Breaking in a pistol?

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otis24

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Does removing the magazine and manually racking/working the slide serve as “breaking in” a pistol?
 
It doesn't hurt, but it doesn't get the full affect of something going bang and slamming things around a bit. I remember reading of a pistol smith (Tussey I think, in Carson City) who rigged up a device that he clamped his new pistols into that cycled them automatically 500 times just to loosen up the tightening of the rails a bit.
 
Kahr Arms now has a machine to cycle their new guns as an aid to break in.

Kahr always recommended a 200 round break in before trusting a defense gun, and that's still good common sense for any gun you're going to trust your life to.
 
Nothing wrong with using FMJ ammo to break in a new pistol, it's a lot less expensive that using premium ammo. I will say that once you've run at least 200 rounds of FMJ break in ammo that you should run at least 100 rounds of your carry ammo through it, just to be sure. Any hiccups should be reason to re-evaluate the reliability of the pistol.
 
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The best way to break in any firearm (regardless of brand, type, caliber and style) is to just shoot it. The springs will take a set, the rails will smooth out, any small burs inside a barrel's lans & grooves or chamber will wear smooth, and of course the firing mechanism will wear in and smooth out.

Of course the best part is you will become familiar with the gun by shooting it, learn its capabilities, nuances, and feel. I am quite lucky in that all of the semi auto guns I have ever owned have worked perfectly fine right out of the box. That said, there are some out there that will just need a few hundred rounds to get to the point of a smooth, reliable and properly operating firearm. Usually those more in need of a break in are the high end tightly fitted target guns or very inexpensive lower priced guns that have been fitted together by less skilled assemblers. I would not even consider carrying any firearm that I had not personally put at least 500 rounds through! If not for any other reason, it gives me confidence in the gun I am carrying to protect both my and my family's lives with.

Breaking in a gun with cheap FMJ is fine but PLEASE make sure you shoot at least 100 rounds of the ammo you will be carrying for SD! You want 100% reliability with the SD ammo being used.
 
There are a lot of complaints in gun forums about the modern manufacturers using the customer's as their QC or Beta testers. I'll admit to doing some of that myself.

But I think back 50 years and all the 1911's I had. Oh, they would run FMJ's just fine. But try to feed them hollow points and your warm gun happiness came to a screeching halt.

That led me to only trusting K and J frames for duty use and off duty self defense. Long retired now I still only have total faith in my 442. A Glock 42 is a close up second but I had a ammo issue a few years ago that so far, is behind me. Still the memory rattles around my head. This is what makes such strong believers of the revolver brethren.
 
FWIWI disassemble every new pistol I get. Having been “ mechanically inclined” since the 50’s and a machine tool tech I trust NO QC anymore. Only pistol that had no burrs, excessive tooling marks or other issues has been the Tisas 1911. I carefully inspect each part, deburring with a fine stone, clean and assemble. No issues and I know what the insides look like.
 
This is my opinion.

Breaking-in a new modern pistol for “bet your life on it”reliability is a thing of the past.

I’m talking about quality, CNC manufactured, factory semi auto pistols, and revolvers. I’ll use as an example, the new Colt revolvers, and new CZ pistols. I use those as an example because they’re what I have recent experience with. My Beretta 92, my old Colt 1911, and my SIG P220 were the same way. They worked perfectly from day one.

A good high quality gun is ready to go, out of the box. I’m going to split hairs here. There’s a difference between function testing and it being mandatory to run hundreds of rounds thru a gun before it works well enough to trust. Either it’s going to work, or it’s not. And if I have a pistol that can’t go through the first 200 rounds without a malf, I’m supposed to trust it after that? H no!

While I’m at it, I’ve been told (at the Corvette factory when I took the tour) that car engines no longer need break in. The machined surfaces are so smooth and hard nowadays, no break in is needed. They’d take a brand new engine and strap it to a dyno. Good enough for Corvettes;Good enough for me.
 
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Nope ...
Troy Landry would say ... Choot 'Em Otis ... Choot 'Em !

At one time 500 rounds was a good break in ... but with prices and availibility being what they are ... 200 rounds would be my minimum ...
but I reload , cast bullets and can get ammo !
Don't bet your life on something that isn't 100% reliable ...
You must be able to trust that gun enough to stake your life on it !
Besides ... shooting the gun helps you become a better marksman and in a gunfight only hits count ...so learn marksmanship ... spraying the area willy-nilly with 15 rounds is not my idea of marksman ship !
Gary
 
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At the lower end of semi-custom 1911s are Ed Browns which famously need 500 rounds put through them before he will even talk to you about possible issues.
Do not take that as an insult, it's just the way it is.

I wonder how those old 1911s back in the day that didn't run with hollow points would do with modern geometry magazine feed lips and hollow points?
 
SGT ROCK 11B said:
No.

In 2024 people have reported their brand new pistols not working from Day 1. Buying S&W is not a sure thing.
Click to expand...

A few years ago I bought a brand new Kimber K6 3" DAO. Simple huh? Dry fired find. First six round at the range I got three out and the cylinder jammed up. Got the cylinder open loaded six new rounds, two shots, jam. Sent it back, returned in a week with a replaced cylinder. Since then about 2,000 trouble free rounds.

But two things happened. One, I will never buy another Kimber, auto or revolver. Two, I've never carried the gun other than to the range in a bag.

Stupid way of thinking about a $1,000 gun with 2,000 rounds through it. But there it is. Fool me once...
 
OK, running the slide back and forth does nothing to knock down any minor tool marks or machining burrs in the trigger mechanism. Stamped steel parts can have a bit of raggedness on the edges of the part where the die didn't cut cleanly (Think the trigger bow or the trigger bar).

When we transitioned from S&W 3rd generation to the M&P40 1.0 the triggers were pretty gritty at first. After 4 days of transition training and ??? hundred rounds, they were all different pistols.

You can do much the same thing with dry fire, but a couple of hundred rounds is a good break in and familiarization. Plus, you've gotta get used to the trigger and the controls.
 
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