Quote Originally Posted by shooter74743 View Post
*snip*

I actually did check out my Kimber Ultra CDP 1911 in a muddy puddle for three shots. I dipped it & really made an effort to get grit into it. I lifted it out of the puddle, gave it one good shake to ensure the barrel didn't have any sizeable obstructions & shot. My buddy said it looked like a bomb went off in my hand as muddy water misted out of it. I shot two more times after the first shot to ensure feed and reliability, but it was enough for me & I didn't want to subject it to more "torture" as it's not a cheap gun. I was amazed at how much of the mud I ended up wearing & also amazed at how much of a PITA it is to break down a weapon to every single minute part to properly clean it after such a test. It was a good test as I had gunk in every moving part. I bet I used a roll of paper towels & a box of q-tip ear swabs cleaning it. Doing this test really built a lot of confidence in my 1911 & I'm glad I did it. I have absolutely zero doubt that it would function if I ever had to use it...which I hope I never ever do. Kind of like a spare tire on the automobile, it's there...but I don't want to ever have to use it.
Reading this reminded me of a brutal test the folks over at Ballistics101 put a SIG P229 .357Sig through a while back. Here's an excerpt:

"The Sig Sauer motto is "To hell and back." We decided to bury it in the sand and jump on it several times. We then pulled it out ejected the magazine and dropped the gun and mag in a bucket of muddy water. Next we cycled the slide a few times and proceeded to shoot another 50 rounds flawlessly. We figured what the hay, stick it in the mud at the bottom of the bucket. We pulled it out again and without a rinse launched 50 more mud splattering rounds. Because we had to give it back, I wanted to field strip, rinse and lube the whole thing we left. My good intentions were wasted. No sooner did I finish, our team grabbed it and fired it again. I guess they were not finished with it yet. It was as if everyone was waiting for more trigger time with it. It was popular that day to say the least. Throughout the rest of the day the SIG continued to perform nonstop. We counted the empty boxes of 357 rounds. All the shooters included, we ran just under 1300 rounds. Some hollow point, some flat point. Some Cor-Bon, Hornady and Speer. We had not one failure to fire or failure to eject."

I guess that helps explain the SEAL's love for their SIGs, especially considering that they can use anything they choose!