How many rounds before you trust?

[Echo40]

Personally, as long as my firearm can reliably cycle a full magazine or two without fail, then that's enough for me to trust it.

Folks often want to see their firearm go hundreds if not thousands of rounds without fail, but to me, that's excessive. I dunno about you, but I don't carry hundreds or thousands of rounds on my person, nor do I ever expect to need to shoot that much ammo in a defensive situation, so if my carry gun can cycle as much ammo as I regularly carry on my person, then it's good to go as far as I'm concerned.

In my experience, if I gun will cycle a magazine or two reliably, then it will continue to do so for many magazines more. So I shoot a couple magazines for reliability, the rest are just for fun.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

... how many trouble free rounds before you feel that you can trust a firearm without second guessing it?

It is a Training Issue.

You have a malfunction you should be able to work thru it.

 

[minconrevo]

For carry acceptance, my long-time rule has been 250 rounds of zero failure practice ammo, with a few rounds of what I am actually going to carry in it at the tail end. That's for a used gun that's new to me and has carefully been checked over for excellent condition/safety. For a new gun, its the obligatory (for me) barrel and general gun wear in that will come first. Can be as little as little as 100 factory rounds, as many as 400, with the mean around 250. Once the barrel starts shooting well and there are no burps, it is broken in.

 

[Well Armed]

I’ve got a new to me CZ Rami 9mm. I’ve experienced several FTFs/FTEs. My first trip out was with Fiocchi 115gr. Not sure if I used FMJ or JHP. Second trip out I used Remington 115 FMJ. A couple of failures. Today I cleaned and lubed, paying particular attention to oiling the guide rod. It is a two piece guide rod with an internal spring. I ran 50 rounds of Federal 115 FMJ with no failures.

I will make it out to the range again this week. I have about two mags full of Fiocchi 115gr FMJs and a mag full of Fiocchi 115gr JHPs that I will put through it.

I really like this pistol. If you’ve experienced failures in the past, how many trouble free rounds before you feel that you can trust a firearm without second guessing it?

It's a used gun. If I buy a used that I don't know it's history, i.g., round count, what OEM parts were changed, etc, that has problems, I send it to the manufacturer who will typically replace springs and other parts OR I will replace the springs (including mag springs) and other wear parts myself.

To answer your question, I typically will carry a gun after one range visit where I shoot a box of 50 to 100 rounds of ammo. Then from there, I may go to the range periodically (once a month or every other month as time permits) to put another 50 to 100 through the gun. If at anytime I have malfunctions, I would stop carrying the gun until I identified and fixed the cause.

 

[Autonomous]

My method is trying a spectrum of loads to check for compatibility issues, POA-POI, etc. Then, after a couple hundred successful, consecutive rounds of the chosen defense round, I have confidence in the combo.

 

[Denverd0n]

Sounds like the consensus is about 200 rounds, and that's what I consider a minimum. Then, after that, when I go to the range I always shoot a couple of magazines of my SD round before I switch to cheaper "range" ammo. This gives me a pretty high confidence level in the SD ammo that I am using.

 

[old tanker]

I make it a point to make sure the all the magazines I have for the gun, for sure any I plan to carry as spares, are reliable. They have to do everything they are supposed to do flawlessly. Troublesome magazines are gone. The only exception is for rare magazines for guns I like to shoot but am unlikely to ever carry for defense.

 

[kaaskop49]

IIRC, nobody has mentioned EXAMINING each round before introducing that round to the magazine/gun. I have had 2 revolver jams due to burrs on the case rim, rims that I had not physically examined by running a finger over them. Also found a 'carry' round, a R-P 125gr JHP .38+P with the primer seated sideways, a round I had loaded into a S&W HD for the trip home. Fortunately, a quiet trip. Can't be too careful...

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[Glenn R. McMannly]

300 ball, 200 hollows.

 

[mtgianni]

I'm a bullet caster so, 200-250 rounds of cast through it that are trouble free then 50 jacketed. I should probably mark magazines and make sure they are cycled equally.

 

[Donn]

Evidently, a lot of guys here hand load. That, or they have way more disposable income than me. 100-200rds of SD ammo? Around here, popular SD calibers go for a $1.00+ a round. Way above my pay grade.

 

[Bozz10mm]

200 rounds fmj with no malfunctions and then 50 rounds of hollow point with no malfunctions.

 

[AJ]

Evidently, a lot of guys here hand load. That, or they have way more disposable income than me. 100-200rds of SD ammo? Around here, popular SD calibers go for a $1.00+ a round. Way above my pay grade.

What are you using for self defense? 9MM, 38/357, 45, 10MM or ?

 

[Autonomous]

IIRC, nobody has mentioned EXAMINING each round before introducing that round to the magazine/gun...

Valid point.
I had a new factory cartridge fail to cycle through a new pistol. Not happy, this was to be my Ursus arctos horribilis country handgun.
I did a bit of an investigation, and it looks like the tongue on the UpLula magazine loader caught and bent a wrinkle on the case mouth. That there had been one cartridge that took extra effort to load in the magazine seems to confirm this theory.
No more problems after that outlier.
Note the loader was from Brownells. This is important as there are a lot of counterfeit UpLula products out there.

 

[Autonomous]

Evidently, a lot of guys here hand load. That, or they have way more disposable income than me. 100-200rds of SD ammo? Around here, popular SD calibers go for a $1.00+ a round. Way above my pay grade.

Spending $300 to prove a $500 dollar gun and then $150 for a holster pretty much can make a new gun unattainable on a tight budget.
Ball ammo is not en vogue but usually goes bang every time and that is the important thing. Everything else is secondary.

 

[AJ]

Ball ammo is not en vogue but usually goes bang every time and that is the important thing. Everything else is secondary.

Nothing wrong with hard ball ammo, it has been getting the job done for a long time. Placement of the bullet is the key.

 

[Terry G]

I have quite a few CZ's, from a CZ 82 to a TS2, and have never experienced a malfunction on a new out of the box CZ. A quick cleaning and lubrication. CZ P01 and 97 b for carry, also 75, 75D, 75 Compact, P-09 and Kadet Kit.

 

[Puller]

With a Glock I'm good with a couple of magazines. With a 1911, it'll take hundreds before I'll trust it for carry.

 

[Sgt. Buzzard]

For a Smith revolver 50-100 and I'm good. Quite frankly the only semi auto I've ever carried with complete trust was a SIG P225. Glocks, no not so much. Overrated with a ****** trigger and 2x4 grip.

 

[URIT]

Too many folks believe they have to carry JHP ammo for self-defense, which is what the munitions folks want you to believe.

Three decades of carrying FMJ in my off-duty/backup Colt DS and I always felt I could get the job done if needed.

JHP ammo is expensive now and running a couple hundred rounds as paper punch seems excessive.