| 50,150 rounds | 8 stoppages (+1 w/non-LCI extractor) |
0 malfunctions | 1 parts breakages |
After eight and a half months, fifty thousand rounds is history. The fourth shot in this video is #50,000:
(as you can see, I took the recent pistol-forum.com discussion about high video production values to heart)
It took 418 hours over the course of ninety-one days at the range in ten different States. The gun was cleaned a total of eight times. And obviously, the test hasn’t stopped yet. But more on that later…
Before hitting the range on Friday, the endurance test gun was treated to a serious cleaning. In addition to the normal detail strip procedure, I soaked the barrel in cleaning solvent for hours. The result was a truly spotless bore perfect for the first exercise of the day, 25yd groups to test the accuracy of the G17 after 50,000 rounds had gone through it.
The results were very good and if not for the numbers turned in by previous test guns most folks would call it excellent for an off the shelf combat pistol with a stock barrel. The test was shot with my normal carry ammo (Federal 124gr +p HST)… literally. I just shot the ammo that had been in my magazines on my belt for months. Five 5-shot groups fired at 25yd from a sandbag rest averaged 2.37″ which tells us the gun hasn’t dropped in accuracy since the Week One test (which averaged 2.52″ with the same ammo, using a much heavier trigger setup). The best group was the 1.90″ pictured at right.
I also shot a group with my normal practice ammo, CCI 115gr Blazer TMJ. The 3.61″ result was far less impressive.
In terms of shooting, the biggest story since the previous update was the F.A.S.T. results at the end of this week’s shooting. The last eighteen rounds fired made up three end of day runs with these results:
- 4.43 (clean): 1.44, .48 / 1.78 / .20, .18, .35
- 4.14 (clean): 1.43, .37 / 1.80 / .19, .17, .18
- 3.91 (clean): 1.35, .37 / 1.61 / .21, .19, .18
That is the first time I’ve broken the 4-second barrier on a legitimate (three runs per day) F.A.S.T.
Ironically, after the second run I looked at the breakdown and said to myself, “There’s just nowhere to make big improvements.” I decided to shoot the last run with no goal other than getting all my hits. But somehow I managed to scrape almost a tenth off my draw and two more off the reload. If you’d asked, I would have sworn my time was in the high fours. I even double checked to make sure all six shots were recorded.
Ordinarily, three straight sub-5 clean runs means I keep shooting until I either go over the time limit or miss a shot. But to be perfectly candid, I was so happy with that 3.91 that I decided to end my shooting day with it.
So at least for now, the Glock 17 test continues. If nothing else, I’d like to get the second prototype Gadget to the 30,000 round mark, which means I have about thirteen thousand rounds to go. I’m also completely enamored with the Ameriglo/Spaulding sights I put on the gun back in week 34, and I doubt they’ll be available any time soon for the HK. But the reality is that the G17 is running well, I’m shooting it well, and there’s just no reason to change.
So… see you next week.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous Glock 17 gen4 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Week 35
- Week 34
- Week 33
- Week 32
- Week 31
- Week 30
- Week 29
- Week 28
- Week 27
- Week 26
- Week 25
- Week 24
- Week 23
- Week 22
- Week 21
- Week 20
- Week 19
- Week 18
- 25,000 Rounds with the G17 gen4
- Week 17
- Week 15
- Week 13
- Week 12
- Week 11
- Week 10
- Week 9
- Week 8
- Week 6
- Week 5
- Week 4
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
- 99.8%
- It Lives
- Week Zero
- When Will It Stop?
- Announcement
I’d definitely vote for getting a solid 30k on The Gadget. (50k would be even better, but practicalities and suchlike probably intrude on that…)
Tam — Actually, the first Gadget prototype already hit 30k and was retired so the brains behind the whole thing, Tom Jones, could study it. Our hoped for service life was 20,000 so being able to hit 150% of that consistently will be great.
Smokin’ FAST! Congrats!
The gun geek side of me really wants to see something new, but hey if it works it works and you can’t argue with those times. Congrats on the new best!
nice dude, nice. any video of the 3 runs?
Congrats on the 3.91 run.
Todd:
I think that F.A.S.T. score just goes to show that a clean weapon is a happy weapon. Think of how well it would perform if you cleaned it more than every 6,000 rounds or so!
Great shooting Todd!
You break 3.80 and I’ll drive the 2 hours down there and buy you and your better half dinner anywhere you want.
Congratulations on getting your new G17 broken in; now you can start shooting it with confidence…
So this is going to be another shoot to complete failure test?
Part of me wants to see how far it will go, but another part of me wants to know what the next test gun is going to be already lol
Congrats on the sub 4 FAST. That is incredible. I only dream I will be as good as you when I’m all growed up Todd.
Reference the joke DocGKR made above, I have been thinking you really need three identical G17’s. The one you are running for the test, the one in the gun safe at home, and the third that you holster as soon as you go to leave the range. With the round count you are accumulating on the test pistol, I would feel a lot better about carrying its just broken in twin.
Thanks for the kudos, folks. As I proved at the range today, the sub-4 FAST is not something I can do on demand. In fact, my cold FAST today proved I can’t do a sub-7 on demand some days. I suck.
Jeff H — Better plan. You earn a coin, I’ll take you and your wife out to dinner!
Spectre044 — To be honest, I’m not sure how far I’ll take the Glock. I’d really like to have a pistol that’s made it to 100k, but I also really like having someone else pay for the ammo to get it there. 8)
GJM — That’s certainly not an unwise approach, and my backup could legitimately serve in that role. I’d just want to get it to 5k or so before trusting it, given that it’s from the same vintage as my endurance gun which had so many problems early on. And I also don’t have a spare Gadget, now that I think of it. That’s a deal killer.
BTW GJM, yours was the 15,000th comment on PTC! (which number includes the billion or so spam we get each day that never see the light of day)
Didn’t you say the 15,000th got a Gadget as the prize.
GJM — I thought it was a free Porsche? But ok, when the Gadget is finally available, you get a free one. I was going to send you one to test in your bear-killer anyway, but this way it sounds cooler. 8)
Can you provide pictures of all high wear areas?
Congratulations on the 3.91!