ltwguns.com

On a gun (to be carried) fresh from a smith after a full custom build - how many rounds do you usually run thru your new custom CARRY gun before it is considered reliable to carry?

Then how many rounds of actual "self defense carry ammo" (Hydra Shok, Gold Dot, etc.) do you run thru it before deciding it likes that partcular flavor of ammo and is reliable for carry with that flavor?

God Bless

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God Bless
45Fundi

I'd say a couple hundred minimum, that's not to break it in, but to establish your confidence in it.

If you want to maximize the reliabiltiy testing with your expensive factory hollowpoint ammo, load your mags with your reloads or econo-ammo except for the last round-- that is, the mag will be full with a, say, Golden Saber on top. Cycle the GS in, drop the mag and top it off with another GS. Fire one, drop the mag and top it off with a GS, and so on. My feeling is that the top roundin a full mag is the most likely to give feeding problems, so this way, a box of 20 gives you 20 tests of this, instead of loading three mags with the GS and getting only three tests. I often do this in test firing, while at the same time shooting for group and to check sight-in. I feel that keeping the weight ofthe gun the same, and the drag on the slide the same, by topping the mag off after each shot, optimizes things for getting the best group.

Wow, thanks Ned! I thought the answer was gonna be A. B. C. or D. and as usual you guys know an E. to what seemed like the usual multiple choice test question. You just saved me a bunch of $ I owe you a beer!

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God Bless
45Fundi

This is a good question and I think the answers will be varied.

I like to shoot a new gun for almost a year before I am comfortable using it for carry. That being said I have owned less than six customs (and I sold two of them before I ever carried them for personal protection.)

Now as to how many rounds I put through it, best guess would be about 6k rounds over the year. (Including about 200 Wal-Mart Winchester hollow point and 100 golden sabers.)

I don’t keep track of a specific date when the year is up, nor do I have a specific round count. Somehow when the gun and I are well ‘aquatinted’ I feel comfortable carrying it. It just turns out that this takes me almost a year. This is surely overkill, its just what I do.

Jim

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An amateur practices until he gets it right. A professional practices until he never gets it wrong. Anon

I've always considered 200 rounds the 'proof test' before I carry a custom weapon. I've only had a problem one time, but that just illustrates how it CAN happen. The good news, is that if you do have a problem, the 'smiths on this forum will take care of you ASAP.

Ned's 'carry round on top' solution is a very good idea, and I'll use it when my next build comes home.

For me it isn't the number of rounds in general but the number of rounds that you plan on carrying. Just because your gun can eat 1000 rounds of winchester white box and still run when dirty it doesn't mean it will run well with Gold Dot's, Corbon or Hydra Shoks or whatever floats your boat.

To that end if I carry a gun it has to go at least 300 rounds with whatever I plan on carrying during one single range visit. I don't clean the gun at all during that range trip and even one failure will disqualify that ammo from carry. I suppose that is fairly excessive as I won't carry a dirty gun but if the gun can run the ammo well when it is dirty than it should run it just as well when it is clean. It is fairly expensive to run 300 rounds of premium self defense ammo thru the gun as a test but it sure as heck beats the alternative.

Having said that Ned's advice is pretty darn good and will become part of my pre-carry break in routine.

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"Domari Nolo"

I shoot my carry guns each week, and each sees about 100 rounds per session. Usually after completing a single range session with no issues on a new pistol, I feel comfortable carrying the gun.

In my experience, 100 rounds in one session is enough to expose any teething pains. So far, I have only found one issue on a custom (as opposed to myriad issues on factory pistols) during such a test. The pistol in question, a Commander, failed to feed a round from slide lock. The issue was a combination of the lessened slide travel on a Commander, my technique of chambering a round from slide lock, and my comfort with the five-inch pistol. Basically the pistol would only balk when my technique was sloppy. But it was enough to disqualify that pistol from carry use.

As luck would have it, I ended up selling that particular pistol for the purchase amount.

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Scott

It has to run a weekend pistol class (typically 800-1000rds) and 150rds of my carry ammo before I will consider carrying it.

I've gotten pistols that were just great for the first 500rds and then started breaking things and/or doing freaky stuff.

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Julian

I don't bother to test fire the guns I build. I know they will run and I also know that for carry, all I need is some chest shots at 3-10 yards. I do not advise anyone else to do this, however.
I agree with the others that you should shoot it at least 100 rounds of very kind of ammo that you might want to use.

Are you serious ?

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Julian

Yes!

This is not sound advice to follow for anyone. You have to test fire your gun before carrying it. Despite the way they are built unforseen issues can happen that would preclude anyone's ability to shoot the gun properly.

Whether or not Dave has found that particular 'nirvana' in his guns is up to him. However, every single LTW smith and many others absolutely test fire the guns before the customers get them. Sure we all anticipate that they are going to run but I am not going to bet YOUR life on it. Not until we shoot them and make sure.

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton Jr

I agree with Steve. I was speaking of the true Custom 1911 guns I have been building for 20+years. I know how to do all the work inside and out to make these things run. I expect the people who end up with the guns to shoot them a lot. I expect them to adjust the sights for their eyes. I expect them to test them with all the different kinds of ammo they will use. If they do not run, I expect them to send them back.
They don't come back for reliablity issues. Once in a great while I see them again for barrel changes, removing a compensator so it can be changed into a carry gun, etc.
Thanks to the help of a lot of these smiths here, I have taken "tid bits "from all of them for over 20 years and I know how to build Custom Guns. I have had the very best machinst/smiths do my machine work for years.
I don't do work for the public any more. I do stuff for my own amazement and for fun. I am retired and am not looking for any business.

I'll whole-heartedly second what Steve has stated, there are too many variables at work to blindly disregard test firing.

Test fire your guns people, not doing so is just plain and simple stupid and, although I would think this to be obvious, test firing the gun is the only conclusive way to know that the gun functions correctly.

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Heirloom Precision
http://www.heirloomprecision.com

oh yeah,, who would be crazy enough to not WANT to shoot a custom gun that they have $$$$$ up the ying yang invested in?? especially if they are gunna carry it.