We always say that very few people are ever going to fire this round count in their lifetime but it is not so impossible. Let’s say that you fire 200 rounds each month, in ten years that’s more than 20 thousand rounds!
My question here is: Has anyone of you put 20K through a single pistol and if the answer is yes then what parts have you replaced?
I fired 65K through one Second Generation Glock 17 over a 13 year time frame. It was my teaching/training class gun. I replaced the recoil springs, trigger return springs, locking block and trigger pin as far as small parts. The slide cracked at 55K and Glock replaced that for no charge. The locking block and trigger pins were replaced due to breakage (at very high round counts) and the springs were replaced as a PM measure.
The gun had a total of THREE malfunctions in its service life and all of those involved reloaded ammo. It never had a factory round malfunction.
I currently have another G-17 (a Third Generation OD frame) that has 17,318 rounds through it in a three year, five month period. The only parts that have been replaced have been the recoil spring and trigger return springs, again on a PM basis. It’s had two stoppages from underloaded reloaded ammo.
Yes, at least two STI 2011 pistols. One is probably around 40K, other 15K-ish. Only thing I ever replace were recoil and firing pin springs. I have many friends with STI pistols with well over 100,000 rounds, some likely around 500K. The latter have been through a couple barrels and at least on the second slide, maybe third.
I have a Gen 3 G19 with about 22k through it. I don’t have the exact round count though. All I have replaced is a few recoil and trigger springs and that’s just for my own peace of mind.
One malfunction to date and it was shooting reaction hand only while laying across a vehicle front seat. I wussed and had a dreaded “limp-wrist” malfunction. I love that pistol. One of my 3 G19’s. That one has the highest round count of the three.
I have a GenII Glock 19 with a little over 23k rounds through it. I replaced the recoil spring at 15k just because. I kept it as a back up. I recently put an NY1 trigger and a 3.5# connector in it but they weren’t replacing broken parts. It shows very little sign of wear anywhere. Never had an issue with it. A few ammo related stoppages and a bad magazine I use to intentionally cause FTFs, but that’s it…
I have a Glock G35 with 40K+ rounds (didn’t keep count 1st yr) through it. I had one Glock OEM part break - Glock Slide Lock Spring
I also have a Gen II G19 with 23,000 rds. Nothing ever needed replacing. However, I would take it to GSSF matches each year and the Glock armorers would replace many of the small parts for free.
I would also replace the recoil springs on both pistols at regular intervals.
I have one pistol that is far far beyond that number. 1 other pistol nearing that mark and one about half way there.
So far this week, between yesterday and today, my highest round count pistol racked up another 750 rounds. And its only Wednesday. Actually I am done shooting for the week, I think. 
2 1/2 weeks straight of giving classes and I am ready for a break from the range for a few days.
Yes 2, #1 Colt 1991 30,000 rds, replaced the Recoil, mainspring,firing pin springs, Hammer, Sear, disconnector. Sold it and it is still running strong. #2 Kimber custom target 2 Springs every 3,000 rds had it hard chromed at the 10,000 round mark by Tripp Research nothing ever broke traded it for a STI Trojan in .38 Super.
I had a early G34 with over 100,000 thru it before the slide cracked. Glock replaced it free. I have a G17 with over 40000 thru it and a couple of 1911’s with over 50000. Have a Browning HP with over 60000 thru it but had to replace the barrel and a cracked slide. I had a S&W 41 that i fired over 150000 round thru it before I sold it. It is still running fine. I have been shooting hand guns for over 43 years and have worn some out some but most keep shooting with proper care and maintenance. Revolvers a rethe hardest to keep shooting especially magnums.
I have shot well north of 40k through my oldest pistol, a P7M8. I have shot well north of 20k through my G17.
I don’t have my Beretta data at hand. SIG, Smith, and HK:
SIG P220ST (Nov’02 to Sep’03): 24,193
[ul]
[li]at 18,787 the takedown lever broke, disabling the gun; replaced
[/li][/ul]
SIG P226R 9mm (Feb’03 to Sep’04): 36,783
no broken parts
SIG P229R 357 (Oct’05 to Feb’06): 19,319 … close enough?
[ul]
[li]at 13,783 the takedown lever failed and needed to be replaced
[/li][li]at 13,863 the extractor broke, disabling the gun; replaced
[/li][/ul]
SIG P226R-NAVY (Aug’06 to Mar’07): 29,446
[ul]
[li]at 28,188 the extractor broke, disabling the gun; replaced
[/li][li]at 29,158 began getting hammer follow; deadlined gun
[/li][/ul]
S&W M&P9 (Sep’07 to Feb’09 primarily): 31,165
[ul]
[li]at 12,432 the mag catch was replaced due to mags dropping in recoil
[/li][li]at 21,690 discovered the slide was cracked; gun still ran fine; replaced
[/li][li]at 26,087 second mag catch was replaced due to mags dropping in recoil
[/li][/ul]
S&W M&P9 (Apr’08 to Apr’09): 66,217
[ul]
[li]at 32,427 the trigger spring broke; replaced
[/li][li]at 43,361 the right wing of the takedown lever broke; no effect on gun; replaced
[/li][li]at 62,333 discovered the slide was cracked; gun still ran fine; replaced
[/li][/ul]
HK P30 (May’09 to present): 53,482
[ul]
[li]at ~19,250 the trigger spring broke; replaced
[/li][li]at 36,059 the sear spring broke; gun continued to work in traditional DAO mode; replaced
[/li][li]at 50,002 discovered the firing pin spring was broken; gun was working 100% but primer indents were shallow; replaced
[/li][/ul]
This probably won’t come as a big shock to anyone but all of high mileage pistols are 1911. Only one has more than 20,000 rounds through it but, just for grins, I’ll post info on one other as some may find it useful.
1911 #1 - 50,000 +/- rounds all standard velocity 230gr FMJ… it might be a bit more or less but I stopped counting after about 48,000 so I no longer have an accurate mark. I replaced the recoil spring plug at about 2500 rounds when I noticed the open end starting to deform, the gun never stopped or hiccupped the plug just didn‘t look like it was going to last. At about 7500 rounds the main spring housing pin broke in half, the gun still worked but it was replaced immediately. At just over 40,000 the head of the firing pin began to deform and prevent it from coming completely through the firing pin stop, it never stopped the gun from firing but it was replaced.
1911 #2 - 15,010 rounds all standard velocity 230gr FMJ. The firing pin stop cracked at 12,850 rounds, the gun still worked but the part was replaced. This gun is half of a matched pair and its “twin”, which only has about 11,000 rounds through it, had the firing pin stop crack at just over 5000 rounds.
I had about 47k through my Walther P99 before the fire control assembly broke last summer.
Back in the day when I got ammo cheep where I worked and spent about 3 to 4 months of the year on the range, I managed to put in excess of 25K through my issued Smith 5906. Shot a lot of USPSA at the time as well.
Parts breakage included trigger play spring (2 or 3 times), gun still runs trigger just “floops” forward when in single action. Ejector spring broke, gun still ran, mag disconnect just didn’t work. I believe I replaced the extractor once as well. Recoil springs and firing pin springs were replaced on a PM schedule.
I have a 9mm M&P well on the way to 20k as well. 14k right now with recoil spring and trigger spring replaced (PM).
Don’t have anywhere near that on my 1911s. 45 ammo is EXPENSIVE!
Okay, dumb question time:
What is the easiest, quickest and most efficient way to keep an accurate round count on a particular firearm?
If you take multiple firearms to the range to get some training in, and you’re constantly reloading and bullshitting with your buddies and the pace is pretty fast, how do you guys make sure to keep track of round counts for one or two (or five) guns when you’re out training for the day?
With my carbines, if I have preloaded all my mags to 28 rounds, then I simply make a pile of empty mags on the deck next to the carbine that went through all those mags. But it doesn’t always work out that easy.
And with handguns it’s impossible to do it that way because I only have 6 mags for my Glock 19, and my Glock 26 shares the same 6 mags as well.
I know it’s kind of a dumb ass question here guys, but I’m sure there’s an easier way to go about it that doesn’t give me a headache when I try and think back to how many mags I went through with which gun.
Semper Fi,
Paul
I don’t think there is one. During my “Break my P2000/Hk45 days” I was pretty scrupulous about separating my ammo, usually by only brining one gun of the caliber, etc. Since I was keeping up with the threads/blogs I was very careful. It ended up being a lot of work.
Precision Rifles is pretty easy for me as I keep very good records (dope book) on the ones I shoot or own.
For personally owned handguns, I only have a good count for 2 of them. Some have what I would consider reasonable estimates, while others I have no clue.
I also keep reasonably accurate round count / records for 75 Carbines, 12 bolt rifles, 75 pistols, 25 shotguns, 25 subguns, which I try to keep on a regular maintenance schedule. I would say that I am probably within +/- 5% or so.
I am not as particular about a true round count of the pistols and our M4A1’s, but I can keep a pretty close guesstimate based on weekly averages. I do the ammo requests / ammo management for my particular unit and I know what ammo goes where within the division, so I can come pretty close to knowing my own use, as well as divisional use.
Greg is right it is a huge pain in the ass. I usually take a certain amount of ammo to a class or training session, for example I ran a two-man team tactics class over two days and took 500 rounds. After teaching and shooting I had 50 rounds left. I just round my counts off to the nearest 50 or 100 rounds.
I try to keep a decently accurate round count but it’s not down to the exact round.
Dumb answer: You can’t get there from here.
I rarely bring multiple guns to the range. If I do, I either shoot one at a time (keeping track) and/or I set aside one box of ammo at a time per pistol. Having paper and pen as part of your range kit helps a lot…
The simple reality is that if you want to keep a serious log for your guns, you need to be serious about it.
My first 5906 went well over 50,000 rounds, swapped recoil springs as needed, had to replace the extractor spring once due to getting extractor bounce stoppages.
The steel frame S&Ws are very solid guns.
I’ve got over 10,000 rounds through my duty G17 in the past three years.