When do you stop trusting one of your handguns?

Depends on what extenuating circumstances there are.

For example I have a Walther PPK that starts jamming as it gets dirty towards the end of a box of .380s but if it's clean and oiled it's going to be dependable empty its magazine. Also this generation of autos were designed around fmj so I use Corbon PowrBall.

Sometimes really cheapass .22 ammo will have an occassional true dud in almost any gun. I pay no attention unless it is quality ammo.

Speaking of quality ammo, ever notice how the overwhelming majority of kabooms involve handloads?
 
Depends...

Depends on the circumstances, as kcub said.

I've stopped trusting one handgun for SD. My Springfield 1911 ran flawlessly on all types of ammo (except CCI Blazers) for over 1,000 rounds. It was my EDC. Then one day, about 200 rounds after replacing the recoil spring, I started getting FTFs about every 30 rounds. Switched my EDC to a 2" S&W Model 15 and never carried the 1911 again. In fact, I lost interest in it for several years, but I recently had a friend check the mainspring tension of that new spring I put in with only about 200 rounds on it, and it measured something like only 13 lbs :eek: . So we swapped it out, not it's just a matter of trying it.

I'm not sure that I'll ever start carrying it again, I'm pretty much a wheel gun guy for SD and prefer to stick to one manual of arms.
 
I stop trusting them right before I sell it. If it's a favorite steel gun I will work with it and try and get it right. If it's a plastic/poly gun I don't waste much time with it. It's safe to say if I get rid of one that I couldn't get to run right, I may buy another. One that don't work can happen, two that don't work is non performence and I will never buy again.
 
When do I stop trusting one of my handguns?

Hmm... well, I suppose if a handgun in my possession failed to 'fire - eject - extract' or stove piped, or the gun came apart upon firing, then I would stop trusting it.

However, the handguns that I:

1) shot as a kid (Ruger Single Six)
2) shot during my Navy years (Military 1911)
3) shoot during my current ownership (SIG Sauer P226, Browning Buckmark)

... none of the above problems have ever happened. They are as reliable as death and taxes.

I don't know if I'm smart, or lucky, or maintain my guns just above the requirement (cleaning, lubrication, feeding), or just have a thing for time-tested design, but they run like a Swiss watch (I have a Swiss watch, the expression is no joke)
 
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just one time

My EDC quit working one day at the range with about 300 rounds down the pipe, had to send it in for repair. Worked perfect afterwards until the grip broke which was no big deal as the gun still fired perfectly. Then last week with around 1000 rounds total the hammer spring just broke.
In my opinion they just use cheap parts to build the gun so I carry it no more. I'll fix and trade it off.

My other quit trusting it gun doesn't qualify cause I never could trust it. EVER
 
I have, for decades, let my non daily carry guns run fairly dry and dirty. Some didn't get good clean and lube for years at a time. Did it deliberately, to see at what point they would choke.

With the exception of a couple of .22s, never had on fail before I finally broke down and cleaned/lubed it.

When would I stop trusting my gun? When it failed to work under conditions where it always worked before.

Now, bad ammo is another thing entirely.

Some of my guns have never gotten to where I trust them 100%, most others have.

I trust my car to start every time I turn the key. But I have also had batteries fail on me. Why would you expect anything else from machinery?
 
I only have one gun that falls into that catagory. It is in a tackle box in my dad's boat. It was given to me with the tackle box years ago. It is a cheap scrap metal gun. The venerable Jennings J-22. It is gaurneted to jam at some point when firing. If it falls in the lake I will miss the lures in the tackle box, not the gun.

I do not trust it, never have, never will. It was a jam-o-mattic before it was given to me. Some small things were done to make it less of a jam-o-mattic. Though it still will jam at some point when firing a magazine of ammo.
 
When she lied to me,,,

She always implied I was her favorite,,,
That she would never perform as well for another.

In return I always bought her the finest oils,,,
Fed her nothing but the best cartridges,,,
Handled her with tenderness and care.

But then my friend asked for a dance with her,,,
And she shot better for him than for me.

I was heartbroken,,,
Absolutely devastated,,,
I'll never trust another again. :(

Aarond

.
 
My question is when do you, personally, STOP trusting a handgun? Specifically for this discussion, one that is intended for personal protection/self defense purposes.
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When is doesn't go BANG anymore! BTW, I tend to not trust anything mechanical.
 
What is the ethical thing to do with an unreliable pistol? Do you just trade it in at a LGS knowing that a potential buyer will get your old unreliable pistol? I always assume that any firearm in the used display case is going to be a problem gun.
 
In 1998 or 99, I bought a Kel Tek P-11, took it to the range, fired 32 rounds,
and the trigger broke ( the linkage I think), my dealer sent it back, they fixed it , and I got it back in about 2 weeks.
Even after several hundred, trouble free rounds, I still don't trust it, I shoot it some times, but will not carry it, and will not buy another Kel Tek.
My oldest son, has one that he has fired, probably a thousand rounds through, without any problems. :mad:
 
There are 3 parts to the OP question

First, after testing and declaring the piece as a SD gun any failure to fire must be explained, fixed, and recorded. Period.

Second, Any SD has a PM schedule before issue or it's not a SD gun.

Third, on the 2nd unexplainable failure to fire, the gun, and all its parts, is sent to Davy Jone's Locker.

Once you have a clear understanding of the term, 'PM Schedule', the 3rd part won't seem so harsh. Then you will have fight the other armouer to see who gets to throw the piece overboard.
 
Do you just trade it in at a LGS knowing that a potential buyer will get your old unreliable pistol?
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People try that every day. I've got a detailed set of checks I run on every used gun that crosses the counter. Sometimes, I don't even get as far as stripping the gun before the seller realizes what I'm doing and backs out.
 
I've got a detailed set of checks I run on every used gun that crosses the counter. Sometimes, I don't even get as far as stripping the gun before the seller realizes what I'm doing and backs out.
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Would you let a prospective customer run all of those same checks on a used gun that you're offering for sale? I've seen several gun shops that don't even want you to dry-fire their used guns, much less actually (gasp) field-strip them.
 
they all need service at some time.

When my trusted smith tells me there is a problem he cannot fix ... then

Snake
 
There are just too many scenarios that could cause me to not trust a gun, but I've had a couple of guns that I didn't trust for CCW.

One was my Glock 21. For some reason, that gun was just not accurate at all. At 7-10 yards the best I could get was an 8" group. I tried different types of ammo. FMJ, JHP, expensive, cheap, match, target... I even tried it on a rest. I rented a 9mm glock at the range one day and fired 3 fairly quick shots that were all touching each other at 7 yards so I know it wasn't a glock thing, it was just that gun. But I couldn't trust a gun that I might miss my target by 8 inches.

The second gun I didn't trust was a S&W 386NG. The snub nose .357 mag was a nice gun but, from what I was told, due to S&W using shorter firing pins, the gun would have random issues with certain ammo. Magtech most commonly would just fire from that gun. The firing pin would strike the primer too light and not ignite. It did it with a few other brands more randomly, however it was enough to cause me to leave it at home. Even after I installed the longer firing pin I still just didn't trust it and ended up buying a Beretta PX4 compact to replace it as a CCW weapon.
 
It seems like the trend here is that if you got the gun with problems, it just tended to always have problems or got fixed. If the gun doesn't come with the problems and has been broken in and cared for, it seems to last forever. Now I don't shoot as much as most on this forum and the most any of guns has seen is maybe 1000 rounds of my own accord, but I have some old stuff that I'm sure was shot to heck and they run like sewing machines. I do, however, keep my guns clean and lubed. I've owned enough music gear that's broken down on me that I regularly maintain my firearms. Only thing I regularly maintain since I don't own/need a car!
 
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