how many rounds?

[crue2009]

how many rounds of self defense ammo should you cycle through your gun for it to be considered reliable in your handgun?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Supertac45]

Considering how much ammo is today and how hard it can be to find, I wouldn't carry any pistol that I haven't fired two hundred rounds of my carry ammo through without a malfunction.

[HiFreq47]

For me it's 250 to 500 rounds

1000 rounds before I trust a pistol

[retsupt99]

250-300 rounds of practice ammo, and another 20-50 rounds of my SD ammo.

[TerriLi]

It has to have atleast 2 magazines of SD ammo for me, anything less an that and I don't trust that ammo yet. The only exception to this rule is my sig, it hasnt had a problem with anything ever. I also only use brands I trust completely, Federal, Winchester, Remington. Anything else is just target ammo.

[shooterX]

I think it has as much to do with the ammoa s with the plaform your shooting it through. A qualtiy firearm is mor elikely to cycle most ammo with out issues. I tend to put at least 500 rounds of pratice ammo through a gun before carrying, and at least 50-100 (more if I can afford it) of SD ammo through the gun also. Others as noted like to put 200 or more through the gun, I can't always afford this. And I dobn't thisnk this necessarily applies to revolvers as much. JMHO.

[MLC]

Considering how much ammo is today and how hard it can be to find, I wouldn't carry any pistol that I haven't fired two hundred rounds of my carry ammo through without a malfunction.

same here, at least 200 rounds of my carry ammo. i've been putting off buying a couple pistols i want just because i havent been able to find all the ammo i want to break it in and test for reliability.

[BikerRN]

For an autoloading platform I put 500 - 1,000 rounds of "practice" ammo through the gun and then 200 failure-free rounds of my carry ammo through.

If I have a failure while testing the carry ammo I fix the problem and then start all over at round one with my carry ammo. The cost and availability of carry ammo limits my choices because I need enough of it to test my gun.

For a revolving platform I shoot at least one box of fifty through the gun, of my carry ammo.

Biker

[JohnHenry]

For an autoloading platform I put 500 - 1,000 rounds of "practice" ammo through the gun and then 200 failure-free rounds of my carry ammo through.

If I have a failure while testing the carry ammo I fix the problem and then start all over at round one with my carry ammo. The cost and availability of carry ammo limits my choices because I need enough of it to test my gun.

For a revolving platform I shoot at least one box of fifty through the gun, of my carry ammo.

Biker

Well said, and the same for me. 500 rounds minimum, preferably 1000, and several hundred of the SD round that you will be carrying. This assumes you find the right practice and carry ammo that feeds well.

[Wasabi]

Do you guys still shoot a mag (or two) of carry ammo at the range trip even after you've shot enough earlier to test for reliability?

[torrejon224]

After the initial break in, I try to run at least 200 rounds of carry ammo before I'm satisified. These days, one might have to make do with 50 but if they all feed properly then you should be good to go. Just make sure you stick with that ammo and especially the mags you used.

[Slim_45]

My .02 is about 200 rounds of Self Defense after the recommended "break-in" amount + a few extra with FMJ's.
Also I believe total round count before being trusted depends alot on what kind of pistol it is........

[roadsiderob]

I'm going to offer a dissenting opinion here. I think the idea of running a couple hundred rounds of HP carry ammo through your gun is valid if your gun is of an older design that was originally intended for round nose ammunition....I'm thinking 1911 and similar pistols here. For more modern designed, quality guns such as Glocks, M&Ps, Sigs, HKs, etc that were designed with HP ammunition in mind, I think 200 rounds of expensive carry ammo is overkill. A couple hundred rounds of RN training ammo to function test the gun and get used to the recoil & sight picture and then load all of the carry mags with HP ammo and shoot them. If all the mags work with the carry ammo, things are GTG as far as I'm concerned.
I just got a G19. I shoot once a week, usually about 75-100 rounds, at our Wednesday night "fun shoots". I've got about 300 training rounds through the pistol with no failures of any kind. Up to this point I've only been able to locate one box of Federal 9mm HP +P+ defensive ammo. I shot 5 rounds of it to see what the recoil was like and to check POA/POI. I have enough left to load all 3 magazines for carry. If I could get another box of ammo, I'd try it out in all 3 magazines....but I can't right now. Since it's a Glock, and I've never had a failure of any kind with any of the 4 Glocks that I have owned, I'm going to carry it. And I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

[taseal]

I say about 50 rds min for SD, 100 if u can afford it...

as far as making sure the handgun/firearm works, as many as you can! if it's new, try to get at least 100-200 to break everything in

[Torrid]

Do you guys still shoot a mag (or two) of carry ammo at the range trip even after you've shot enough earlier to test for reliability?

I fire my current loaded mag and backup on every shooting trip before grabbing target ammo. Just a habit at this point.