Should a semi-eat all ammo?

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Onward Allusion

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Should a semi-eat all TYPES of ammo/BULLETS? - UPDATE - EDIT

[UPDATE EDIT] Need to clarify - I didn't mean ALL AMMO BRANDS. I meant - Should a gun eat all types of ammo - from FMJ to HP to Lead to the exotic pre-frag'd rounds. Again, my personal belief is that a gun used for Self-Defense should function reliably with all types of ammo FMJ to HP and anything in between. It would be unrealistic to expect that a pistol would work with all make & models of ammo out there However, it should function with all the top tier brands out there - CCI, Federal, Winchester, Fiocchi, S&B . . .etc.

The reason this came up is with 2 KT's I've had for a while. These 2 guns only work with HP bullets. Older Seecamps and those Bobergs are a good example as well.

My apologies if I was not clear.




[ORIGINAL POST]
My personal belief is that it damn well better or it ain't fit as a weapon for SD. A gun used for self-defense should eat everything from FMJ to Lead to HP to Fragment-ables.

I have a PF9 & a P3AT (yeah, both Kel Tec's) that will only function reliably with HP's. Anything with a longer OAL have feeding problems. I had a 1911 that only ate ball until the ramp was polished.

Opinions?
 
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I'm in agreement with the OP. Not only should it be able to reliably eat all types (JHP, ball, steel, etc.) but all manufacturers as well.
 
I think some guns were originally designed specifically for military style hard ball ammo. I think the Browning High Power is one such gun. (I used to have one, and it worked perfectly with hard ball ammo but very poorly with hollow points.)
 
Those both appear to be pretty small guns. The smaller you go the more likely you are to have to make compromises especially when taking about guns in the $200 to $300 range.

My $200 Taurus Slim eats everything I've fed it however I shoot 90% reloads.
 
Should a semi-eat all ammo?
My personal belief is that it damn well better or it ain't fit as a weapon for SD. A gun used for self-defense should eat everything from FMJ to Lead to HP to Fragment-ables.
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it should eat (feed, fire, extract, eject and cycle) what you feed it. Not necessarily everything. Onus is on you to test and determine what's reliable.
 
I'm in agreement with the OP. Not only should it be able to reliably eat all types (JHP, ball, steel, etc.) but all manufacturers as well.
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I agree that any new semi-auto pistol should "eat all types" of ammunition but my experience has been that some almost will and most won't. But I agree, they should...:)
 
Far too many variables in ammo for any semi-auto to work reliably with all ammo. A pistol made to shoot a particular bullet weight, like a 1911, won't function reliably with a significantly lighter bullet like say a 165 or 180 without minor modifications.
"...a longer OAL have feeding problems..." Excessive OAL will do that in any pistol. Both the 9mm and .380 headspacing on the case mouth and all.
"...for military style hard ball ammo..." So was the 1911. "Dum-dum" bullets(read HP's) being banned for military use by the 1899 Hague Conventions. The BHP was designed more for European police than any military. Pistols were and still are secondary and status symbols militarily.
 
All auto hand guns should eat all brands/types of ammo....especially if all ammo is the same. But, unfortunately all ammo is not the same. So, they don't.
 
Ideally it should.. although realistically that's not always the case.
I would not even rule out a gun that hangs up on some types of ammo from carry duty.

Just make sure it will eat what carry it with.
 
Dunno, my thought is that they should but out of all my pistols the only ones that have are my 3rd Gen 9mm Smiths & my Glocks. The 3rd Gen Smiths feed empty cases, too.
 
I agree completely that a self defense handgun needs to reliably feed FMJ and HP ammo.

But I don't go out and buy every brand of ammo and different bullet design under the sun to see if my pistol reliably feeds it. I carry Gold Dots almost exclusively, and as long as they feed and function reliably, I couldn't care less if my pistol will feed "Fragment-ables".
 
In a perfect world, all of our autoloaders would feed everything perfectly. In a quality gun of known reliability, I can usually discover some factory ammo that does not function with 100% reliably. With reloads, any reloader can easily produce ammo that will jam up any gun.
 
No, the expectation that a semi-auto should perform with all ammo regardless is a nice goal....and if it doesn't, it's not worthy to be a personal defense....goes a bit too far.

To use an automotive analogy, you wouldn't expect all cars to perform well using the same grade of fuel, or have it towed to the bone yard for failure to perform. If the owner is unwilling to spend for quality fuel (or ammo), he shouldn't blame it on the car. A (11-to-one) high compression engine need something more than lawn mower gas to achieve its potential.

I carry a Boberg 9mm, it doesn't perform well using poorly crimped ammo. Because of its unique action the bullet will separate from the case....that doesn't make the gun any less effective....unless you insist on using ammo it wasn't designed for. Know your gun, its limitations, and don't try to force a personal standard on the gun it wasn't designed for.
 
My personal belief is that it damn well better
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I disagree, same for semi rifles, semi shotguns, etc.
Some will like certain ammo better than others; find the one(s) your gun likes and does well with and use those.
 
In a perfect world, all appropriate ammo regardless of bullet and load would work in all pistols. It is not a perfect world, and we all have the responsibility to determine if there are choices that our guns don't like. I'm good with that.

There are many pistols available that are not all that particular about ammo. There are some, especially subcompacts, that are. That is the reason one has to determine what.they want and do their homework.
 
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