Least/Most High-Maintenance Pistol You’ve Owned

[HKUSP]

Least amount of trouble? Bulgarian Makarov. I own three, and rotate them. Zero issues with any of them.

Worst gun? Beretta 21A. I never got it to run right.

 

[Trigger Time]

Most: 1911's. They are great guns but they are antique designs.

Least: GLOCK
The battle pistol of the MODERN world. If you are a ****-up, this pistol is for you too! Nothing beats a GLOCK period. Just doesnt.

 

[JohnP82]

Least maintenance for me is any of my Glocks.
Can't really say I've had a high maintenance firearm, but my pmr30 is probably the only one that gives me problems. Feeding issues with a variety of different ammo.

 

[churchmouse]

Most: 1911's. They are great guns but they are antique designs.

Least: GLOCK
The battle pistol of the MODERN world. If you are a ****-up, this pistol is for you too! Nothing beats a GLOCK period. Just doesnt.

 

[Usmccookie]

Most: 1911's. They are great guns but they are antique designs.

Least: GLOCK
The battle pistol of the MODERN world. If you are a ****-up, this pistol is for you too! Nothing beats a GLOCK period. Just doesnt.

Now you went and did it...

 

[88E30M50]

I’ve had a couple that had teething issues but were great once broken in. My P938 needed about a 500 round run in before it would run well enough to carry. That was about 200 rounds of iffy reliability with 300 rounds of working well enough to trust.

My first G19 took 150 rounds before it would cycle a full mag without issues but was fine past that.

The Walther PPK had issues right up through the 500 round mark but was good after.

I’m not one to get rid of a pistol that does not work. If I sell with full disclosure, I lose my shirt, so I don’t do that. I can’t abide by the idea of selling an unreliable gun without full disclosure though, so I stick with them and figure them out. Sometimes at the end I’ve bonded with them and they are keepers. Other times, I’m just tired dealing with them and once they will do 200 clean rounds, I’ll send them off elsewhere.

 

[x10]

Least is easy Smith M&P in 40, 2200 rounds in one 3 day weekend and finally had to clean it when so much bullet lube had built up in the gun that it was hitting me in the face when I shot it. It was still running fine but I didn't like getting hit. I don't have a round count for my M&P's but its up there

MOST
Easy also Smith Model 52- It's an exercise in impractical firearms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_&_Wesson_Model_52

 

[cce1302]

Most maintenance: I guess the 22/45 that I bought in non-working order. the guy didn't know what was wrong with it, only that it didn't work. I repaired it with a $100 volquartsen accurizing kit and had a total of $200 in the pistol. It's one of my favorites now.


So anybody got any non-working ruger pistols they want to get rid of??

 

[Vigilant]

Least: Glock, particular the 19

Most: Toss up between any of the three Tauri I’ve owned, or 1911’s except after extensive work, or my WC CQB.

 

[Trigger Time]

Hey I said they were great guns. I like antiques

 

[russc2542]

To my knowlege, I've not owned a "high maintenance pistol".

I have had 2 that wouldn't run anything but brass-cased ammo, however. A 9mm Walther P99 Pre-AS trigger'd gun, and an early production Springfield EMP (3 digit serial number)

Neither of them would feed cheap steel-cased milsurp ammo. That was a bummer. I'd have given the nod to the Walther as "probably should have eaten it" - but it didn't.

The different P99 triggers were concurrent, not sequential. Interesting as my P99 ate several hundred rounds of tulammo is a hard training day after my P30 had two times the previous day where it didn't fully remove the spent case from the chamber.

While my HK P7 M8 has the most issues, it also probably has the highest round count in my collection. It's showing wear but it's good, honest usage-related problems.

Calico 951 (skeleton stock, carbine, 9mm) I would say is the most finicky to run... there's just such a long distance between empty and shoving two boxes of ammo in the mag I can't blame it though. I found if you add another 2-3 turns to the mag spring every 25 rounds, it feeds great though. Also found it can get hot/dirty enough to slamfire or binary fire or something like that causing double-taps but that mechanical accuracy doing so is superb (95% overlapping).

S&W 2206 needs the chamber cleaned every 1-200 rounds or the cases stick.

SA XDm has about the simplest takedown/assembly process I've ever seen. Actually, I take that back, the P99 is simpler.

P30 probably has the most rounds per cleaning but also gets cleaned due to being carried as much as used.

I'll be honest though, I don't run most of what I have hard enough to really test it out.

 

[two70]

I've never owned a handgun that wouldn't run reliably when reasonably clean and only a few that would have problems even when pretty dirty. Like all Ruger Mark IIIs mine is a pain to take down completely for a thorough cleaning but I've never felt the need to take it down completely in several thousand rounds. I just brush the crud out of the chamber and breach face, apply lube and then run it for another 500+ rounds. I've owned or own Springfields, S&Ws, Rugers, Berettas, Sigs, Walthers, Glocks, and even a couple of Taurus autos and all have ran fine for me.

 

[Sigblitz]

Pistols
Least trouble and maintenance, any of my Glocks.
Most, 1911's. Grips come off too to keep them dry.

 

[Hohn]

I've never owned a high-maintenance firearm or one that's unreliable.

My SW Victory was a little problematic at first. T-bolt ammo leaded it up something awful, the upper would come loose, etc. Once I learned to avoid Rem ammo and put a little more torque on the set screw, it's been solid.

P320 had major light primer strike problems at first (others have documented this with P320s). After a detail strip and clean, it was 100% for several hundred rounds before we parted ways.

P-07 has been 100% with only some improperly loaded handloads as a problem.

Glocks were 100% too.

DD eats everything (more importantly, ejects everything), but I've had some light primer strikes with Wolf when the gun was dirty. Not sure what's up with that. Some high primers have been found.

New Savage 12 with that execrable blind magazine is hideous. It's a range toy or I'd never tolerate that. I'll end up converting to DBM eventually, I'm certain. A gun that needs to be removed from the stock to clear a jam is a no-go.



Ain't nobody got time for finicky, high maintenance or cranky firearms.

 

[AlVine]

Most maintenance is a Colt Combat Target. I took it to the Chapman Academy for their advanced pistol class quite a few years ago. It shoots great, it’s the most accurate 1911 I have, but it was driving me nuts during the class because the barrel was leading so badly. I had use a Lewis Lead Remover every few magazines. FMJ only for that one.

 

[Fullmag]

Roger Mark III heavy barrel. After 101 rounds it would jam up. Then to take apart to clean it and put back together was very difficult. Traded it off with full disclosure.

 

[Old Dog]

I have never owned a high maintenance firearm of any kind, and if I had, it would have been sold quickly. Come to think of it, I have only sold 4, ever, and only because someone begged me to sell to them.

 

[lawyers guns and money]

No high maintenance problems here. I do clean them a lot, sometimes even if they don't need it, lol. I like to remain familiar with the disassembly and reassemble process.