Anyone Ever Actually Wear-Out Their Pistol?

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

CWL

Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2003
Messages
6,526
Folks, we still see postings where people are 'worried' that they will harm their pistol by shooting it too much. (I am also amused by the people who get worried because they 'scratch' their Glocks.)

Has anyone ever shot their pistol so much that it has actually worn-out? I mean to the point that you have to throw it away? I know that it happens but I've never seen one.

How about to the point of wearing-out the bore or chamber throat?

Regular service of parts doesn't count, but a complete rebuild would count I guess.

I've been shooting for over 20 years but haven't come close with any of my guns, but 10-15K rounds is about the max I have for my regular shootin' irons.
 
I haven't, I have too many guns to spread the load over. But a friend who shoots PPC has worn out two .38 Specials. One, the barrel was simply shot out, with about an inch and a half of rifling simply gone from the forcing cone forward. Readily replaced. The other's action was very loose and out of time as well as the bore eroded. Unfortunately, that one was a rather peculiar gun set up by a gunsmith since deceased and nobody doing the work any more. I think it is just on the shelf.
Round count in the neighborhood of 150,000 each.
 
I have a sig 220 that I had worn out the sear and hammer (only turned into a DAO, but still fired) the barell about 1" ahead of the chamber was just about out of rifling, but still shot fairly well, replaced both and it's back to shooting 1 big ragged hole at 25ft and no jams. good for another 100,000 rounds.
 
I had a Llama Max-i .45 that I wore out the barrel and extractor.
actually just the barrel, the extractor broke.
the barrel was smooth, inside, after about 25,000 rounds
 
There was the one guy here with the Walther 22 that had 150,000(?) rounds through it and just cracked the extractor. Closet thing I've seen in real life is a SA 1911 with 30,000 and no visible internal wear at all to my untrained eye. I'll wear out whatever you want if you'll just send me the ammo. I could easily waste 1500 rounds a week. :D
cool thread
 
I don't know if this one really counts as "worn out", but I just broke the frame rail on a Glock 17.

It's an E-series and the problem was known 4 years ago. I decided to just keep shooting it until it completely failed. About 7,000 rounds or so and the left-rear rail just fell off.

Actually, I'm disappointed. I was just getting good with it again and now I'm down a pistol for 4-8 weeks! :mad: I really anticipated the rest of my lifetime with nothing more serious than some springs, ammo and maybe a set of night sights.
 
I haven't, I have too many guns to spread the load over.
Click to expand...
Ditto. My CZ-75B probably gets the most use. I must have almost 2k through it and it hardly shows any real wear. Just a few external scuffs and some shiny spots on the rails, but the slide's still tight. The only parts failure was a roll pin that came loose.

I'd have to think that completely wearing out a good quality handgun where it's unserviceable, is pretty rare unless you are a competition shooter or a professional shooter: full time SWAT or Military 'operator' where daily practice with the same gun is part of your job description.
 
I wore out the top end of a used Browning Buckmark after the 2K rounds I shot through it. It set me back all of $50.00 to set it right to the world. After another 5K the top end loosened up regularly however it'd only require a cursory tightening of the two screws that hold the slide on. I'd ballpark that total round count as north of 100k as the recoil buffer and ALL top end parts on it were beaten smooth like a worn out tent stake! I frequently mention that I wish my car was built as well as my guns.
 
Not all by myself but I do have one that’s pretty worn out. The firing pin has been welded back on the hammer. The hole through the center of the cylinder is quite wobbly. The pin that retains the cylinder in place has been broken in half and brazed back together. The cylinder will still line up to fire but its loose when locked I don’t think I would want to shoot it anymore.

My Dad told me he acquired this revolver, a used Hopkins and Allen .22 revolver, when he was 12 years old. Dad is now 86. He traded his neighbor his ice skates for it. When I was in 8th grade I built a leather holster for it in shop. Yep, they let me take the gun to school and build the holster. Almost every school day for several years I would spend my part of my lunch money to by a box of .22 shorts. It was .35 for 50 bullets and .05 for milk and .05 for an apple or a banana. Mom knew about it and didn’t really care. Stopped on the way home from school under a railroad bridge and shot cans or whatever almost every night.

Don’t really have a clue as to how many rounds have been fired with it but as far as I know all the springs etc. are still the originals.

Through the years between my dad and I we pretty much wore this one out but I still have it and if needed it would still shoot.

ha1.jpg
 
Handgun? No. I have an sp101 that's over 70,000 and still going strong.

Rifle? Yes. An old J.C. Higgins bolt action 22. Accuracy went to crap. Cleaned it up real good, and found out it'd finally turned into a smoothbore. It took 3 generations to do this though. Grandpa, my dad, and myself.
 
Read "SIXGUNS," by Keith

Elmer Keith wrote about shooting the rifling out of 1911A1s when he worked at Ogden Arsenal during WWII. He shot ball ammo and I don't think it took more than 1,500 or in the low thousands of rounds to shoot one smooth. Similar with the M1917 Colt and S&W revos. The jacketed ammo just wore the rifling away in short order. If you shoot lead, they will last indefinitely but he was shooting on Uncle Sugar's dime.

I'm operating from memory here about the number of rounds so don't quote me, but it's in there.
 
What Elmer said was 5000 rounds, which is still mighty few. But guns were softer then. A modern service or competition pistol firing jacketed bullets is good for tens of thousands of shots.
 
I've dry-fired a S&W Model 19 that was shot so much that the owner had to send it back to Smith more than once to be re-timed. It has BY FAR the smoothest action I've ever felt on a gun, including several custom S&W wheelguns. It almost worked itself.

The owner is a member here but I won't ID him unless he wants to chime in.
 
Friend of mine wore out the alloy frame of a Colt Lightweight Commander (shot it competitively in IPSC, Standard Gun) a few years back. He replaced the frame and was good to go - point being that parts wear out but can be replaced.
 
Timing-issue, as in not indexing the cylinder correctly so that lead gets shaved off the bullet and spits it out the side, I'm guessing?
 
Not yet...

Has anyone ever shot their pistol so much that it has actually worn-out?
Click to expand...

...but the oldest one I have is only I have is only 45 years old. Still shoots like new. Take care of them and they'll outlast you.
 
G34 has close to 9K rounds on it. Other then holster wear (it's my duty, and most times off duty weapon), sucker still runs like new. I think most modern firearms are stupidly durable.

Believe me I do however look forward to attempting to wear out every gun I own for the rest of my life :)

-Jenrick
 
A local veterinarian.

A local vet has worn out several Colt .22 revolvers. He had a farm about twenty minutes from me and would go out back and shoot at dragon flies in the swamp. He has three worn out revolvers and a fourth he seldom shoots now because he can't replace it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

M
  • Locked
Anyone ever wear out a shoulder rig?
Replies
2
Views
419
ktd
K
Obturation
  • Locked
Anyone completely worn out a handgun?
2 3 4
Replies
75
Views
4K
CDR_Glock
CDR_Glock
F
  • Locked
Frangible Bullets wearing out barrel
Replies
10
Views
4K
Zoogster
Z
S
  • Locked
Ever Retired A Handgun?
2
Replies
33
Views
2K
AirForceShooter
AirForceShooter
L
  • Locked
Pistol-Whipping...
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
Jet22
J
Back
Top