Question for Those Who Attend/Attended Frequent High Round Count Pistol Training

[YVK]

I have never used a shock buff, if they are only breaking that quick in one gun I would send it back to my warranty team so they can take a look as it and make sure something isnt wrong. I also use 11lb recoil spring and run them way longer than I should.

If you decide to send it in shoot me a PM and I will let the gun smith know its coming and why.

No, it is not one gun, it is both. Perhaps the one that broke early was an outlier, we'll see. I know others who had the same 10-15K life span on these, I would be ok with those intervals.

My slides have lightening cuts, owing to old 45 oz weight limit, and I run them at speeds that exceed my abilities. Don't know if that plays a role but it does seem harder on them. For example, I cant keep front sights in place. I'm going to keep watching this and see what happens for now, but I do appreciate the offer.

[Clusterfrack]

@YVK, that’s really different from my experience with 3 Shadow2s with ~ 100k total. I replaced one shock buff at over 50k, and it wasn’t even totally worn out.

Slide stops last > 15k, and I think my record is 33k.

I use 12# red CGW recoil springs.

PF ~ 130-135

One front sight has an enlarged hole and needed locktite. That’s it.

[foxj66]

No, it is not one gun, it is both. Perhaps the one that broke early was an outlier, we'll see. I know others who had the same 10-15K life span on these, I would be ok with those intervals.

My slides have lightening cuts, owing to old 45 oz weight limit, and I run them at speeds that exceed my abilities. Don't know if that plays a role but it does seem harder on them. For example, I cant keep front sights in place. I'm going to keep watching this and see what happens for now, but I do appreciate the offer.

My old CO slides were lighten by cajun, I dont run front sights on CO guns so I havent seen that but my old production guns never showed issues keeping the front sight in place (shoot oranges now, they use the bushing and a set screw)

Is your ammo extremely hot? I load 115s to around 135pf

[YVK]

Thicker buffs do last longer but thin ones maybe a 1000 rounds item for me.

Maybe it is my toxic personality. I even broke one Shadow2 frame, that was before they started doing those stress relief cuts. That failure, though, made me believe that slide stops are pretty stressed on Shadow2.
I do know people, though, whose experiences have led to a practice of keeping a "match slide stop" or at least a "major match slide stop".

Is your ammo extremely hot? I load 115s to around 135pf

Variable. I don't reload and I use either 115 or 150 Federal ammo. I have used a pretty hot ammo, like Lawman or Norma, for practice.

[foxj66]

Thicker buffs do last longer but thin ones maybe a 1000 rounds item for me.

Maybe it is my toxic personality. I even broke one Shadow2 frame, that was before they started doing those stress relief cuts. That failure, though, made me believe that slide stops are pretty stressed on Shadow2.
I do know people, though, whose experiences have led to a practice of keeping a "match slide stop" or at least a "major match slide stop".



Variable. I don't reload and I use either 115 or 150 Federal ammo. I have used a pretty hot ammo, like Lawman or Norma, for practice.

Its a good idea to do that if you shoot your match gun outside of majors. I just replace the slide stop in both guns when my practice gun needs a new one.

The early frames would crack at high round counts, havent seen an updated frame come back with a crack, but I am sure its possible. The slide stop takes a beating but is also designed to break before the barrel feet do.

[gato naranja]

The slide stop takes a beating but is also designed to break before the barrel feet do.

"Bulletproof" is a great marketing claim for small parts, but it loses its lustre when a $30 boutique component survives at the expense of a barrel, slide or serial-numbered component.

[Jim Watson]

In a bygone era of IPSC, the hot item was an overloaded CZ75 9x21 power factor 175+. Slide stops were definitely a wear item. Some shooters just carried a baggie of rods as replacements. No need for an actual slide stop. I don't know how they were retained.

[PD Sgt.]

Well, I just finished two back to back classes over about one week. In the first, myself and two co-workers went through about 1,100 rounds each over two days, and the rest of the class seemed similar. I don’t recall seeing any significant weapon issues for anyone. The majority of the class had Glocks, a few M&Ps, and one LTT Centurion with a SRO I believe. I was using my work G5 G17, as were my co-workers. Ammo was Federal 147g brass. While it was a lot dirtier than the old 124 Blazer Aluminum we used to use, all our pistols ran fine.

The second was about 1k even. I started with my work pistol but it was not liking the 115g Blazer Aluminum I was using up. The pistol ran fine, but was all over at 25 yards. I switched to a G5 G19 with RMR and shot fine the rest of the class. Everyone else seemed to run just fine, primarily some kind of Glock or M&P, with the majority being Glock. A couple Fed guys had some comped G17s with RMRs, and I did not see them have any issues.

Both classes everyone was shooting 9mm. In times past I would always see at least a couple .40s or maybe a .45, particularly in LE heavy classes, but I think those days may be over.

[mmc45414]

Reloaded ammo is a broad term. It is a huge variable but is one of those things that is only discussed when it doesn't work. Years ago I shot a G23 at an organized class that consumed about 1,800 rounds in three days (and yeah, by the third day I was wondering exactly why I didn't bring the G35). As part of the registration I asked about reloaded ammo and was welcomed to shoot my loads in my gun, but if they didn't work I would be asked to change ammo or step off. But at the end of the class there was no acknowledgement of this improbable feat that occurred eighteen hundred consecutive times, a bunch of tired people just packed up and left. Maybe the same as 1911s, we never talk about the ones that work, and shooting reloaded ammo through a 1911 would be like Crossing The Streams (it would be bad...) but I have done it a bunch and it worked.

I think modifying guns is another broad term. Switching out a few things to some things that have been widely embraced and successful is not the same as throwing the whole Lone Wolf catalog at something. In early 2019 I picked up a new M&P 2.0 5" and did nothing to it other than change the sights and then shot it most every week until earlier this year, and other than the rifle primer experiment it just never failed. Now I have replaced it with an identical gun with a Apex trigger and barrel, and it has been perking along just as reliably. OTOH some of the full house striker guns are just over the top, like a modified vehicle with a huge turbo and a big nitrous shot that everyone other than the owner knows damn well is going to blow up someday...