Murphy's law is in full force or how much do you trust your gun?

R

riddleofsteel

New member
Well today i went to the local indoor shooting range to test fire some rental guns. As i have said the gun show is coming up in a few days and i have two permits and a craving for new steel. While i was there shooting, i pulled my carry gun from the holster to pop off a few rounds.
Many of you guys may have heard me say that i have grown fond of packing a Ruger Speed Six in a Kramer scabbard on work days and other times i think i may have to leave a gun in my vehicle. This revolver was purchased NIB even though it is several decades old. Part of an estate liquidation by Cherry's in Greensboro. i have put around 1000 rounds of full house .357 125 grainers and 158 grain .357 SWC's through this gun so far. So it is not worn out but it is broken in.
Well as of today it is BROKEN. i would have thought the Bank of England would have gone broke first. Every Ruger of this series i have ever had has been anvil strong.
i pulled out the gun aimed as rapidly as possible and fired. Then i tried to fire again as fast as possible. The trigger would not move and the hammer refused to be cocked single action. i stopped and carefully unloaded the gun and began to experiment.
The first thing i did was to shake the gun to see if i could hear any loose clockwork. when i did it began to work normally. Within four cycles it had locked up again. Long story short it would operate normally UPSIDE DOWN, but not rightside up.
I packed up and shagged over to The Greensboro Gun Works. The smith there suspects a broken spring or lever. i am thinking spring since it works upside down.

The upshot is that while it is disassembled he is going to polish up the action and fix any broken parts. But while i was driving home gunless and feeling naked i thought about having drawn that weapon on a BG and having it lock up!! WHEW The sweat began to bead up on my forehead and i started to feel sick.
Time to revaluate my carry practices. At least one of my purchases this weekend will be an easy to carry BACKUP gun. If a Speed Six can break any gun can. When i consider the ramifications of trusting my life to a spring or a $1.25 lever or latch i begin to sweat again. i will carry no gun i can not take completely apart and inspect each part, replacing on a regular basis all springs ect.
Suddenly i find the average revolver not so much anvil strong but delicate and hard to service (for the average guy.) Even harder to quickly put back in service in a pinch. i watched a Glock taken apart today and marveled at its simplicity.
So it looks like i will start working on my smithing skills and learning to detail strip my weapons. i will also focus on SIMPLE and stoutly built weapons. I have religiously avoided Glocks up until now but i may come home with a baby Glock and pocket gun.
 
My gun is a Glock. Perfection is Murphy proof.

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Yeah, I got a permit to carry,it's called the friggin Constitution.---Ted Nugent

"Glock 26: 17 rounds of concealed carry DEATH comming your way from out of nowhere!!! THAT'S FIREPOWER, BABY!!!"
 
Riddleofsteel, I had the same thing happen to me several yers ago with a stainless R. Security Six. I sent it back to Ruger and they fixed it.

Denfoote, Murphy's Law does indeed, apply to Glocks. I have shot a couple that jammed on factory ammo, and I have seen several Glocks malfunction. Not a lot, but a few. Nothing is 100% perfect 100% of the time.

(That's why I carry a second gun.) J.B.
 
Yes, Mr. Murphy was visiting the pistol range the other day when I had my first Glock stoppage ever: my G20 failed to eject. I asked around, and my G20 seems to have an early ejector that requires an upgrade. So, hopefully the upgrade will eliminate any such stoppages in the future. But I would not have wanted to find out about the upgrade only after having experienced the stoppage in an environment more hostile than a shooting range.

Anyway, I am indeed beginning to think about a backup pistol more seriously than I used to.
 
I love to see the confused look and akward fumbling of die-hard Glock believers clearing the malfunctions that they don't prepare for, and say never happen.

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Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.
 
I trust my guns about as much as I trust most people. Only about as far as I can throw them.

Denfoote --- BBBWWWWWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Sorry, but the Glock is NOT perfection. It's a DAMNED GOOD and reliable gun, but I've seen more than my fair share of broken Glocks over the past several years.

My favorite? The one that, due to a broken part, would no longer allow the trigger to fire the gun when it was pulled.

You'd pull the trigger, and it would make a half-hearted little click, and that's about all.

My next favorite? The Glock with the split chamber, likely due to a bad forging or billet of steel. That one locked up tighter than a bank vault. It required a trip to Georgia to get it apart.
 
This is off the subject, and not meant in any way as an offensive comment, but every time I read that someone is excited that they have been granted a PERMIT to exercise their constitutional rights, the sweat begins to bead up on my forehead and I too feel sick, mainly at the way our society has been cowed into believing that the govt. is the final arbitrar of our lives and liberty.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Please continue this otherwise good post.
 
Riddleofsteel: You might want to look at a Makarov, they have less than 30 parts total, and at $150 or less, great value.

denfoote: I shot dozens of guns at EOSM, and the only one to jam on me was a 10mm Glock. The only one I saw that had to be taken completely down was another Glock. Murphy is alive and well, and he does come after Tactical Tupperware. I'm not saying that Glocks are bad guns, but they are not perfection.
Eric

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Thaw Shorty!
 
So far my two major carry guns (EAA 9mm Witness full-size, Caspian 1911) have NEVER failed, even though the Witness has multiple tens of thousands of rounds through it, been used at over 50 USPSA matches (sun/sand/rain/mud/snow/sub-zero), and is generally NOT babied in ANY fashion, EXCEPT to chamber-check EVERY round that goes through it (Nowlin hard-fit barrel).

The 1911 does not have the history of the EAA, but after its recent Robar refinishing (NP3, natch) it, too, has been 100%.
It wasn't bad before, just a few bobbles as it went through the 'smithing process. Probably over 5,000 rds since then, 100%.

My Redhawks work pretty good, too.

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"All my ammo is factory ammo"
 
Yep, Murphy's law is always,always and always in full-auto. Clean and inspect.

Always better to find out you have a broken gun at the range, than in a very bad happening.
 
Hi, Riddle,

Perfection won't be found in this world. But if you want to take your gun to pieces every few minutes, better not go for a Glock or a Makarov. They are easy to field strip, but, like most modern pistols, detail stripping should be left for the pro.

Only the old Model 1911 type is made to be taken down easily without special tools.

Jim
 
Excuse me, but have you detail stripped a Glock? I can do it in a couple of minutes easily. Reassembly is a snap. Detail stripping should be left to the pro if you do not feel confident enough in yourself to do it.

See www.glockmeister.com for full color pictures and explanations.
 
Makarov comes apart with one screw in the grip and no special tools. Easy to work on, easy to inspect, easy to fine tune. Reliable as hell. Too bad it doesn't shoot 45 ACP.
 
i was at Arrington's today fondling a Glock 35 and gazing at the babes behind the counter. or was i fondling the babes and gazing at the Glock. i am so confused.
seriously i find myself wondering if i could get a Glock 35 replace the sights and stand to carry it in Kramer belt scabbard or a Waldon Raptor.

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Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.
Let he that hath no sword sell his garment and buy one. Luke 22-36
They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. Song of Solomon 3-8
The man that can keep his head and aims carefully when the situation has gone bad and lead is flying usually wins the fight.
 
Any gun....I mean any gun can malfunction. While shooting at EOSM I to had a failure. From my Smith & Wesson model 29 carry gun! Yes, a revolver. It was not the gun but the ammo. Terri's son was shooting it when it locked up. ScottMo and I were standing behind him and each looked at the other a little dumbfounded. One of the bullets had jumped forward in the case, dumped it's powder and came back just enough to lock the cylinder. A good slap caused the bullet to draw back in the case enough to open the cylinder and exject the empty case complete with live primer and no powder or bullet.
Since it was my carry gun was I overly alarmed? No. One it was cheap reloads and not what I usually carry. Two, that is the reason I always carry a back up. Both .44's and with plenty of reloads.
Never trust your life to one gun.

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Gunslinger

I was promised a Shortycicle and I want a Shortycicle!
 
I use what works. So far, few guns let me down. Most notably, my first
SIG 226. Tested every mag I could get hold of, had it fired by my
brother, but not, it continued to jam with Samson ammo. No other ammo
failures. My collection of USPs, Glocks and Kahrs performed flawlessly
so far. Never had any troubles with them, except when using reloaded
ammo. And even then - my glock has hit the 50k round mark and jammed
ONCE. Yes, once. Else, we train clearing a gun quite extensively, so I
regard that as smaller problem. I trust a good ole G20 to carry it
when I and my father go shooting wild boars. A .44 Mag is also a good
choice, but I can shoot the Glock better.

Look around what works. Take that. Test it yourself. Test it
extensively.
 
after a few days to thinks on the subject i have reached the following conclusions.
1. most mechanical failures i am hearing about especialy in revolvers happen when they are new or almost new. this was the case for the Speed Six. like i said it is several decades old but only recently passed the 1000 round mark.
(a) once fixed it will be extensivly tested before it is ever trusted again.
2. my extensively tested and trusted K40 will continue to be my primary carry gun. it has all the characteristics i was shopping around for and it is already tested and trusted. i also already have leather and mags for it.
3. i will purchase a pocket backup gun probably in .32, .380 or .38 Special this weekend at the gun show and extensivly test and train with it.
4. i have developed an extreme itch for a Glock. probably a 35 and appropriate leather or a Glock 22 (only slightly larger than a 27 with pinkie extender.) but it may have to wait for my funds to build up the backup comes first!

LESSON OF THE DAY: A GUN IS A ONLY A MECHCANICAL DEVICE AND BY NATURE NEVER PERFECT IN ANY BRAND OR CONFIGUATION. ALWAYS HAVE OTHER OPTIONS.

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Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.
Let he that hath no sword sell his garment and buy one. Luke 22-36
They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. Song of Solomon 3-8
The man that can keep his head and aims carefully when the situation has gone bad and lead is flying usually wins the fight.
 
damn that murphy i knew when i read this and hit the range yesterday something was gonna bite me in the a$$ again and it did,my form was off some, all shots grouped nicely thru the cz52's in 9mm and 7.62 at 25 yards but to the left and high 6 inches.on the 45 to the left again and somewhat high but tight in 1 inch groups amazing myself.(i was too busy watching mama and the kid pikking up brass thru corner of eye to concentrate while answering questions too)and to boot the extractor on my 1911a1 commander had murphilized me,arghhhhhhh.i pulled it out today and off to the shop later for a replacement...................
 
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