Honor Defense Honor Guard range report

If you have a straight up REVIEW or a firearm, post it up here.
User avatar
jabba21
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 1:26 pm
Has liked: 0
Been liked: 0

Honor Defense Honor Guard range report

Post by jabba21 » Fri Mar 18, 2016 6:10 pm

I picked up one of the new Honor Defense Honor Guard pistols today to try out. Everything I had read about it sounded positive so my expectations were a little high going in.

The things I initially like about it are the ergonomics. The gun feels really good in the hand and the checkering on the frame is almost perfect. It is aggressive but not too much. There is no need for Talon grips or any aftermarket stippling on this gun. I also really like the sights. Admittedly, I'm not a big 3 dot fan but the sights are steel and I like the contour of the rear sight. It has a nice ledge that lends itself well for one handed slide manipulation but then it curves at the rear to prevent snagging on clothing. The front sight is a large orange dot that is easy to pick up quickly. While there are sights I like better, these are very usable and worlds better than other out of the box competitors.

In my opinion, the trigger is also nicer than most other single stack nines that I have used. It has a smooth take up and a nice crisp break. It also has an ambidextrous magazine release and slide stop, if those things are important to you. They are very low profile and not obtrusive in any way. The gun just feels good to me. It feels like a quality pistol and does not feel cheap in any way.

Those are the things I like. It does have a little bit of a higher bore axis than some of its competitors but that was about the only thing I didn't like out of the box. That alone was not that egregious and could be forgiven provided it was a nice reliable shooter. Well, I was anxious to shoot it so I quickly stripped it down, cleaned it, oiled it and took it out to shoot.

I loaded it up with some Freedom Muntions 115gr round nose and pulled the trigger... CLICK! I knew a round had chambered so I held it down range for a moment to ensure there was no hang fire. I jacked the round out and sure enough, the firing pin had struck the primer but it failed to go off. I pulled the trigger again and a round actually went off but I had a failure to extract. In fact, it was a picture perfect stovepipe jam. I continued to shoot through the two magazines that I had loaded and I kid you not, I had a malfunction on every single round. I either had more light primer strikes, a failure to feed, a failure to extract and I even had one double feed. I ran a few more magazines through it and the issues persisted.

At this point, I called Honor Defense and spoke with Rick, one of their engineers and explained my problems. He stated that they had not had any other reports of that many failures. He stated they had received a few reports of malfunctions but they had resolved themselves after 30-40 rounds. I told Rick that I was going to continue to put a few more magazines through it to see what happened. He was very interested in correcting the problem and he wanted my info so he could follow up with me in an hour.

Well, I put some more magazines through it and even ran some Federal Premium HST rounds through it. The problems did not get any better. I called Rick back and told him this and he stated he would get a shipping label out to me so I could send the gun in for repairs. Rick was very pleasant to deal with and he seemed very eager to want to fix the problems but needless so say, I'm very disappointed in the performance of the pistol. I thought, well I've had a Glock that was a lemon before so maybe this one gun isn't indicative of the whole line. However, when I took the gun back in I noticed the rear sight was wobbling and could be pushed around with my hand. It's a minor detail on top of everything else but it's little things like that that make me question their quality control.

I'm going to send the gun in and see if they make it right. Maybe I just got a lemon but I doubt I will hold onto this gun once I get it back. I really wanted to like it too.

(Sidenote - I saved all of the rounds that had a light primer strike. It was almost enough for two full magazines. I loaded them up in my Glock 43 and it fired every one without issue.)ImageImageImageImageImageImage


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

User avatar
PDM
KAC Member
KAC Member
Posts: 5789
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:17 pm
Location: Bardstown
Has liked: 87 times
Been liked: 44 times

Re: Honor Defense Honor Guard range report

Post by PDM » Fri Mar 18, 2016 7:56 pm

Wow. Not what I expected
"The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or the state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."
Tench Coxe

User avatar
jabba21
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 1:26 pm
Has liked: 0
Been liked: 0

Re: Honor Defense Honor Guard range report

Post by jabba21 » Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:08 pm

Yeah, I'm a little bummed about it. I really wanted to like it. It could be I just got a turd of the bunch but an experience like that has likely soured me on it altogether.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

User avatar
Niceguy
KAC Member
KAC Member
Posts: 14178
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:57 pm
Location: Smithfield Ky
Has liked: 328 times
Been liked: 91 times

Re: Honor Defense Honor Guard range report

Post by Niceguy » Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:13 pm

I had similar experience with a XDs 45. After 3 trips to Springfield and a couple changes in problems, it got traded. Left a bad taste, even though I know multiple people that have had great luck out of their's. Maybe one day I'll give them a second chance...

Return to “Range Reports”

×