Correct, thank you, I meant second strike capable.
Got you. That feature, while may have a use… is far from useful.
When our agency switched from .40 to 9mm… it was also from H&Ks to Glocks. The H&Ks were around years before I came on, but from what I heard, the decision to go with the LEM was due to BP view of wanting second strike in the environment they were predominantly in (southern border area). BP had a big hand with the move to Glock, which is telling in what they wanted more than second strike; a full size (47) and compact (19) pistol option and RDO ready. We initially were issued Winchester Ranger 147 grain until Speer G2 147 grain was put out in the numbers that we could get everyone carrying it. The Winchester scared most of us out the gate, since the bullets looked like they were corroding out of the newly opened cases… we were told that was fine, ammo is good to go.
With the transition course and 4 qualifications we ran before getting to the Speer… we had exactly 4 instances of a Winchester round not igniting on first strike. This is an AOR with approximately 60 sworn officers. One officer thru the transition and qualifications shot, on average, 1,000 rounds. Approximately 60,000 rounds… 4 failures to fire.
To go further into analysis… the 4 failures happened during qualification runs, where the course of fire is 46 rounds total. Any round that doesn’t go off, the instructor usually will have the officer retrieve it after that stage and toss back into their current magazine so the number would be accurate (if we shot 20 and have 26 left, the ejection means there is 25 in the gun/pouch and the last 4 round string would only be 3).
Out of those 4… how many went off the second time? Zero! We legitimately tried one about 10 times in 3 different Glocks… it refused to fire.
Listen, I really don’t have a dog in what you decide on for a new gun. I legitimately hope whatever it is works out great for you. But with bullet technology where it is at now, ammo failures are not common with quality centerfire ammo. If a round doesn’t go off, unless the gun is extremely worn or defective (reason why the primer didn’t ignite)… that round’s chance of going off again is low. Can it happen? Definitely… but just from odds and looking at it from a standpoint that I need this gun to work like RIGHT NOW… kicking that round out is the smarter move than trying again and again. That is why tap/rack is so widely drilled in training.
With that being said, another pistol that may be worth a look is the Beretta Cheetah line. Zero experience with the .380 guns, but my .32 Beretta 81 is awesome… and can’t wait to try it out with the suppressor when it warms up. There still are surplus pistols out there for a decent price and there is the new 80X.
