Is there any handgun that is 100% reliable?

If so, what gun would that be?

As a long time shooter of over 50 yrs, I would say there is not any gun that is 100% reliable. I have sustained problems with every gun at some time or another.

Yet today, I was given an article written by a gun person that said a certain gun was 100% reliable. Ironically, he was talking about a full size 1911, which is what I carry, use and trust. I just cannot say that even the 1911 would be 100% reliable.

Do you feel any gun is 100% reliable?

As much as we all would like to think something basic like a revolver would be "100% reliable", the truth is that ANY mechanical device can fail due to neglect, metal fatigue, or some other outside influence. 100% is an absolute. One failure, and you aren't at 100% any more.

I'm fairly certain the writer really meant that it was 100% reliable while he was using it, and perhaps extrapolated that anyone who cared for the gun properly would find it to be so. But... you just can't assume that. Especially in a semi-auto where different ammo types and loads have much more of an effect on operating performance than a revolver. I'm not talking about how accurate, I'm talking just about function; as in "does it go bang every time, or is there a failure you have to fix."

Yes I do. I feel many are IF good factory ammo is used and it hasent been to a gunsmith or bubba for any type of customiseing. Several times I have had misfires with factory ammo where the primers were well hit and the duds never went off.
I had a friend that was a career solider in world war two and korea. He said once in korea a gook rose up close in front of him, took aim at him. He said he absolutely knew he was dead and froze. The rifle clicked, misfired. They killed the gook and took his rifle apart and found the fireing pin had broke!
I bought a brand new s&w model 39 in the late 60`s. I bought some surplus 9mm ammo and took it out. My first try was a FTF. I think it was probley hard primered machine gun ammo. Yet I lost confidence in that gun and didnt keep it from just that unfair experiance.
I still belive wrong poor ammo and or bad reloads are most often the culpert. Autos may sometimes suffer from over greaseing especialy in very cold weather. I belive as far as smiths and colt revolvers go, IF unmessed with and good factory loads, the revolver should be 100 % reliable, if modern and not a messed up old dog.

Guns are like any other piece of machinery, nothing is 100% foolproof. I will say though I have not had any problems with the ones I own with the exception of my Bersa and the grips don't want to stay tight.

IMO a well designed and well maintained gun can be considered reliable, perhaps not to the level of 100% reliable, but good enough in terms of Defense.

I have a 40 caliber Sig Sauer P239 that I've now sent 2850 rounds downrange with in 3 years. In all that time I've only had one single malfunction and that was a failure of that one round of Federal Champion to fire in spite of being smacked 3 times and having a good deep dimple from the firing pin strike. Not quite 100% but good enough for me to trust it will function properly should I need it to.

I also have a model 620 revolver that has sent at least 2000 rounds downrange and it's never malfunctioned.

However, nothing in life is absolute and I don't expect that any gun will prove 100% flawless over it's lifetime. At some point that P239 will start to accumulate enough wear that I'll have to replace it. As for my 620, I don't think I'll live long enough to wear that one out. However, someday I'll probably happen on a squib and I'm certain that there probably is another round with a dud primer lurking out there somewhere.

I have firearms that have been 100% reliable for me, but I'm sure the design has failed somewhere, for someone. After all, it's a mechanical item and humans were involved. That's a sure recipe for failure.

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Insert short witty words here

Lets not forget about the two other components of the firearm.......the ammunition........and most importantly, the shooter itself.

I don't believe you can discuss reliability without discussing all three components.

I have a M77 Ruger that I have shot right much and one year about a week before deer season opened I wanted to kill a tin can and the gun wouldn't shoot. Something broke on the last shot when I had been shooting it the week before. I'm glad I wasn't hunting and a big buck standing in front of me. I was shooting a S&W 29-2. Quit shooting and loaded it and put it in the holster and carried it for several days and the next time I pulled it out of the holster it wouldn't shoot. Goood thing I didn't need to defend myself. They will all break sometime. You just don't know when. Larry

These were/are my carry guns. (But always and forever just one at a time. )

M10. Never a misfire.

M36. Ditto.

M60. Ditto.

P7-M8. Ditto.

P7-M13. Had a sight dot "back out;" otherwise "ditto."

M642. Never a misfire.

M60, NY-1. Ditto.

Be safe.

feralmerril, it's interesting you brought up the M39. I almost did in my post. When they first came out they had a horrible reputation for FTF/FTE, and being ammo sensitive. Yet in the three I've owned I've never had a single issue. Not one. Now, mine were all 39-2's, not the early version with long extractor, so perhaps the changes made by S&W are the reason. But my point was that two people can have the same model firearm and have completely different experiences and reactions to them. So it will also be with reliability.

Don't you wish you still had that original M39, considering what they go for nowadays?

I'd say this one is about as reliable as you can ask for: http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/...55-000rds.html

Feel? No. Observed? Quite a few, so far, including a few bottomfeeders. Actually, most of my revolvers.

I've got handguns that I trust 100%..but that still doesn't mean they won't fail.

My collection spans from the mid 1800's to early this year..revolvers auto-pistols..milsurps..police surplus..flintlock..percussian..cartridge handguns. Some old ones in excellent shape and some not..they will all break..get dirty..choke on a bad round..whatever can happen will happen to somebody.

Just buy a good 686 and tell everybody you own the finest handgun ever made..

I don't know much about guns. The only thing I do know is that we had a lot less FTF with revolvers than with semi autos.

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Fidelis Ad Mortem

Nothin is 100% except death and taxes. All the guns I carry in the field or shoot for SD have proven themselves 100% reliable for me. Target guns, antiques, etc I don't worry about it as much. I practice failure drills on the range. I feel being 100% proficient with your chosen guns is a much more dependable plan than betting that your gun is 100% dependable

I have a 6906 (EDC) that has had exactly one failure since 1994. My son was 5 at the time, and limp wristed it, catching the empty on the way out. I am absolutely confident I can draw and fire 12 rounds. I wish I could extend that confidence to include 12 hits. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

I have "a few" favorites that I would bet the farm on, but NOTHING built by man and operated by man is 100 percent. But I've seen a LOT of pistol rounds go downrange in the hands of a wide range of shooters.

My money would be on K frames or Security Sixes with loc-tited extractor rods and bone-dry extractor recesses..

There's something to be said for "One is none, two is one" though.

No matter what gun make or model, semi or revolver you can not base it on one gun, You need to take the stats of how many made, how many rounds fired under different conditions. Some will have a much higher success ratio.

But as mentioned, nothing is 100% but some come pretty close considering the numbers produced and how often fired. There are many out there. Revolvers do not always trump semis, some think they are simpler in design, they have more moving parts than semis. Will leave the brands out to avoid a this is better than that.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I worked at an indoor range for a couple years. Weekends only.

I saw with my own eyes, new, used, cheap, expensive, semi auto's, and revolvers that failed unexpectedly.

I've seen new guns that are highly regarded and highly touted as indestructable fail.

Because guns are man made, I don't trust them to be 100% reliable 100% of the time. So I carry two guns.

To add: there is a 1911 at the range which used to belong to me. It's in the rental case. It has close to 500,000 rounds through it. It may or may not have had feeding or extracing issues but it has never broken down completely.

That says something about an all steel gun.

I don't care what brand or type, if you shoot it enough it will break. For me that means nothing is 100% reliable. Larry

No as long as you are working with a mechanical object it can fail however there are a lot of Reliable weapons out there. I would trust Smith, Colt, Sig, Ruger mostly.

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20 years Mil, 18 yrs Sac P.D.

I have yet to find anything mechanical that I can't screw up.

I don't even think my trigger finger is 100% reliable.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

In my younger days I was an auto loader kind of guy, Browning, Colt, S&W, and Walther and without fail every one of them had, at one time or another, problems with FTF and or FTE at least once if not several times. I been shooting revolvers exclusively 30 + years and I’ve never had any function problems except the loose screw behind the trigger.

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Always Stay Strong!