In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
+P Ammunition Testing in Firearms?
Juggernaut
Member Posts: 719 ✭✭✭✭
Are there any actual definitive tests which data shows that using '+P/hot-loaded' ammunition (within SAAMI specs) over time by companies such as Corbon, DoubleTap, BuffaloBore, Garrett and RBCD for example; will cause excessive wear or possibly even damage to quality firearms rated to handle +P ammunition?
Or is this just more or less logically presumed that using +P ammunition will do so?
Thanks
Or is this just more or less logically presumed that using +P ammunition will do so?
Thanks
Comments
As far as shooting +P rated handguns. My experience is with the .38 Special only. The ammo is quite expensive and unpleasant to shoot in light .38 snubbies. I wouldn't want to be the guy buying and shooting it to verify how much can be shot through a modern 637 rated for +P's.
What purpose would that serve? If firearms are rated for +P ammo, their manufacturers would be crazy not test them to the point of destruction to insure they are safe with +P. Nowadays legal liability is a tremendous factor in the firearms business. No way would a handgun manufacturer be selling guns rated for +P, without ascertaining that they really are.
As far as shooting +P rated handguns. My experience is with the .38 Special only. The ammo is quite expensive and unpleasant to shoot in light .38 snubbies. I wouldn't want to be the guy buying and shooting it to verify how much can be shot through a modern 637 rated for +P's.
rufe, your missing the point, obviously they had to test the ammunition to a point to be able to sell it as that is already known... however the question was concerning data that would actually show results from doing so over time a progression of excessive wear or possibly damage from using '+P' ammunition?
Even if they're only labelled as ".38 special" modern revolvers are WAY stronger than ANY .38 cartridge ever would be.
Even .38 special wheelguns are typically built strong enough to handle rounds of .357 magnum pressures (which are in excess of 30k psi). Any gun that can handle 30,000 PSI rounds should be able to handle unlimited numbers of .38+P rounds at only 16,000 (or so) PSI. Remember the original .38 was a black powder round.
Next, I've actually seen a third party report "torture" testing a Smith 637 airweight aluminum alloy frame J frame revolver with .38+P rounds, and it held up just fine to 5000 of them (which is more than most shooters will ever put through their respective gun). I've heard that Smith has done the same sort of testing internally to make sure its alloy frame guns hold up, and they do.
So yes, at least some of this testing has been done and if the alloy frame guns hold up to thousands of +P rounds, you figure the steel frame ones will too.
Incidentally, I've shot plenty of +P and non+P .38 ammo through my own snubnose 637, and I've compared the two blinded (with the "Russian Roulette" test) and in all honesty, I can barely tell the difference between a "normal" round and a +P round. With "real" ammo (not weak wadcutter rounds) they're both really snappy from a 15 ounce gun with "boot" grips.
With an ordinary all steel "service" revolver like my Smith 19. . .I can't tell the difference at all; even the +P rounds have fairly muted recoil. With a 686. . .what recoil? [;)]
So this idea that .38+P is much stronger than "ordinary" .38 is so much mythology. If you look at the actual ballistics, at BEST the .38+P shoots a typical 125 grain bullet 70-80 fps faster than the "non" +P ammo from a snubnose gun, and in some cases there is **NO** ballistic difference.
Yes, 38+Ps will wear out a gun faster *IF* the gun is marginal to begin with (ie its a 100 year old gun, its a poor-steel alloy Spanish gun, or its made with a weak aluminum frame like the 1950s and 60s Smiths and Colts), but in any strong modern "brand" gun. . .nah. Guns with marginal lockwork (again, I'm looking at some of the older Latin American guns like Taurus/Rossi) won't "like" +P ammo, but any gun like that is probably going to shoot loose with lots of "ordinary" .38 rounds eventually, too.
Empirically, 9mm NATO ammo is only somewhat short of 9mm+P ammo, and there are any number of guns out there with tens of thousands of rounds put through them. That's "real world" testing, isn't it?
Edit: I think the more important difference here is with autos, not revolvers. +P ammo means 5-10% higher slide velocity in recoil, and over thousands of rounds, this extra slide/frame impact probably can accelerate frame cracking, especially in guns susceptible to it (eg like the aluminum frame Berettas).
For this reason, I actually won't run ANY "high velocity" .22LRs through my High Standards, which I guess are the .22 equivalent of "+P" rounds. Can the gun handle them? Of course, but these guns are known to crack frames after tens of thousands of rounds, and in a Hamden CT made gun built in the 1960s with virtually no chance of getting a similar quality replacement frame, I just don't want to accelerate the process.
In my other guns? Don't care. I don't run enough +Ps through my 9mm guns to worry about this, and since they're mostly all production guns anyway, if one were to crack after 20,000 rounds (instead of 30,000). . .I'll just replace it.
In general, the solution to this "issue" is just to make sure the slide spring is matched to the round you're going to use. If you intend to run mostly high pressure rounds, you'll want to use a slide spring of slightly higher weight, and also perhaps check/change it more frequently.
To test a theory or question like your question, suggests, one would have to take two cross sections of the population of a particular firearm, and shoot nothing but +P in one group, and standard pressure in the other, and run them untill they quit. All things would have to be equal on both sides, except the ammo, then that, would have to remain the same ithin the group.
Being a mechanical devise, might suggest one apply some science, and in particular Physics here, of which there are several Physics laws that might apply, one of the most prominant wold be the gass law of Pressure/Temperature/Volume, as it relates to compression. Basically this means, the bigger the engine, the faster the car, and the sooner something gives out.
There are some articles out htere, here and there, and it does suggest that +P ammunition will decrease the life of a firearm, even if it is +P rated. There are several things involved here too, and the pressure curve of the particular ammo, is one of them...how long is it at a certain pressure...kind of like most generators ratings are for surge wattage...like a 5KW generator will deliver 5000 Watts for around a minute, if asked to, but then drop off to about 4250 Watts.
Just some things to ponder Juggernaut.
Best
Has this sort of testing been done? Well, probably not with EVERY production gun, but again, I've seen documentation of this type of "torture" testing with at least SOME guns (see below).
Again, everything I've ever seen on this suggests that modern production revolvers and service-type autos (even the "fragile" Berettas, see below) will still hold up to thousands and thousands of rounds of +P ammo before failure.
Maybe they won't last quite as long as guns fired with regular ammo, but they're still going to survive a lot more rounds of overpressure ammo than 98%+ of shooters will ever put through their guns.
Of the few individuals who actually do put tens of thousands of rounds through their guns, most aren't consistently using overpressure ammo, and in any case, these shooters are typically high-level competitors who fully expect to have to replace their gun every few years (or less). But again, these aren't guns people are staking their lives on, and at that point, the cost of a new gun or fixing your old one is negligible compared to the cost of the ammo you're putting through it.
In the meantime, here is one description of a "torture test" I pulled off the web. If you don't want to read it, it says that a Beretta 92 billed as having a 30,000 round service life experienced a serious parts failure after 20,000 rounds of which half were +P ammo:
quote:"The Beretta 92FS," by Christopher Bartocci...
...published in Krause Publications' Handguns 2001(13th Edition), states the following information:
"With the gun's major criticisms in mind, I wanted to see how the M9/92FS would stand up to a 20,500 round torture test using mostly +P and +P+ ammunition. I purchased a stock 92FS from a local gun distributor and made some calls for some high-power ammunition. The ammunition used in this test is as follows: 9X19mm (NATO, Parabellum/Luger) manufactured by Winchester/Olin Corporation.
Beretta U.S.A. claims their pistol is serviceable to 35,000 rounds and that it will function under the most adverse conditions. Beretta U.S.A. claims 'the average reliability of all M9s tested at Beretta U.S.A. is 17,500 rounds without stoppage.' The ammunition I chose was the hottest ammunition available and I would not recommend anyone put high round counts of +P+ ammunition through any alloy-frame pistol regardless of manufacturer.
The first thing I did was fire for out-of-the-box accuracy, I used the 115-grain +P+ ammunition and at 15 yards the 15-shot group measured 1.5 inches. I had nine magazines loaded up and someone loading magazines as I emptied them and, within 20 minutes, I fired 500 rounds with no malfunctions of any type...
The next day I began firing 2,000 rounds of the 127-grain +P+SXT, by far the hottest 9mm ammunition I have ever fired. There were no malfunctions of any type using this ammunition. Over the next 3 days I fired 8,000 rounds of 9mm NATO, the standard M882 Ball ammunition issued to U.S. military personnel. The M882 ball cartridge is rated as a +P cartridge by SAAMI specifications.
The barrel was cleaned every 2,000 to 3,000 rounds. It would take us 45 to 50 minutes to fire 1,000 rounds and, at times, the pistol would become too hot to handle. I fired 1,000 rounds of Winchester USA 115-grain 9mm ball with no problems and the pistol, after 11,500 rounds, was still delivering groups in the 1.5-inch range.
At this point, the pistol was totally disassembled and cleaned. Then I fired an additional 6,000 rounds of the 115-grain FMJ with only one malfunction. There was one failure to extract due to an under-powered cartridge, not the pistol.
After about 15,000 rounds I began to notice some pitting on the right wing of the locking block. I recommend changing this part when pitting is noted, but this was a torture test and we wanted to see how long the gun will last.
As of now 17,500 rounds have been fired and I headed back to the range to fire the remaining 3,000 rounds. Finally at round count 19,498, I had a locking block failure. The left wing of the locking block broke and the pistol's slide locked up. By pushing down on the broken wing with a drift punch, the action was freed and the pistol subsequently disassembled, revealing some minimal frame damage - but nothing that would affect the operation of the pistol. I changed the locking block and within 10 minutes I was back in action and concluded the test with no other malfunctions. The last 15 rounds were fired for accuracy; the group measured about 1.75 inches at 15 yards. The accuracy had hardly changed at all.
The locking block survived 19,948 rounds, which included 2,500 rounds of +P+, 8,000 rounds of +P and 10,000 rounds of standard 9mm ball. One friend of mine put it best: 'You fired $4,000 worth of ammunition out of a $450 handgun and broke a $60 part after 19,498 rounds were fired, what more could you ask?'
You can read about the results of a "torture test" of 2000 rounds of +P ammo through an older alloy frame Smith model 12 .38 revolver here, with some good discussion in the comments:
http://tinyurl.com/8xdefmm
In short, the gun survived 2000 rounds of +P ammo without any evidence of damage. Some reference was made to other Smith alloy frame guns surviving 5000 rounds of +P, as I mentioned in a post above.
First of all, at least a good part of this testing is unnecessary.
Even if they're only labelled as ".38 special" modern revolvers are WAY stronger than ANY .38 cartridge ever would be.
Even .38 special wheelguns are typically built strong enough to handle rounds of .357 magnum pressures (which are in excess of 30k psi). Any gun that can handle 30,000 PSI rounds should be able to handle unlimited numbers of .38+P rounds at only 16,000 (or so) PSI. Remember the original .38 was a black powder round.
Next, I've actually seen a third party report "torture" testing a Smith 637 airweight aluminum alloy frame J frame revolver with .38+P rounds, and it held up just fine to 5000 of them (which is more than most shooters will ever put through their respective gun). I've heard that Smith has done the same sort of testing internally to make sure its alloy frame guns hold up, and they do.
So yes, at least some of this testing has been done and if the alloy frame guns hold up to thousands of +P rounds, you figure the steel frame ones will too.
Incidentally, I've shot plenty of +P and non+P .38 ammo through my own snubnose 637, and I've compared the two blinded (with the "Russian Roulette" test) and in all honesty, I can barely tell the difference between a "normal" round and a +P round. With "real" ammo (not weak wadcutter rounds) they're both really snappy from a 15 ounce gun with "boot" grips.
With an ordinary all steel "service" revolver like my Smith 19. . .I can't tell the difference at all; even the +P rounds have fairly muted recoil. With a 686. . .what recoil? [;)]
So this idea that .38+P is much stronger than "ordinary" .38 is so much mythology. If you look at the actual ballistics, at BEST the .38+P shoots a typical 125 grain bullet 70-80 fps faster than the "non" +P ammo from a snubnose gun, and in some cases there is **NO** ballistic difference.
Yes, 38+Ps will wear out a gun faster *IF* the gun is marginal to begin with (ie its a 100 year old gun, its a poor-steel alloy Spanish gun, or its made with a weak aluminum frame like the 1950s and 60s Smiths and Colts), but in any strong modern "brand" gun. . .nah. Guns with marginal lockwork (again, I'm looking at some of the older Latin American guns like Taurus/Rossi) won't "like" +P ammo, but any gun like that is probably going to shoot loose with lots of "ordinary" .38 rounds eventually, too.
Empirically, 9mm NATO ammo is only somewhat short of 9mm+P ammo, and there are any number of guns out there with tens of thousands of rounds put through them. That's "real world" testing, isn't it?
Edit: I think the more important difference here is with autos, not revolvers. +P ammo means 5-10% higher slide velocity in recoil, and over thousands of rounds, this extra slide/frame impact probably can accelerate frame cracking, especially in guns susceptible to it (eg like the aluminum frame Berettas).
For this reason, I actually won't run ANY "high velocity" .22LRs through my High Standards, which I guess are the .22 equivalent of "+P" rounds. Can the gun handle them? Of course, but these guns are known to crack frames after tens of thousands of rounds, and in a Hamden CT made gun built in the 1960s with virtually no chance of getting a similar quality replacement frame, I just don't want to accelerate the process.
In my other guns? Don't care. I don't run enough +Ps through my 9mm guns to worry about this, and since they're mostly all production guns anyway, if one were to crack after 20,000 rounds (instead of 30,000). . .I'll just replace it.
In general, the solution to this "issue" is just to make sure the slide spring is matched to the round you're going to use. If you intend to run mostly high pressure rounds, you'll want to use a slide spring of slightly higher weight, and also perhaps check/change it more frequently.
quote:Originally posted by Juggernaut
The testing is actually necessary for my information and I prefer the steel as well for its weight and strength. My sentiments as well that in a quality firearm like Smith & Wesson, Colt, Ruger etc, they should hold their own and then some in relation to stress within the limits of their nomenclature of course which is excellent.
quote:Originally posted by tsr1965
Theortically, it is impossible to test a firearm for longevity, like you are asking. It would have to be done on each individual firearm, and how would one know if a particular firearm in question would still be running longer, with the use of standard pressure ammunition(or hare a shorter lifespan with the use of +P)? It would have to be a destructive test.
To test a theory or question like your question, suggests, one would have to take two cross sections of the population of a particular firearm, and shoot nothing but +P in one group, and standard pressure in the other, and run them untill they quit. All things would have to be equal on both sides, except the ammo, then that, would have to remain the same ithin the group.
Being a mechanical devise, might suggest one apply some science, and in particular Physics here, of which there are several Physics laws that might apply, one of the most prominant wold be the gass law of Pressure/Temperature/Volume, as it relates to compression. Basically this means, the bigger the engine, the faster the car, and the sooner something gives out.
There are some articles out htere, here and there, and it does suggest that +P ammunition will decrease the life of a firearm, even if it is +P rated. There are several things involved here too, and the pressure curve of the particular ammo, is one of them...how long is it at a certain pressure...kind of like most generators ratings are for surge wattage...like a 5KW generator will deliver 5000 Watts for around a minute, if asked to, but then drop off to about 4250 Watts.Just some things to ponder Juaaernaut Juggernaut.Best
quote:Originally posted by Juggernaut
It wouldn't be impossible as firearm companies do this to some extent however normally do not reveal the privileged data that results unless it is to their benefit to do so, however this test would result no doubt in the eventual destruction of the firearms being tested.
A venture such as this may be somewhat tedious and depending upon how much time and effort that one would be willing to put into a project of this nature depends upon the reasoning for doing so, although often times the ends justify the means especially if there is financial gain involved.
Similar mechanization's have been designed before and are manufactured for things such as this and have been successful in their ability to test the limits of the item which they were designed for and are used for everything from a-z and 0-9.
One would hope so anyway being that mechanical science is often used in testing and of which there could be a myriad of variable equations that could be used, however this isn't complicated to necessitate that, although the car analogy is one that I am acquainted with and would work for this.
Rather than complicate it unnecessarily several specimens could be randomly collected both using non +P ammunition and those using +P ammunition and put through the exact same mechanical trials to failure in order to collect at least a generalized result collecting and processing all pertinent information. Comparisons are fine and of course render some information pertaining to such things but in order to collect the needed information either the firearms companies would have to reveal their testing data if it exists to this extent or there will have to be tests performed.
I have come across some very vague articles and other information however something more definitive would be much more helpful as well as useful and prompted the the inquiry and research. Regards
If you wanted to test this in a rigorous way, the way to do it would be to take 6 production guns off the line, run three to failure with ordinary ammo, and three to failure with +P ammo, then compare round counts between the two groups.
Has this sort of testing been done? Well, probably not with EVERY production gun, but again, I've seen documentation of this type of "torture" testing with at least SOME guns (see below).
Again, everything I've ever seen on this suggests that modern production revolvers and service-type autos (even the "fragile" Berettas, see below) will still hold up to thousands and thousands of rounds of +P ammo before failure.
Maybe they won't last quite as long as guns fired with regular ammo, but they're still going to survive a lot more rounds of overpressure ammo than 98%+ of shooters will ever put through their guns.
Of the few individuals who actually do put tens of thousands of rounds through their guns, most aren't consistently using overpressure ammo, and in any case, these shooters are typically high-level competitors who fully expect to have to replace their gun every few years (or less). But again, these aren't guns people are staking their lives on, and at that point, the cost of a new gun or fixing your old one is negligible compared to the cost of the ammo you're putting through it.
In the meantime, here is one description of a "torture test" I pulled off the web. If you don't want to read it, it says that a Beretta 92 billed as having a 30,000 round service life experienced a serious parts failure after 20,000 rounds of which half were +P ammo:
quote:"The Beretta 92FS," by Christopher Bartocci...
...published in Krause Publications' Handguns 2001(13th Edition), states the following information:
"With the gun's major criticisms in mind, I wanted to see how the M9/92FS would stand up to a 20,500 round torture test using mostly +P and +P+ ammunition. I purchased a stock 92FS from a local gun distributor and made some calls for some high-power ammunition. The ammunition used in this test is as follows: 9X19mm (NATO, Parabellum/Luger) manufactured by Winchester/Olin Corporation.
Beretta U.S.A. claims their pistol is serviceable to 35,000 rounds and that it will function under the most adverse conditions. Beretta U.S.A. claims 'the average reliability of all M9s tested at Beretta U.S.A. is 17,500 rounds without stoppage.' The ammunition I chose was the hottest ammunition available and I would not recommend anyone put high round counts of +P+ ammunition through any alloy-frame pistol regardless of manufacturer.
The first thing I did was fire for out-of-the-box accuracy, I used the 115-grain +P+ ammunition and at 15 yards the 15-shot group measured 1.5 inches. I had nine magazines loaded up and someone loading magazines as I emptied them and, within 20 minutes, I fired 500 rounds with no malfunctions of any type...
The next day I began firing 2,000 rounds of the 127-grain +P+SXT, by far the hottest 9mm ammunition I have ever fired. There were no malfunctions of any type using this ammunition. Over the next 3 days I fired 8,000 rounds of 9mm NATO, the standard M882 Ball ammunition issued to U.S. military personnel. The M882 ball cartridge is rated as a +P cartridge by SAAMI specifications.
The barrel was cleaned every 2,000 to 3,000 rounds. It would take us 45 to 50 minutes to fire 1,000 rounds and, at times, the pistol would become too hot to handle. I fired 1,000 rounds of Winchester USA 115-grain 9mm ball with no problems and the pistol, after 11,500 rounds, was still delivering groups in the 1.5-inch range.
At this point, the pistol was totally disassembled and cleaned. Then I fired an additional 6,000 rounds of the 115-grain FMJ with only one malfunction. There was one failure to extract due to an under-powered cartridge, not the pistol.
After about 15,000 rounds I began to notice some pitting on the right wing of the locking block. I recommend changing this part when pitting is noted, but this was a torture test and we wanted to see how long the gun will last.
As of now 17,500 rounds have been fired and I headed back to the range to fire the remaining 3,000 rounds. Finally at round count 19,498, I had a locking block failure. The left wing of the locking block broke and the pistol's slide locked up. By pushing down on the broken wing with a drift punch, the action was freed and the pistol subsequently disassembled, revealing some minimal frame damage - but nothing that would affect the operation of the pistol. I changed the locking block and within 10 minutes I was back in action and concluded the test with no other malfunctions. The last 15 rounds were fired for accuracy; the group measured about 1.75 inches at 15 yards. The accuracy had hardly changed at all.
The locking block survived 19,948 rounds, which included 2,500 rounds of +P+, 8,000 rounds of +P and 10,000 rounds of standard 9mm ball. One friend of mine put it best: 'You fired $4,000 worth of ammunition out of a $450 handgun and broke a $60 part after 19,498 rounds were fired, what more could you ask?'
You can read about the results of a "torture test" of 2000 rounds of +P ammo through an older alloy frame Smith model 12 .38 revolver here, with some good discussion in the comments:
http://tinyurl.com/8xdefmm
In short, the gun survived 2000 rounds of +P ammo without any evidence of damage. Some reference was made to other Smith alloy frame guns surviving 5000 rounds of +P, as I mentioned in a post above.
Similar to what I had in mind and a good read, thanks for the info.
Pretty good for the M9/M9a1 although most of us in the field preferred the M1911a1, I became used to the 9x19mm over time but which doesn't quite have the thump of the .45acp it is a decent round in its own right.
NO. but I would not drive the same brand other model that had a red line of 6500 rpm up to that 7899 RPM
EDIT Sounds like you know cars Yes It is a BMW my old mans Play toy I had a 1988 M6 then a 97 M3 loved the M6 but the 1988 was the last year until just a few years ago. My current car is a 2002 M3 with SMG transmission.I picked up at the Z4 plant in S.C. One too many interstate traffic backups caused me to go with the SMG . I am in a minority and Love the Paddle shift I can drive 100 miles on the BLUERIDGE PARKWAY and never touch the brakes use the paddles to up and down shift. At least as an old man I do like to have a car that will handle in curves and has good brakes if needed I had a 1970 Challenger 440 6pack I bought new in 1969 had it for 14 years but it was NOT a curvy road car. Really don't like the new M3,To Big poor fuel mileage. I thought about the 1M 2 years ago but don't like turbo cars. I am still a drag racer at heart and don't want to wait for a turbo to SPOOL UP. [:o)][:I]
EDIT II I really liked the Challenger and thought they did a very good Job I sold 3 Lugers one 1902 Carbine with capture papers and Two navies I had cash money in my pocket to buy a SRT 8 for list price. No dealers would sell me one for sticker price. I will never pay over list for any Car or Gun so then Fuel prices have gone up and I am happy with my car. The new Muscle cars are nice but IMHO too heavy. I did drive a caddy CTSV coupe and great car but also Too BIG.
EDIT Sounds like you know cars Yes It is a BMW my old mans Play toy I had a 1988 M6 then a 97 M3 loved the M6 but the 1988 was the last year until just a few years ago. My current car is a 2002 M3 with SMG transmission.I picked up at the Z4 plant in S.C. One too many interstate traffic backups caused me to go with the SMG . I am in a minority and Love the Paddle shift I can drive 100 miles on the BLUERIDGE PARKWAY and never touch the brakes use the paddles to up and down shift. At least as an old man I do like to have a car that will handle in curves and has good brakes if needed I had a 1970 Challenger 440 6pack I bought new in 1969 had it for 14 years but it was NOT a curvy road car. Really don't like the new M3,To Big poor fuel mileage. I thought about the 1M 2 years ago but don't like turbo cars. I am still a drag racer at heart and don't want to wait for a turbo to SPOOL UP. [:o)][:I]
Nice, I like BMW cars and bikes as well, sounds like a nice Challenger too...What do you think of the remake Challenger and Mustang, their not too bad imho, but the Charger doesn't look like a Charger unfortunately?
quote:Originally posted by perry shooter
EDIT II I really liked the Challenger and thought they did a very good Job I sold 3 Lugers one 1902 Carbine with capture papers and Two navies I had cash money in my pocket to buy a SRT 8 for list price. No dealers would sell me one for sticker price. I will never pay over list for any Car or Gun so then Fuel prices have gone up and I am happy with my car. The new Muscle cars are nice but IMHO too heavy. I did drive a caddy CTSV coupe and great car but also Too BIG.
The Challenger SRT8 392 Hemi is super nice, sounds like you got a sweet deal there, I always negotiate prices on everything especially items that you know are marked up.
Regards
In conclusion then from research and information it should be safe to conclude that using +P ammunition only in quality made firearms such as Smith & Wesson, Colt, Ruger, etc, even after several thousand rounds may show more wear than when using non +P ammunition which is expected but may be negligible the weapon should still be functional and safe.
And further that some minor part failures may occur somewhat sooner possibly using +P only as opposed to non +P however it is also noted that most shooters do not shoot the thousands and thousands of rounds that may make this occur in a quality firearm.
Regards