Parts wear out. It's a fact of life. But on a carry weapon, it could be fatal. The following video shows a guy who is training, apparently as part of a class, when his Sig 365 suddenly stopped working. It wasn't an issue of a failure to feed or failure to extract--rather, it was quickly discovered, the trigger spring had broken. The trainer running the class had seen this happen enough that he actually had some extra springs on hand, and the problem was quickly fixed. But if it had been in a defensive gun use, in which case the pistol would have been out of action when it most needed, the results could have been more catastrophic.
I don't believe the video was intended to pick on the Sig 365. The video's author mentions that the handgun is extremely popular in his class which means, statistically, he is likely to see more failures involving that firearm, all other things being equal. The issue is that the owner of the firearm has put approximately 7,000 rounds through the firearm plus who knows how much dry fire practice, and the metal fatigue finally caught up with the spring.
The issue here is that certain parts--particularly springs--should be replaced after a set number of cycles to prevent a failure at a critical juncture. Greg Ellifritz, for instance, has written on this topic a number of times and, through various articles, recommended scheduled maintenance for several different springs in Glock pistols, including that the recoil springs be replaced after 3,000 to 5,000 rounds, and that trigger springs be replaced every 10,000 rounds (although, I think that should probably be every 10,000 trigger presses to account for dry fire practice); in a another post, he recommends against using aftermarket, third-party Glock recoil springs; in reporting on an AR armorer's class he attended, the instructor recommended replacing the extractor spring assembly annually on any AR that saw extensive use; he elsewhere notes that Glock slide lock springs seem prone to failure. Apparently earlier models used too narrow of a spring, but can be replaced with wider springs.
An NRA Family article from 2018 stated: "The springs on a modern striker-fired pistol should be good up to about 5,000 rounds. Just this week I participated in the FN Armorer course for the FNS-9 and FNS-40. Mike Clark, Dealer Support Representative with FN America, mentioned the slide catch spring was the most vulnerable after 10,000 rounds. So as usual, check your owner’s manual and learn the factory recommendations for your particular firearm, but also use common sense."
VIDEO: "SIG P365 Massive Failure"
CarryTrainer (6 min.)
I have contacted manufacturers about guns of theirs that I had just purchased. I asked if they had a kit of maintenance parts for sale. Inevitably, no. What about a list of parts that I might expect to replace over time? Also no. When my employers sold expensive gear commercially, they had to have "spares" kits that could be purchased at that time (and a guarantee to have them in stock for a certain number of years too). Maybe manufacturers should treat retail customers as well.
ReplyDeleteMost shooters use their firearms so little and so infrequently, that the manufacturers probably see no reason to produce or maintain such lists or parts because the average shooter won't shoot their firearm enough to wear out most parts.
Delete".....manufacturers probably see no reason to produce or maintain such lists or parts..."
ReplyDeleteWhich is an opportunity for aftermarket suppliers to fill that need. There are "lost parts kits" available for AR-15s which, occasionally, can be invaluable, and are usually cheap enough that it's *almost* practical to throw away all but the one part you need. Several places, Amazon (sometimes) among them, sell "snap cap vials," the 5 - 12 dram sizes very useful for storing small parts. Pro Tip: when filling a vial with small parts, label the vial.
Back when I was shooting Single Stack a lot I did "calendar driven maintenance;" I learned years ago that tracking dates was easier than tracking vehicle mileage, and that mileage may vary by "calendar interval" but in a reasonable manner - a 3-month period with higher than usual mileage was uncommon, and usually meant more highway miles than city miles which are easier on the vehicle - so I performed vehicle maintenance on a calendar schedule. Turns out if one's shooting is fairly consistent over time - both practice and matches - it's easier to set up gun maintenance the same way, and doing PM on a schedule - for anything - is much easier and less mentally taxing than break-fix type of repairs. "But that way I'll wind up throwing away parts that are still good" you say; probably so, but if you have the ability to predict the exact service life of a part you have a skill the rest of us are missing.
I've picked up a couple extra "oops" kits and similar for the AR to have some spare parts on hand, but I haven't seen the same for other firearms. I guess they don't have the popularity.
DeleteI believe it is Tom Givens who recommends your carry gun be kept low round count and purchase an exact duplicate for training. Run the carry gun periodically (quarterly?) for no more than a couple hundred rounds to confirm function.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense.
Delete