Gadzooks! Where to start?
In the late 80s the FBI had a service life requirement of 40K rounds, not sure they still do. They issued SIG 226/228 for several years, remember? Why? Cuzz Glock scored waaay lower in those tests from the 80s you quote. The S&W645 and SIGP226 were the top pistols in those tests (why the 10mm S&W 1076 looked the way it did; they tried to combine the two in features and caliber?). The Glock and Ruger the bottom two BTW, now Glock is Numero Uno. When the Glock 40s were selected in 97, they were tested to 20K rounds each to establish maint requirements, the go/no go figure was only 10K rounds. One-third, 33% (2 out of 6) broke major parts (the trigger bars) under 20K rounds (17,131/19,494). Since the service life requirement for the test was only 10K rounds they passed; if it had been 20K rounds they would have failed, and the second place pistol would have been fully tested and adopted if it passed. SIGs, Berettas, and S&W alloy framed pistols are still on the approved list BTW. A guy I know who used to work the FBIs/FTU said it was not that unusual for a SIG to crack a frame during the new agents 5K rounds fired during initial academy training. Scores w the Glock 40s are slightly better than they were w the SIG 9s too.
The Glocks failed the DEA tests in 92, why they issued SIG 228s (the FBI piggy-backed that contract BTW). Guns tossed Frisbee style across the floor fired and/or the slides popped off the frame; the SIGs passed. Maybe they shoulda droped the Glocks from helicopters instead? Now the DEA has signed contracts w SIG, Glock, HK for pistols. Chicago PD does not approve Glocks. NYPD did/does not now approve SIGs. NYPD has had oodles of problems w jamming in their G19s though, even w ball ammo. Chicago PD had a single SIG slam fire during a reload, and SIG modified all the pistols. A PD in NY state had a Glock slam fire/go full auto about the time of the DEA failures, why the safety sytem/frame rails were "upgraded" 10 yrs after passing NATO tests. Guess CPD and NYPD cops are tougher than European troopers? The Royals bodyguards carry Glocks, the SAS uses SIGs.
Texas DPS/Rangers had a service life requirement of 40K for the slide/frame, 20K for the barrel. Who got the contract? SIG w the P220/226/228, and most recently w the P226 in 357SIG. That means SIG will repair/replace any that don't make it, not that they guarantee they all will BTW.
SIG was issued/approved by every major federal agency, still is. Scored better than the Glock 40s in the INS/Border Patrol test BTW. They issue Beretta/USPs, apporove SIGs, not Glocks. The USMC tested some G21s about 92 or so and they did so bad everybody prefers not to mention it (mean rounds between stoppages/MRBS was a very dismal 1/134 IIRC. The HK Mk 23 was 1/6000-15,000, the M11 (SIG 228) 1/15,000 (5000 x 3 guns), the latest for the M9 is 1/30,000 (168,000 in 12 guns). The DEA, FBI, US Marshals Service, Customs were mostly SIGs, are now mostly Glocks.
US Secret Service tailored their last last pistol contract to the SIG, the same way the FBIs HRT/SWAT did the 1911.
Contract service life for the Beretta M9 was 5000 rounds. Local USAF base has over 30K through it's training pistols with no problems, have never broken a slide, broken blocks are very rare.
AFAIK, no fractures since 91/92. There was some problems with some lots of early M882 ammo. Pressures were measured wrong, and levels exceeded proof loads, over 50K and well over the 36,250 the M882 avgs. Some sub-sonic stuff the Navy used was just as high or higher (loads, even at low velocites, can generate very high pressures ya know if messed up just right). There were a total of 18 slide failures, six in the field and 12 in the labs (if there were more, I missed em, but I retired in 98) 4 Navy, 2 Army, and these:
From Army tests to slide failure:
1 -- 2/08/88; 6,007 rounds; M9
2 -- 3/10/88; 4,908 rounds; M9
3 -- 3/14/88; 17,408 rounds; 92SB-F
4 -- 3/16/88; 21,264 rounds; 92F
5 -- 3/17/88; 24,656 rounds; 92F
6 -- 3/17/88; 7,806 rounds; M9
7 -- 5/23/88; 21,942 rounds; M9
8 -- 5/26/88; 21,486 rounds; M9
9 -- 6/22/88; 23,310 rounds; M9
10 -- 7/14/88; 30,083 rounds; M9
11 -- 6/18/88; 30,545 rounds; M9
12 -- 8/25/88; 27,684 rounds; M9
You will note that the commercial version guns all went 17k+ rounds, the three worst at significantly less than 10k rounds were M9s ... this supports that unusual metallurgy was involved in some of the early production M9 guns (all guns that broke were of Italian make; since 3rd year of contract they are made in the USA). Also, the guns were fired after locking blocks broke and that stresses the slide more; replace a broken block in time, the slides last a lot longer.
Altogether, the average was 19,758 rounds before slide destruction. Remove the three dogs and the average becomes 24,264 rounds. Contract service life only specified 5000 rounds. Latest guns tested lasted 35K for frames, 75K for slides/barrels, 20K for blocks. That's w mil-spec ammo, same as SAAMI +P; w std loads they can go 2-3 times or more as long. Ted Nugent put over 100K through his 92F. No problem?
Beretta took the Navy to court and won. DoD, including the Navy, has bought over 100K more M9s over the original 350K contracted for since all that happened too, only a few thousand SIG 228/226s. Spin that any way ya want (the missile bases we wanted in Italy were closed long before those new purchases were made; we did want to keep some German bases open though...
).
LAPD/LASD has been using Berettas for almost 15 yrs, like em a lot. The Beretta Brigadier 40 was 5 times as reliable as the Glock, and three times as reliable as the SIG in the INS/BP tests. SIG is an approved option, Glock is not. They have also approved the USP compact.
During the M9 trials, the SIGs cracked frames under 10K too, but since it happened after the 5K mark, they passed
(SIG P226 developed frame crack at 6,523 rounds; another had a crack discovered at the 7k mark).
In Oct of 99 Baltimore County PD found cracks in the slide of 52 of the 1400 SIG 226s they had issued. They switched to sig pros in 40. Royal Canadian Mounted Police used some SIGs, switched to the more durable S&W steel framed pistols.
CHP has over 30-50K rounds through some of their steel S&W 4006s.
Amarillo TX PD had mucho G21s blow up. Contact range master Mike Dunlap (if he's still there) for an earful. Bernalillo county NM blew up Glock 40/45s w factory ammo. Albuquerque PD has cracked some Glock slides (duty ammo is Fed 124 HS +P+); they both still prefer em.
The CT and OH state police switched from Beretta to SIG. Arkansa state police switched from SIG to Glock. Alameda county switched from Glock to SIG. RCMP from SIG to S&W. FBI from S&W/SIG to Glock, INS/BP from Glock to Beretta/HK/SIG... round n round we go?
Talk to folks at high volume rental ranges. The Glocks, Rugers, 1911s, CZs are most likely to go over 100K rounds, the SIGs and Berettas the least, BHPs and steel S&Ws in the middle. S&Bs are the most reliable out of the box.
The Ruger auto pistols failed the FBI, US Military, INS/BP tests, early pistols were recalled, but I have had/seen less problems from them than Glock, SIG or Beretta on military/cop/private/public ranges the last 12 yrs or so. I have a P97 w 5K trouble free rounds through it that is as good as any pistol I ever owned (name it). Have seen parts break on SIGs, Berettas, USPs in the first 5K rounds. I have had Glock trigger springs/trigger bars break on new guns the first time I shot them! Had a friend blow up a Ruger GP100 revolver w Fed factory ammo the first time he shot it! A friend has a pet IPSC load (200 at 900) that kBs in his Glock w the factory barrel, works fine in his SIGMA, or the Glock w a Briley barrel in it. Ya never know?
[Edited by BrokenArrow on 01-24-2001 at 08:45 AM]
