Autoloading Pistols Compliance Testing Program
Updated: Oct. 4, 2002
Officers' sidearm are arguably the single most important item of equipment that they carry. A firearm that does not work reliably when needed will most likely result in serious injury or death to the officer.
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), through its Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES), has developed voluntary minimum performance standards for revolvers, autoloading pistols and shotguns for police use. For several years during the mid-1980s, NIJ sponsored a series of tests in each of these three categories of firearms, publishing Equipment Performance Reports for each that detailed the test results.
Recognizing that the vast majority of law enforcement agencies today use autoloading pistols as their issued duty weapon, NIJ is performing another series of tests for autoloading pistols in conjunction with the current version of the NIJ Standard for Autoloading Pistols (NIJ Standard-0112.03, Revision A).
NLECTC awarded subcontracts to two independent testing laboratories (H.P. White Laboratory, Inc., Street, Md. and U.S. Test Laboratory, LLC, Wichita, Kan.) to perform this testing. Both laboratories submitted proposals that were evaluated by NIJ, OLES and National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) staff and successfully demonstrated their capabilities to perform testing in accordance with NIJ Standard- 0112.03 by conducting preliminary tests on two pistols of the same model that were provided by NLECTC.
The major manufacturers of autoloading pistols for police use were contacted and asked to provide pistols for testing. Eight manufacturers (Colt, Glock, Kahr Arms, Kimber, Ruger, Sigarms, Smith & Wesson and Taurus) agreed to submit a total of 23 pistol models for testing. Several manufacturers declined NLECTC's invitation to participate in this testing. Testing was performed between August and October 1999. Both the bulletin, NLECTC Tests Autoloading Pistols for Law Enforcement Use, containing a summary of results, and the Equipment Performance Report (EPR): 1999 Autoloading Pistols, detailing the complete results of testing may be downloaded from this website or requested from NLECTC.
Autoloading pistol manufacturers interested in submitting firearms for testing should also contact NLECTC for further information on submission guidelines.
Contact:
NLECTC
Alex Sundstrom, Testing Coordinator
Phone: (800) 248-2742
rsundstrom@nlectc.org
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