Seriously considering open. Reliability concerns!

[KellyB]

 
I and some others recommend against CLP. I had issues with CLP and switched to Lucas Oil. Others use just synthetic 5w30 oil and it works great. CLP is just not meant for our Open game because it is not slick enough. I used to swear by CLP for decades until I was told by an Open Gun manufacturer to stop using it on mine. The failures to fully feed stopped.  

I’ve been using the Lucas extreme. Has a neat applicator tip to get in the tight places.
Seems to do very well in hot & cold weather.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Our Host, BE, sells The Perfect lubricant - SlideGlide - doesn't even splatter 

the front of my C-More     

[Gooldylocks]

Don't use grease like slide glide on slides. The point of oil is to lubricate as well as keep your gun clean... liquid can wick some of the crap and crud out the ends of the gun. It runs out the back and down the beavertail, and out the muzzle end onto the comp or frame. Grease will feel awesome racking it at the safe table but once you have some rounds on it and haven't had time to clean in awhile, every bit of that crud is still in there. 

 

Go buy a quart of 5w30 (don't care if it is synthetic or not), and never buy oil ever again. You officially just bought a lifetime supply. You can buy needle droppers for a few dollars in the fly tying section of your sporting goods store or at a craft store. Put the oil in that and carry on. 

[Mlussoro]

17 hours ago, Explosiveo said:

Do it. We have cookies! 

    LIARHEAD !  I didn’t get no damn cookies , just defeat ! Lmao
 

 

[zzt]

7 hours ago, Nevadazielmeister said:

 

I and some others recommend against CLP. I had issues with CLP and switched to Lucas Oil. Others use just synthetic 5w30 oil and it works great. CLP is just not meant for our Open game because it is not slick enough. I used to swear by CLP for decades until I was told by an Open Gun manufacturer to stop using it on mine. The failures to fully feed stopped.  

 

Weapon Shield Lube is a Cean/Lube/Protect product, but it is not CLP Brand.  It is vastly superior.  I tried greases in my super tight Open gun, but they only work in the summer.  Weapon Shield seems to work better than motor oil, IMO.

[Explosiveo]

 

"we've got cookies" is the name of our PCC death cult. We meet on Tuesday nights and plot how to end this crime against humanity called PCC.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[SilverBolt]

The secret to a reliable open gun is the mags.  Any reputable smith can make a great open gun.  Let's face they are all using the same parts.  If their reputation is solid they know how to make those parts work correctly and play nice with each other.  Ammo usually comes down to the bullet profile that works best for your gun.  Your smith should be able to work with you on this.  My year year in open with a custom built gun by a very respected smith was a nightmare.  Very rare to finish a stage without some type of issue.  Spent many hours on the phone with my smith.  Tried "custom tuned" mags from the "best" in the business, factory STI, factory SV.  Had issues with all and was about ready to hang it up.  Talked to MBX and placed an order from them.  No changes to the gun at all.  The MBX mags have been 100% for two years.  That the next gun I had built I bought the mags first and sent them to the smith.  No other issues.  Ran right out of the box.

 

The cookies are really good.

[chase214]

I use cuda lube on mine

[cheby]

Open can be totally reliable. It is very simple actually - buy a Czechmate:). 

[Foxbat]

4 hours ago, Gooldylocks said:

Don't use grease like slide glide on slides.

 

Well, like I said, that was the SVI's recommendation for their guns, and it was spot on.  It works exceptionally well, I can shoot close to 1000 rounds of pretty dirty HS-6 before the gun starts slowing down. 

[B_RAD]

2 hours ago, cheby said:

Open can be totally reliable. It is very simple actually - buy a Czechmate:). 

A guy I shoot with would disagree!

 

I haven't seen him make it thru a stage without a problem. I'm not sure how he's not thrown it in the trash. Though, I'll admit I think it's an ammo issue.

[Jfitz427]

I know the 2011s have the edge here, especially for us mere mortals. But my open Glock runs 100 percent. The gun has literally never malfunctioned ever. The only time I’ll have any kind of stoppage I can always I can attribute to my handloads, and that’s rare. I bought it as a stock g34, slowly added trigger, barrel, comp, RMR slide cuts, mag well etc, and though every step it’s just kept running. I thought forsure when I added the carver comp I’d definitely have to do some recoil spring tuning, and I bought 3 different weights. I put the 13 in first, and it’s run flawlessly with both major and minor. It’s an incredibly flat shooting gun. Despite being very light too, the recoil with 9 major is basically nil. 

 

The 2011s ars definitely the better open guns, and lll probably move to one in the next year or two, but you can’t beat the glock reliability even after messing with it. 

Edited September 25, 2018 by Jfitz427

[Mlussoro]

6 hours ago, Explosiveo said:

"we've got cookies" is the name of our PCC death cult. We meet on Tuesday nights and plot how to end this crime against humanity called PCC.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

Lmfao!!!

[orangeman711]

I have 3 open guns,a STI, an SV and a Caspian, all run great. Depends on who builds them and how you take care of them. SV's will need to be kept cleaner, after every match, but I love them all. Good luck in your quest.

[AKJD]

I started shooting open a couple years ago because my eyes were going and just could not focus on the front sight anymore.  I built a Glock 17 I already had into an open minor gun to see how I liked it.  I wish I had just bought an 2011 to start with.  I purchased a CK Arms gun and love shooting open.  There is definitely a learning curve to shooting open with the gun, magazines, and ammo.  I went to Area 3 last year with very little time with the gun and had problems on almost every stage.  After a year of getting things sorted out I went to Area 4 this year and went the whole match without a single hiccup.  The difference was learning the gun, how to keep magazines tuned, and better quality control on ammo.

Edited September 25, 2018 by AKJD

[JetPow]

Avoid DVC 9mm.  It will just give you headache and expenses on change this change that tune this tune that and in the end still having FTE and FTF.

[Foxbat]

The original question sounds a lot like: "I would like to buy a car, but have reliability concerns"

 

Heck... isn't everything in life like that?

[drewbeck]

2 hours ago, Foxbat said:

The original question sounds a lot like: "I would like to buy a car, but have reliability concerns"

 

Heck... isn't everything in life like that?

 

Yes, and my earlier point is every gun/maker can have failures. This live, that lube, they all work for certain people, it all comes down to what works for you and your specific gun.  

 

Open is the most fun guns to own and division to shoot in my opinion but it’s not a division you can buy a gun and just show up on Saturday and expect to never have issues.

 

all the opinions given for what works for different people are valid but that isn’t to say any of it will work on your gun.

 

Oh, and Glocks can be made to be run in open reliably but it should be avoided as your first or only open gun.  

 

 

[B_RAD]

Yeah, I get the thread maynseem kinda dumb but I want to shoot open bad. Then I go to match and see all the issues and I think nope, never mind!  

 

But I keep thinking surely someone out there can make it thru amtches without problems. 

 

When I see someone who has issues every match, I tend to not ask them for advice. 

 

 

[drewbeck]

16 minutes ago, B_RAD said:

Yeah, I get the thread maynseem kinda dumb but I want to shoot open bad. Then I go to match and see all the issues and I think nope, never mind!  

 

But I keep thinking surely someone out there can make it thru amtches without problems. 

 

When I see someone who has issues every match, I tend to not ask them for advice. 

 

 

 

Don’t pay attention to the “someone’s” with gun issues, pay attention to the best open shooters you have around you and I’ll bet they rarely if ever have any reliability issues at matches.

 

regardless of the builder, by nature open guns are pushing the limits of what’s possible with the balance of what’s possible between speed and accuracy in a pistol. 

 

In open the shooter is as responsible, as the gun is, when It comes to reliability.  

 

If you’re willing to do the work and put the time in to ensure your gunis reliable you’ll love open

 

[Mikeski]

I have run my Atlas Chaos for almost 2 years and have never had an issue with it. Even at this years Area 6 when it rained. I keep mags clean, good gauged ammo, and clean it once every other month. Now I run 38sc and have fed it both new and used brass without fail. Even when I ran my DVC open before I never had any issues with the gun as long as I kept feeding it quality ammo. 

[B_RAD]

Well, I case gause every round and clean my mags after each stage and I shot a Glock in CO so, I'm not gonna have any issues there!

[yigal]

3 minutes ago, B_RAD said:

Well, I case gause every round and clean my mags after each stage and I shot a Glock in CO so, I'm not gonna have any issues there!

 yes . Glocks  never have malfunctions.

i hope that glock knows this 

[CHA-LEE]

On 9/24/2018 at 12:33 AM, drewbeck said:

Ammo is the biggest failure point but people don’t want to blame themselves so they blame “open” or the “gun”

 

also, cleaning isn’t as important as making sure it’s well lubed, a dry gun will fail way before a dirty gun will.

 

lastly, most open guns you see fail, are failing because the user didn’t want to take the time to figure out their ammo/reloading, or what needs to be done to not make it fail during a practice session, and instead rely on matches to identify and troubleshoot any issues they may have, that are their own fault to begin with.

 

nobody pulls a dragster out of the garage and tries to race without getting a good understanding of how it runs in different conditions and with different fuel, open guns are no different.

 

if you own a Honda and are trying hard to make it a dragster, you’re ready for open, just know There are more details to care about than changing the oil

+1 Million.............. The vast majority of Open Gun reliability issues usually come back to being lazy in some aspect of proactive or reactive maintenance of the gun. Open guns require a higher level of proactive maintenance than an off the shelf plastic fantastic gun. Here is a good example that I run into regularly. Open shooter continually has random jams while using their big stick. I ask them when was the last time they replaced the spring and follower or chemically cleaned the inside of the magazine tube. The response is usually a deer in the headlights look because those things have never been done or its been a very long time since it was last done. Another good example is using random reloading data or OAL because "Joe Blow" uses that setup. They think that just because that ammo works in another dudes gun it will magically work in theirs reliably. Every gun requires a unique ammo configuration to optimize the mechanical feeding. This usually induces another deer in the headlights look when you ask these guys if they verified that the OAL they are using is hitting the feed ramp in the proper position to ensure reliable mechanical feeding.

 

99% of reliability issues I have seen at matches are self inflicted in some manner or another. If you want any gun to function reliably then you need to put effort into ensuring that it will function reliably.

[MemphisMechanic]

14 hours ago, Jfitz427 said:

The gun has literally never malfunctioned ever.

 

The only time I’ll have any kind of stoppage I can always attribute to my handloads, and that’s rare.

 

Stop contradicting yourself.

 

I love when people do this. “My gun has never jammed” ... followed by the reasons for all the jams it has had, in their very next breath.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2018 by MemphisMechanic