderate quality revolvers will outperform any auto around.

As to autos, Glock anything, H&K USP's (and just about anything else), Sig anything, Browning High Power, a well-maintained 1911 from a reputable source, Beretta. There's quite a few good autos out there. You just have to maintain em and realize that they have certain design-inherent weaknesses insofar as reliabilty is concerned. As someone said earlier, revolvers are more reliable because they are simpler.

Anyone who has a semi-auto should train with jam drills (dummy rounds, ect.), and get familiar with "Tap, Rack and assess". Any gun COULD, jam. Train at the range and know what your gonna do if you have a problem.


Or, get yaself a big honkin' Colt Python like mine.

The most reliable handgun is either a Colt, Ruger or a Smith large frame revolver. The least reliable is almost any "Saturday Night Special" autoloader or revolver. Many autoloaders require a break-in period and should not be used for actual self-defence until proven reliable on the range with your choice of ammo. Many foreign made handguns are basicly acceptable if worked over by a good gunsmith and some require replacement of several of the inner springs. I am a firm believer in "Wolff Springs" for all my firearms and magazines.

Any manufacurer makes mistakes, in many cases factory quality control matters as much as design. Sigs have great quality control, as does HK. Berreta used to have some bad problems, but they're better now. Springfield lets duds out of the factory more often than they should, Glock probably does too but they are designed well enough that it dosn't affect their preformance. But in general anything modern from a major maker will be just fine if it is well maintained.

like others said, revolvers are pretty fool-proof. they CAN jam (e.g. bullets jumping the crimp and proturding past the the cylinder) but it's rare and typically only a problem with specialized models (ultra-lightweights, etc).

for a defensive pistol, it's hard to beat a full size revolver for simplicity and reliability.

with autos, reliability is a factor of several things, including the pistol, the ammo, the magazine, and the shooting technique.

i have had great luck with glocks, and i have a kimber 1911 that has run flawlessly since i changed out the factory magazines for some quality wilson mags.

regarding desert eagle pistols, i think they have problems because they're trying run rimmed cases thru on automatic. the 50 AE round is rimless, so i bet it runs more reliably.

I have a friend that works in a gunshop, and they recently had a guy bring in a revolver because something was stuck in the barrel. They cut the barrel in half, and inside was 7 rounds. Yes. I said seven. In a 6-shot revolver. Appearantly, a round got jammed inside the barrel, then the dingus, who didn't notice, proceeded to reload and fire all 6 shots. Finally he saw the gun was cracking and decided to stop.

Whatever gun you get, just clean the damn thing, ok?

One thing that I think needs to be said is that well built revolvers seldomly fail. If you go cheap (very cheap) on a wheel gun or don't maintain it properly, it will have failures. When you look at S&W, Colt, Taurus, the big makers, you're in good shape. For cheaper guns, you really don't gain much over a Glock.

Like all other guns, lack of care can make even the best made weapons fail.

Pretty much the big names in terms of revolvers is the best IMO - most likely to get great quality and assistance if needed.

Anecdote time!

I've been involved in shooting for 25+ years now. Have a lot of friends that shot over the years as well. In all that time, I've seen a revolver fail exactly once. A buddy of mine was shooting his Ruger GP-100 with some crap ammo, and could not get his cylinder to swing out. After I mucked with it for a bit, I got it open. I pulled the pawl out and found a sliver of brass sitting below the extractor, preventing it from going all the way forward and keeping his action from opening as it should. It was no fault of the gun whatsoever, and best classed an ammo failure.

25+ years, one revolver failure, and the sample group is every gun in my hand as well as the hands of every shooting buddy I've hit the range with, and many, many thousands of rounds of ammunition put downrange.

M1911 is my favorite. Though a 9mm does have its advantages.

The only time I've ever had a problem with one was a squib round. I've been lucky enough to never have a jam when it counted.

But I have had a model 10 jam from dirt and sand getting in the works.

I prefer a semi-auto for anything serious where a reload may become necessary. Revolvers don't have near the capacity of a newer 9mm and also do not lend themselves to graceful reloading. That's why you never see anyone clearing a building with a revolver if they can help it.

As said before, revolvers will always be more reliable, but if you want a semi-auto pistol the Browning Hi-Power is well known as a highly reliable gun, passing almost every 10 000 round test with flying colours.