Depending on your definition of failure, I’ve had a couple. I had a SA XD40 that had FF nearly every other round. SA couldn’t get it to work either and ultimately gave me my money back. I had a Sears Ted Williams .22LR rifle that couldn’t eject a shell ever. I sold it to the local pawn shop (with full disclosure) for the $40 I paid for it and counted myself lucky.

So, I rank this one as a failure because it was a stoppage so solid, I couldn’t fix it in the field. The farmer we were neighbors with when I was growing up invited me to blast crows out of his corn field whenever. I was in the process of it with my grandfather’s shotgun one day, a mid 70’s Remington Wingmaster with the old style shell lifter. I had just dropped one of a few that flushed, shucked an empty, and fired, and when I went to rack it again, I discovered the whole thing seized up solid as anything. When I chambered that last load, the next one in the tube came out between the bolt carrier and the lifter and turned it into what felt like a solid mass. I had to trudge home and drive the pins out and carefully pry the trigger and lifter assembly out to get to the stuck shell. A stoppage, yes, but a damn solid one that others experienced also, so Remington redesigned the lifter to prevent this, so I rank it as a failure.

Had another exciting stoppage with the same shotgun that also ended the day. Shooting up a variety of shells with some friends, one of them apparently swole, and in my vigorous working of the pump, I managed to get it stuck completely solid with the high brass showing, and about a quarter inch of plastic shell body. Jammed solid. Opinions varied on what to do, including soaking the whole thing in a pvc tube filled with used motor oil for a while. In the end, I propped it up in the garage, put a dowel down the barrel, kitted up with every imaginable piece of protective gear I could put on my person, and I beat at it with a rubber mallet until it unjammed.

The slide release lever on my Smith 41 broke one day a few years ago. Wouldn’t have imagined or foreseen that happening, but it did. Still need to get it fixed.

Two that I have experienced were discovered in the "why is the gun suddenly unreliable" stage, rather than the total failure stage. The third was a total failure, but discovered before I got to the range.

Broken roll pins on a folded slide P226 caused the breech block to become loose in the slide, resulting in failures to fire.

A broken firing pin in a Marlin Model 60 resulted in failures to fire with what had been reliable ammunition. The firing pin fell out in pieces when I removed the bolt.

While taking a S&W Model 19 out for a range trip, I discovered that I could not open the cylinder. Not knowing anything about revolvers, I had a gunsmith fix that one. Some excessive play allowed the cylinder to end up too far forward for the release to work.

*S&W 4506 broken recoil spring...sluggish at first, then bound up the gun. Have never seen a recoil spring break before or since. Odd. (1994?)

*Wilson Combat Classic full size 1911: Sheared off the swinging link housing from the bottom of the barrel. Completely disabled the gun and greatly complicated disassembly for examination. (2015?)

*Sig Sauer P320C broken extractor (India manufacture?). Sig CS told me they would send me a new extractor for self-installation, but I refused and they repaired the gun on their dime. (2018)

*HK USP .40: Safety/decocker broke and would just spin around in circles. (1998?)

*Rock Island Armory full size 1911: Broken barrel bushing. Launched recoil spring into the berm 12 yards away. The owner said the bushing, "must've been a Friday part" AKA manufactured by a machinist on a Friday just before quitting time. I chuckled.

*Ruger P95 launched the slide completely off the frame on the firing line due to a broken slide stop. That was weird and a little disconcerting.

*Beretta PX4 Storm .40s by the truckload. Broken slide stops/releases. A major agency in my state used to issue them, and were very disappointed. Their armorers actually had to drive replacement parts to our police academy to keep their officers' PX4 .40s running. They have since switched to Gen 4 Glock 17s and the problems have disappeared, along with the Storms.

*Glock 22 .40 broke the rear rails off the frame during a night fire qual. Glock replaced the frame within days. (2004?)

I know there are more, but this is all I can recall. After all these years on the range, I can honestly say that I've never seen a Glock 9mm, Glock .45, Sig Sauer Classic P-Series 9mm, Beretta 92 9mm, or S&W revolver ever have failures that disabled the gun.

Beretta 96D Centurion. Approximately 3500 rounds. Locking block shattered, could not cycle or remove slide. Beretta USA replaced the gun. Beretta would not discuss the issue with our department armorer. I had to carry a spare until the replacement arrived.

I had a department issued XD 40 completely lock up on me while at qualification. Slide stopped going forward 80% of the way up. Had to beat it into submission with a rubber mallet. Hard. Then went out and shot a 98 5 minutes later.

when I was a kid, I blew the Polychoke off of my dad's Monkey Ward's 12ga. No real harm done, but it sure scared this 11 year old half to death. Never found the Polychoke, either.

My thread here about my P320c kaboom.

I had run the whole case +200 rounds of the next lot and not had an issue, but that one round blew the extractor to pieces, no damage to frame.

Will never know if it fired out of battery or was a case rupture.

The polychoke story above reminded me of a personal story I have long forgotten. I went duck hunting after school often with my best friend Brad. At that time I used my dad's Remington with a polychoke. I fired at a duck and the polychoke left the barrel at the same time as the round (bad solder was the diagnosis after the fact). The actual round missed but the polychoke hit the mallard. It maybe disturbed its flight path but didn't do anything serious. My friend and I laughed for at least an hour.

When I got my 94 vintage p229 .40 in 2003 it had done hard time as a police weapon. Within about 2000 rounds of ownership the firing pin broke when I was at the range. The armorer told me it was due to whoever had it before me cleaning it with CLP everywhere, getting on the breech and it working its way into the firing pin channel. Along with powder fouling the CLP in the channel turned into a sticky substance not allowing the pin to move through it's range of motion freely and ultimately causing it to fail. To that SIGs credit, it had many, many rounds through it before I got it as all the bluing was worn off the barrel OD and the bluing on the outside of the chamber area where it said .40 S&W was also gone.

I have had stovepipe jams on semi auto's that were both mechanical failures, and limp wrist induced. Backed out primers that lock a revolver up. Squib loads on occasions, bad magazines.

In my opinion if you shoot a lot you will see failures.

S&W 4006: Broken drawbar on two different pistols, both resulting in a non-functioning pistol. Frame separation where a large chunk of the frame cracked and fell off. One pistol where the slide was not fully machined towards the muzzle and severe peening of the barrel was the result. Numerous right side de-cocking levers departing for areas unknown.

M-16: Detonation resulting in a blown upper receiver, a piece of which cartwheeled down the firing line, and a blown out magazine. Not sure what caused it, but fortunately the shooter was not injured.

Boy, reading all these I've been very lucky.

The only two I've had are sorta stoppages, sorta failures.

The first was using previously reliable reloads, but apparently they started cutting corners. They worked fine in my SIGs, but locked up my PPQ so tight on a live round I had to take it home and very carefully free the slide with a padded punch and mallet. So what should've been a stoppage ended up being a failure (taking the gun out of service).

The other was on my XCR rifle. Have an aftermarket folding charging handle. Last stage of a 3-gun, apparently the roll pin had walked out, so when I went to charge it, it just slide back without grabbing the bolt. Luckily, none of the parts fell out, so I was able to just hold them in place with my thumb and get it to load and finish the day. So what should've been a failure ended up being a stoppage.

Years ago I found the firing pin had broken on my P229, but it never failed prior to that. Must've been a lucky break where the pin still worked.

SIG P226 West German forward right side frame rail crack propagating from the aft portion of the rail forward. The owner of the gun never mentioned whether this caused a function failure.

A friend and co-worker and I were planning a range day and another co-worker overheard us and asked to come along and we said yes. While he owned a single handgun he wasn't very knowledgeable about guns or shooting. I don't recall the semi-auto that he brought along but it was some off brand older gun in a centerfire cartridge...I think it was a 9mm or .380. He was firing factory rounds that day but hadn't shot his gun much and spent a good part of the day trying our guns out. As we were getting ready to leave the range he shot his gun one last time and on the last round we saw a bit of the gun flying a couple feet forward of the firing line. A portion of the slide had broken off. I can't say for certain whether the gun would have fired after that but its not something I would have been willing to suggest or try myself.

As the guy turned out to be a bit of a jerk on the range we tried not to laugh too hard...tried.

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
Locked my 1895 Marlin up tighter than a bulls ass by being cute about ejecting shells at the end of a hunt. Spent a good twenty minutes under a Coleman lantern with a leatherman ( no mars despite my ham handed efferts ).

Now I run that lever like I hate it, never another problem.

Same here. I was at a SIGForum shoot and was shooting my Marlin 336. I had just fired and was in the process of closing the lever when I heard voices. The range was a bit chaotic with several mini ranges operating at the same time and as I was a bit concerned that somebody might be relaying a cease fire or some safety aspect I stopped closing the lever mid-stroke. After verifying that we were still hot and no issues I tried to close the bolt it was locked up tighter than Dick's hat band.

Unable to cycle it I resorted to pulling out my Swiss Army knife screwdriver to remove the lever. The screw driver wasn't optimal for the screw and I ended up slightly marring the screw holding the lever but was able to remove the lever and bolt and remove the round and get it running again. Took about 20 minutes or so.

Off the top of my head, spread over almost 30 years:

- Colt .45 Officer's ACP, first trip to the range, the firing pin jumped past the Series 80 firing pin block and the block engaged behind the groove in the firing pin where it is supposed to sit. Result was a firing pin locked fully forward and protruding from the breech face. Fortunately it hung up on the case rim of the next round and stopped the pistol; if it had allowed the next round to chamber, it would have slam-fired and presumably gone full auto.

- Second trip to the range with the same pistol after warranty repair, the staked front sight fell off during shooting.

- Mid 1990s, Colt King Cobra, again first trip to the range, cases got sticky in the chambers and pressing firmly on the ejector rod caused the cylinder to jump past the cylinder stud on the frame and get stuck behind it.

- I have a recent production S&W 442 that does the same thing (haven't gotten around to having it fixed--will probably require a new frame since the cylinder stud on new S&Ws is now integral to the frame).

- Early 1990s SIG P220, dovetailed front sight came loose and fell off during firing.

- Mid 1990s SIG P220, takedown lever sheared in half during firing, lever and stump of the shaft falling to the ground while part of the shaft remained in the frame.

Over the years, stuff happens.

quote:

Originally posted by OTD:

quote:

Originally posted by arcwelder76:
No, not a stoppage. No matter how reliable you believe your handgun is, you need to know how to clear a stoppage. ......
What have you personally experienced?

Clearing malfunctions is what most armies teach in the second week aka grass week. Loading, unloading, reloading, malfunction one, malfunction two, emergency maintenace. Forwards, backwards, upwards, rearwards, by night, in the sun, in the snow and twice on Sunday. It safes not only your live but protects your comrades when your part of the live firing exercise goes bad. Good advice!

Clearing malfunctions is something everyone who carries a gun should actually practice. There is so much emphasis on the reliability of a weapon as if the manufacturer is the major factor. When actually, particularly under stress, humans can stop even very well made and reliable weapons from working. "maybe it is me" is a valid question to ask.

Actual show stopping failures are a different animal entirely from anything a tap-rack-bang can't solve. These failures happen in all kinds of guns, and while parts failure can occur, so many boil down to ammunition problems.

The guide rod on my P229 broke. 2000 rounds through the gun at that time. And I had the slide crack on a Kel-Tec PF-9.

I had the trigger bar break in a brand new Sphinx AT2000 after about 10 rounds. Back in the early 90's, took a few months to go back for warranty. I was pissed, paid a lot for it then.

I've experienced four only. Not entirely sure this is what you mean, but here goes.

The one that would have taken the pistol out of the fight was with a Witness Elite .45ACP that failed to fire when the trigger was pulled. Cleared it, made sure it was in battery and tried again, same thing. It went in the bag at that point and back to the company for repair.

One was at the range with my son, a double shot with one pull of the trigger. Stopped immediately and put the gun away. Had it fixed by a gunsmith locally.

The second was a squib with commercial ammunition. Heard it and stopped immediately. Thankfully, it was not stuck in the barrel. Checked to make sure the barrel was clear. Never bought they ammunition again.

The third was a rifle that went full auto through a 20 round magazine if .308win. Have replaced the trigger group.

Broken recoil spring assembly on a brand new G27 (collar on the dual spring). Happened within the first 50 rounds. Obviously wouldn't stay in battery to fire, so I'll call that a failure even though it was a simple $15 fix.

Surplus HK P7 seized up solid when the barrel pin drifted out the side of the frame under recoil, binding against the inside of the slide. That one required a trip back to HK so they could press the pin out and replace the barrel, pin, and sear lever (free of charge I might add).

I think that's all for me personally.