[Steelharp]

Who was the first person/company that experimented with the use of polymers in gun manufacturing? What was the first commercially available firearm with a plastic frame? What was the first true sucessfully marketed plastic framed gun? I'm curious...

[pax]

:) Try this link to an old thread for starters: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=117777

Hope folks more knowledgeable come along and add more.

pax

[Steelharp]

Thanks, pax; didn't know you had already posed the question a while back...

[mnrivrat]

What was the first commercially available firearm with a plastic frame?

That would be the Remington Nylon 66 rifle in .22 RF

[No_Brakes23]

Someone in the other thread asked what the differences in different plastics were.

I can say one is that Zytel gets very hot very fast. I first fired my Nylon 77 in Yuma AZ, and if I was not careful to leave it in the shade, it would be too hot to handle before I even fired it. Accurate little rifle, though.

[vis35]

Surprised that nobody in either thread mentioned the High Standard Dura-Matic, it is a plastic framed .22 pistol that came out back in the mid 60’s. In a way it is still around today, the Beretta Neos could be considered it’s grandchild, by way of the Colt “Cadet”, both are just updated Dura-Matics.

An interesting thing about the VP-70z is that like the Glock it is double action only (but real horrible! :eek: ) and also had a very high capacity magazine (18 or19 rounds).

[mnrivrat]

High Standard Dura-Matic, it is a plastic framed .22 pistol that came out back in the mid 60’s.

Sorry ,but the Duro-Matic had a steel frame - with plastic grips.

Some of the other mentions in the other thread refered to guns that had plastic parts, but that is different than plastic frames. Plastic parts like stocks have been around for a long time in guns such as the Stevens . The Nylon 66 was the first commercial use of plastics to produce a frame/reciever in which the reciever parts would would be installed into.

[WT]

The first synthetic plastic was invented in 1907 and patented in 1909.

The US Navy used a plastic framed handgun during World War II. It was issued to members of the UDT. An example is kept by the SEALs Museum in Fort Pierce, Fl.

The German Army also used some plastic in rifles during WWII.

[Onmilo]

First commercial successful use of a polymar base construction was the H&K VP70 handgun.

The Remington Nylon 77 kinda, sorta counts as the first commercial use of a NYLON reinforced plastic base being used in the construction of a firearm.

Olympic Arms has recently reintroduced the old aluminum frame Whitney Wolverine with a new polymar plastic frame subassembly, this might be the source of confusion about the Duramatic which was indeed a steel frame gun.