I know many of us may have been lucky enough to have more than one, but in the interest of letting everyone have a turn, please don't make a list.

Let us also refrain from our new acquisitions. Nobody is surprised that your new gen 5 G19 hasn't had a problem in the first 200 rounds.

And I know any of them can fail. I'm not talking about torture tests where some obscure spring failed at round 4,946. I mean a pistol you own or have owned that you just knew, no matter what, was going to go come hell or high water.

What's the one pistol you could count on if somebody gave you some ammo that had been rolling around the floorboard of the truck for two years, and a dingy scratched-up magazine of unknown origin, and said go?

My one is the Beretta 92FS. In thousands of rounds, it has never failed to feed, fire, or eject a round of any kind. FMJ, JHP, Frangible, 75 grain to 147, my 92FS is the honey badger of ammo eating.

It's not always my favorite pistol, and it's not the one I shoot the most, but it is the one I'd be most shocked to hear go click instead of bang.

What's yours?

92FS
G19
P228
P226
P365

Oh wait, you said no list.

Good question. For me, it is 92 Centurion, CZ P-01 and G19 Gen 5. G19 Gen 4 was ejecting casings into my face, but otherwise was reliable. I owned several high-end 1911 in 9 mm, and none could be relied upon. And all the rest, including P365XL, had problems and are no longer with me.

Now I’m curious how many people have attempted to shoot their guns with the ammunition and magazines you describe.

I believe it’s not reasonable to expect good results with either. I don’t expect my guns to be reliable (not to mention being safe) with dirty, damaged, and/or corroded ammunition any more than I expect my car to run on any flammable liquid I could put in the tank. Second, as I tell every trainee, the magazine is part of the gun, and if reliability matters it’s more important than many other parts, including the barrel. If the magazine doesn’t do its job properly, the rest of the gun can no more compensate for that failure than the ignition system of a car can somehow compensate for a fuel pump that doesn’t work.

Those are facts I’ve kept in mind since I knew enough to be concerned about them, so I’m curious what others have to say. How many people expect their guns to be reliable with anything they can stuff in the chamber and with any magazine that’s supposed to fit the gun?

Oh, yeah; no lists. But as I cannot limit myself to one that has been completely reliable with anywhere from 2500 to 16000 rounds, I will leave it at that.

My P320s. All of them (full, carry, and subcompact) have been 100% reliable, and between work, training, and personal time I have significantly more rounds through them than any other platform that I own, and I own a decent variety. I can't think of a single issue I've had that I can blame on the gun itself...the few problems I've personally experienced have all been ammo or operator error.

I have exposure to a lot of other P320s through work, and I have to say that we see very few problems overall. The ones we do encounter are usually related to improper cleaning and maintenance. The only real problem I can think of was in a recent class where a guy had an issue with the interaction between his slide catch and the slide (basically a significant burr) that was preventing him from sending his slide home by depressing the catch. If it had been my gun I'd have fixed it in a few minutes with a needle file, but he was from another agency so I'm not sure how he got it resolved.

Being a hunk of coated steel and plastic it lacks the character of a lot of my other guns, but the dang thing just works.

ETA: Sigfreund posted while I was posting, and I completely agree with his point. Proper maintenance, and especially magazines, are a critical factor in the reliability of a semi-automatic handgun (if you don't believe this, go buy a promag and shoot with it for a few days!), and while mine are well-used, they are not abused and are properly maintained. I do expect a gun to be able to operate properly with a wide variety of ammo, provided all the ammo is undamaged and within spec.

Never had any problems out of my Desert Eagles.

Old ammo, one handed, or after missing a cleaning or two.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Now I’m curious how many people have attempted to shoot their guns with the ammunition and magazines you describe.

I believe it’s not reasonable to expect good results with either. I don’t expect my guns to be reliable (not to mention being safe) with dirty, damaged, and/or corroded ammunition any more than I expect my car to run on any flammable liquid I could put in the tank. Second, as I tell every trainee, the magazine is part of the gun, and if reliability matters it’s more important than many other parts, including the barrel. If the magazine doesn’t do its job properly, the rest of the gun can no more compensate for that failure than the ignition system of a car can somehow compensate for a fuel pump that doesn’t work.

...

Agreed. This very point is why I opted not to respond to this question when it was first posted.

Even with my otherwise reliable guns I have experienced the rare stoppage when factory ammo was out of spec or old magazine springs started to weaken, or aftermarket magazines failed to lock the slide back on empty.

If someone is shooting old dirty ammo that hasn't been properly stored and/ or unknown magazines and still getting predictable reliable ignition and functioning I'd like to hear about it.

I've got a 17-18 year old G-21 gen 3 that I'm pretty fond of. I know it's got north of 20K rounds. I've changed a few springs over the years, it's always went "BANG" when I wanted it to, and put that chunk of lead where I wanted it.

Hot, cold, rain, snow... And yes, I beat the hell out of this gun, and I still trust it enough to use it as my duty weapon.

P-229

G27 here. I’ve even ran it with 9mm (same .40 extractor) and 357 barrel and 2000-3000 of rounds. Never heard click. Never.

So far I’m experiencing 100% reliability across the 365 lineup. Nowhere near the G27 round count yet, but I’m very impressed at round 500. I’m a latecomer to the 365 party.

My sigs are also 100% for me, but I don’t train with them as I don’t carry them.

92FS
It feeds any garbage you put through it.

HK USPc

Browning Hi Power in 40S&W. It never has jammed, and even worked with what was later found out to ba a broken firing pin.

Have several. The one I've owned the longest is a PPKS I've owned for 40 years.

Glock 19

I've had a lot of pistol which were pretty reliable when given basic maintenance, but if we're talking a fairly neglected pistol with a abused (but not bent/broken magazine) and nasty ammo.

My experience would be that the Beretta 92/96 family has the best chance of working...at least the one's I've shot in the above described conditions did

Sig P228

Ruger P-89 Heavy but reliable. Mine had over 500,000 miles on it. Yep wore out 3 trucks with it.

Usually put a few rounds thru it on most range trips.

Glock 19X.
Closing in on 2K rounds and not one problem.
During the ammunition shortage, I bought some Russian shit and it ate that. Also found some steel cased mystery loose 9mm rounds that I have no idea where they came from and it shot that too.
Magazines dropped in water a few times since my back acreage is kinda low and still runs. One of my better purchases for sure.

GP-100. So reliable and accurate its boring. Mine is 20+ years old and will outlive me.