4122 rounds later…

UPDATE: 6,613 Rounds fired, no further issues. Check back Monday for a complete update. -John

First off I think there’s been some confusion as to what this test is, and isn’t. The Salient MK25 is the PROTOTYPE of a possible design package that Salient Arms is considering offering next year. What does that mean? Well I’m glad you asked. The entire purpose of the test is to see what works, what doesn’t, and what fails miserably. This is not a production gun by any stretch, so please keep in mind that what you’re seeing with this test is product development being done in a public venue by an independent member of the “gun media”. When you consider the implications of that, it’s actually a pretty bold move on Salient’s part…

Monday night the bulk of the ammo that will be used for the test finally arrived. Armscor USA was kind enough to donate 20,000 rounds of their excellent 124 grain 9mm load to be used for testing. I can honestly say it’s some of the nicest ammo I’ve ever shot. Of the 1,500 rounds that I fired yesterday I had ZERO ammo related issues, which can’t be said for the Remington and Federal I was shooting prior to this. If you get the opportunity to pick some up, buy with confidence, it’s good to go…

Following the example of Todd Green’s long term test guns on the 3,124th round, a little over 500 rounds after I broke it down and cleaned it for the first time, the SMK25 experienced it’s first failure to eject. A simple tap rack did not fix the malfunction, so shooting was halted to determine why the gun was locked up. The cause became readily apparent as the Wolff recoil spring that Salient had used to tune the recoil characteristics of the gun had somehow become trapped between the guide rod and the slide. If you are using one of these recoil springs in one of your pistols I HIGHLY recommend that you inspect your gun to see if this is a possibility. On receiving the pistol from Salient I had noted that the recoil spring seemed to be too narrow a gauge. In my initial test firing of the gun I had no issues, and decided to leave it alone to see what happened. The fact the gun managed to fire 3,123 rounds prior to this, with what I consider to be a defective part, without any issues was surprising to me, though you should draw your own conclusions. Upon disassembling the gun the Wolff spring was replaced with a factory 226 recoil spring, and 998 rounds were fired without issue. I am still carrying the gun, and feel confident that it will do what I need it to do, when I need to do it…

Total rounds fired as of this morning put the gun at 4,122 rounds with one failure to eject. From a statistics standpoint the gun is performing at or above the industry standard of 2,500 rounds between failures. It continues to be incredibly easy to shoot well. Thursday I will be taking the pistol to my engineer friend’s property to Ransom test the gun to determine it’s mechanical accuracy when compared to my base P226R. Today I plan on putting at least another 1,000-1,5000 rounds through the firearm. I’ve really yet to find anything about the gun that I don’t care for. Surefire has assured me the X400 Ultra Green they are providing for the test should arrive to my location on Thursday, I’m looking forward to seeing what adding a WML to the pistol will do in terms of it’s handling. Additionally it’s looking like the Salient will be traveling down to Atlanta this weekend to become a video star, stay tuned! Until then, enjoy a video of me chasing performance gains through training… https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=404638263000343 SCORE: SMK25-4,122 rounds FAILURES-1