How many rounds before you trust a semi-automatic rifle?

[Andrewsky]

For those of you using rifles that are not the well-known AR-15, how do you determine if your AK, FAL, G3, M14, etc. clone is ready for serious defensive use?

[CrazyFingers]

I've got 1,210 rounds through my SAM7r with 0 stoppages of any kind. I'd call that trustworthy, but I think around 500 rounds I decided it was good to go. I know others here have put many more rounds through their non-ARs and could give you better advice than I.

[themonk]

Clean and lube when new and then a 1000 rounds of mixed ammo with no cleaning other than maybe a wipe down.

[Jippo]

3000-4000 rounds without a hickup.

[AverajeJo]

Define trust? The gun is a mechanical part that is made by people who are not perfect. One day it will stop working due to billion other uncontrollable events/components. That is why you need to acquire skills to deal with the failures in the battle conditions and have a side arm and the extra mags and good skills to use them. It is impossible to say that after 4000 rounds gun will function perfect. It may fail on 4025 due to the faulty cartridge or a sand pebble in the chamber. It's the skill and not the tool that will help you.


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[MistWolf]

By running a series of simple tests, you can tell right away if a rifle of a proven design is set up right. Magazine problems, short stroking, ejection/extraction problems will all pretty much make themselves known within just a few rounds. If it's a used rifle, replacing all the springs is cheap insurance. Field strip the rifle and inspect for loose, missing, broken, bent or worn parts and for proper assembly. Make sure the rifle is free from all factory preservatives and lube it well. A little too much lube is better than too little when dealing with a new or new to you rifle. Cycle the action by hand to see how it feels and add lube to where it may feel rough. Check to see if anything is catching that shouldn't during cycling.

Start by giving the magazines a thorough visual inspection. Check for damage, dents, splits, swelling and cracks. Load each mag and check to see how the rounds fit and at what angle they sit. While partially loaded, bump the bottom with your hand and see if the bullets shift around or pop out the top. Check to see each mag seats firmly.

Begin test firing by loading a single round in a mag to ensure it will extract, eject and lock back (if applicable). If the rifle has an adjustable gas system, adjust it at this time. Then, load the mag with two rounds, then three, four and five rounds. This tests the ability of the magazine to feed from both sides at lower spring pressures. Then top off the magazine and fire all the rounds. It doesn't need to be a mag dump but it can be combined with your sighting in procedure. During this time, don't use the mag as a monopod- you don't want to introduce any variables. You can test for reliability while using the mag as a monopod after verifying the rifle runs fine.

Once the rifle passes these tests, load up a couple-three mags and give it a run, the field strip it again and check again for bent, broken or loose parts. By this time, you'll know if a rifle of a proven design has problems or not

[RHINOWSO]

Semiauto pistol / rifle - prefer 500rds without issue, will settle for 250 of which at least 50 are designated HD/SD load

Revolver - 50rds minimum, of which half are designated HD/SD load

But in the end, whatever you chose, realize you are trusting a mechanical device that will eventually, without question, fail. Could be in 1 round, could be in 10K rounds. And yes, you can lessen the chance of that occurring through proper cleaning, maintenance, lubrication, but it is not possible to eliminate the truth. Mechanical devices can and will fail, sometimes without any indication that it will.

[MBtech]

Semiauto pistol / rifle - prefer 500rds without issue, will settle for 250 of which at least 50 are designated HD/SD load

Revolver - 50rds minimum, of which half are designated HD/SD load

But in the end, whatever you chose, realize you are trusting a mechanical device that will eventually, without question, fail. Could be in 1 round, could be in 10K rounds. And yes, you can lessen the chance of that occurring through proper cleaning, maintenance, lubrication, but it is not possible to eliminate the truth. Mechanical devices can and will fail, sometimes without any indication that it will.

I 2nd this, I work on some of the finest automobiles on the planet, they still break...

[GunnutAF]

RHINOWSO
Agree 100%! Clean, inspect, lube, shoot. Fine the ammo it shoots the best an stock up on it. I don't use round counts to determine when a rifle is ready for duty. If your thinking it could or would be used for SD/HD you should be shooting it often.

[Chucker]

You could look up a sampling plan in a stats book so at least there is some rationale for the number of rounds. Amazingly, Rhino's recommendation comes very close to a couple of good attribute sampling plans. 230 rounds would give you 90% confidence that the rifle is 99% reliable. 459 yields 99% confidence, 99% reliability. After that, adding more rounds is just diminishing returns. Yeah, I know... not sexy but this was kind of in my lane. Now back to the show...