grobin said:
To have real information this question should have at least 50,000 respondents who actually use the pistols in question. Is an unexpected discharge a reliability problem?! In any case there is too much "I've heard" here. So far blather and BS!
An unexpected discharge would not be a reliability problem, but rather either an operator error, or an engineering problem. IE, it worked as it should, but should have been designed differently, or the operator should have handled it differently.
Unfortunately, real data on NDs is not readily available. The only hard data I have read was a doubling of NDs by, I believe it was the Los Angles Sheriff's office, the first year after they switched to Glocks. Mostly it's anecdotal.
Lots of folks claim that Glocks are prone to blowing up. An internet search of pictures of Glock kabooms will generate pages of pictures of Glocks in pieces. A similar search for Rugers will yield only a few. This may be an indication of a problem, but is not reliable data. Oddly enough the reason given by the Glock fans is that Glocks are so popular there are lots more out there giving more examples of kabooms. The issue with this is that Ruger, Smith and Beretta handguns each individually outsell Glock handguns. This is verifiable hard data.