Broken Striker

[Danko]

I have a two part question: How often do you come across a broken striker? I have an LC9s that I fired approximately 400 rounds through. I also fired it 400-500 times with snap caps. It was never fired with an empty chamber. Last week its striker broke at the range or shortly before. It was the loudest click I ever heard. Is this a Ruger problem, an LC9s problem? I intended to carry this gun, but I'm now having big second thoughts.

I would appreciate any insight, input you have to offer. Thank you!

[gringop]

I've had broken strikers on a used Kahr K40 and a SW MP 40. Neither were dry fired beyond 25-50 times. No readily apparent reason for the breakages. I had a Ruger LCP that had cracked frame rails at approx 1000 rounds but no FP or hammer issues.

No striker failures on any of my Glocks with an estimated 1k dry fires.

Sorry I don't have any data on LC9s specifically.

In my humble opinion, one part failure is not a reason to regard a gun as suspect. If it happens more frequently, then maybe use a different gun.

Gringop

[feudist]

In the early 90s I carried a Beretta 92M as my duty weapon. I dry fired the crap out of it and broke the firing pin. Got it replaced and used a snap cap to dry fire the crap out of it.
It broke again.
I switched to a Glock and over the years I've broken every part of one except the magazine catch spring.
Evidently God hates me so I carry 2 guns.

[Danko]

Thank you Gringop and Feudist for your input! I like to get anecdotal evidence so I have some idea of the frequency of strikers breaking. I was kind of happy to hear you managed to destroy a "mighty Glock". I fully appreciate sometimes mechanical parts simply break for no obvious reason.

I hope we hear accounts from other members so we can get a better understanding of how often gun parts fail. I'm glad I posted the topic.

I think most of us believe if we pay up for a gun or other product, it will be less prone to failure and last longer. That's generally a truism.

I encourage others to chime in with accounts of broken pistol parts, even if the part/parts don't involve the striker. Maybe some of you can speak to putting thousands of rounds through certain inexpensive guns without breaking any parts. That would make a very interesting topic as well.

Danko--

[BN]

How often? 3 or 4 times in the last 50 years or so.

Hammer nose broke off of a S&W Model 15 revolver. Local gunsmith replaced it. Mid 1980s or so.

Firing pin on a Star PD. Ordered one online and replaced it myself. 1990s or so???

Tip broke off the striker on a Gen 2 G-17. Ordered one online and replaced it myself. Probably another 50,000 rounds through that pistol since with no problems. Around 2000 or so.

Modern guns are pretty dependable. If you make it through the first couple hundred rounds or so, chances are it will continue to be reasonably dependable. Mechanical parts do break sometimes though.

[Darth_Uno]

I've only broken one, in a Glock. It was one of those lightweight aftermarket strikers that I wouldn't normally buy but it came in a slide I traded for. I figured it'd be ok as long as it worked. But it didn't work for long, because the tip broke off. I was getting light strikes and thought it had something to do with the springs, because it broke off so cleanly you'd have to look closely to see that it was not right. I believe it was more a random occurrence than any particular design flaw.

[William B.]

In the early 90s I carried a Beretta 92M as my duty weapon. I dry fired the crap out of it and broke the firing pin. Got it replaced and used a snap cap to dry fire the crap out of it.
It broke again.
I switched to a Glock and over the years I've broken every part of one except the magazine catch spring.
Evidently God hates me so I carry 2 guns.

I broke a magazine catch spring on a Gen 3 Glock, so we've broken an entire Glock between the two of us. It would still function reliably if I switched to the "Cup & Saucer" grip to hold the magazine in. I don't carry two guns, but I did have a spare identical gun on hand to finish the class with.

I hope we hear accounts from other members so we can get a better understanding of how often gun parts fail. I'm glad I posted the topic.

My breakage was likely around the 50k round mark.

[Danko]

Thank you guys for chiming in with your experiences. I'd like to hear more stories of broken gun parts and/or stories of inexpensive guns that wouldn't die.

I've only been shooting for two years so I'm still trying to gain more knowledge through anecdotal evidence.

[Half Moon]

Thank you guys for chiming in with your experiences. I'd like to hear more stories of broken gun parts and/or stories of inexpensive guns that wouldn't die.

I've only been shooting for two years so I'm still trying to gain more knowledge through anecdotal evidence.

Nature of the beast, pretty much anything mechanical can and will fail (though some things are more reliable than others). That said, this thread might speak to your interest:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ally-seen-fail

[Duelist]

If you are serious about this, you get two to three copies of the same gun. You pick one as the carry gun (and one as the spare gun, if you get three). That gun (or those two guns) gets shot enough to vet as reliable, cleaned, and lubed. The other gun gets shot and dry fired in all training and practice until it breaks. When it breaks, it gets cleaned and repaired and put back to work. It might get cleaned occasionally.

The carry gun gets cleaned and lubed on a regular basis, and once or twice a year gets the carry ammo rotated out (fired from carry magazines), cleaned and lubed, fresh ammo loaded, and put back to work as the carry gun.

If there is a third, spare gun, it doesn’t get carried or fired at all until and unless one of the other guns is broken, lost, stolen, taken as evidence after a shooting, etc.

You do not trust a gun to never break. You pick a gun that has a reputation for durability, take care of them, and repair them as needed, but don’t expect them never to break.

My G26 went through well over 2000 rounds w/o failing or breaking, but after that test, one day I was cleaning and lubing and noticed that a plastic piece of the RSA had broken. Cost ~$20 to replace the RSA, and I carried a different gun until I sourced that part. So keeping a few spare parts around, like RSAs, might be advisable.

I would not say that an LC9 has a tremendous reputation for durability, but that might not even matter if you have three of them, and never run many rounds through the one you are carrying.