Are all steel handguns passe?

[MaterDei]

I don't buy any of the arguments that polymer framed firearms will weaken or decay with age.

With that said, it's still plastic. Yuck. Give me a heavy manly metal gun.

 

[EddieNFL]

Indeed, when I speak to younger shooters, they typically gravitate to polymer guns, complaining that all steel guns are too heavy.

Shrug...

 

[REAPER4206969]

Polymer triggers made for Colt Mustangs and variants made 30 years ago are already starting to fail, which doesn't surprise me in the least. Plastics are not gun making materials for any other reason than that of increasing profits. Young people typically don't know any better and blindly assume plastics are equal, and the brainwashing continues.

It is conceivable that the young could be convinced that some new variation of paper is actually superior to steel by greedy manufacturers. Why not? They overwhelmingly voted for Obama!

I've had people in these forums argue that aluminum alloys are good replacements for steel, even though common sense tells us that it has only one superior property, weight.

People buy guns made of inferior materials and then argue that the materials are as good or better than gunmaking steels. Not a big surprise.

This is, by far, the most uninformed post I've ever read on this forum.

 

[ScratchnDent]

Not to me. I tried a polymer pistol for a few years. While I didn't hate it, I didn't love it like I do my steel handguns.

 

[Walkalong]

Shrug...

Yep..... They can have all the plastic guns they want. Leaves more steel guns for those that appreciate them. Steel is caressable. Plastic? Nah.

 

[REAPER4206969]

Do you steel lovers actually carry?

And by "carry" I don't mean throwing it in your glove box or strapping it on for a trip through the "bad areas." I mean eight hours minimum while doing everyday tasks.

 

[wanderinwalker]

Steel is not passe, but I personally don't think we're going to see anything truly revolutionary in handgun design in a steel frame in the future. I also have my doubts about seeing something revolutionary in alloy. Polymer is the direction the industry and market are going, and I believe that is where the advances will be made.

Having fired a CZ-75 back-to-back with my Glock 17, I can honestly say the difference in felt recoil between the two wasn't enough to excite me. I will also say a steel-framed 1911 in .45 ACP is far from the vicious-kicking "man's" gun some believe it to be. I haven't had a chance to try out a poly .45, though a Glock 21SF or M&P .45 is on my short list. The .40s I have tried, a Browning Hi-Power, a Glock 27 and a USP Compact, didn't leave a "gotta have this" impression, and I can't say one platform was noticeably more unpleasant than the others.

But I think picking a firearm based solely on its frame material is borderline silliness.

 

[BlayGlock]

While the steel framed classics that we all know and love will always be around, steel as a material for service pistol frames (and compact revolvers) is obsolete and has been since the end of the second world war.

This. This thread could have ended at post #4

 

[Guy de Loimbard]

I'm a steel lover, and I carry. P64, CZ-82 in town, Ruger Blackhawk out in the woods. I don't think steel is passe. My dad on the other hand carries a Sigma everywhere.

At the local indoor range, among those who bring guns it seems to be a 50/50 split between poly and steel framed autos+revolvers. As far as rentals go, the range usually sells out of .45 Auto and .357 magnum (and .38 special) faster than 9mm, because thos guns are usually the ones in use.

 

[ScratchnDent]

Do you steel lovers actually carry?

And by "carry" I don't mean throwing it in your glove box or strapping it on for a trip through the "bad areas." I mean eight hours minimum while doing everyday tasks.

All day, every day.

If an extra 6 ounces around my waist was bothering me, I'd skip a cheeseburger.

 

[hardworker]

As long as people are buying steel guns, they will be produced. Polymer is the way of the future though, as the trend towards lighter and smaller continues.

 

[REAPER4206969]

If an extra 6 ounces around my waist was bothering me

A Glock 23 w/o mag is 21oz., loaded with 14rds. of 180gr. cartridges it weighs 31oz. A 1911 weighs 38-42oz. w/o mag and ~45-~48oz. loaded with 9rds.

 

[ProCarryNAustin]

Do you steel lovers actually carry?

And by "carry" I don't mean throwing it in your glove box or strapping it on for a trip through the "bad areas." I mean eight hours minimum while doing everyday tasks.

At least 8-10 hours a day, every day. Good belt, good holster... carries as easily as my Glocks did. It is not like it is that much more weight. I probably packed more down in dinner tonight than the difference in weight between my G23 and my steel framed STI 1911. I'm 6' and 210. My pistol's weight is not really that much of a concern. YMMV.

 

[ProCarryNAustin]

All day, every day.

If an extra 6 ounces around my waist was bothering me, I'd skip a cheeseburger.

LOL... or workout more. Even at 2 lbs heavier... get a weight set!

 

[REAPER4206969]

I carried a government 1911 for years before I seen the light. Never again for an EDC.

 

[ProCarryNAustin]

I carried a government 1911 for years before I seen the light. Never again for an EDC.

And I carried plastic for years and find I shoot 1911's better. Have carried both and really don't find that much difference. Have a steel framed 1911 on my hip that has been there since 8am this morning in a Galco NSA holster. No problems here.

 

[DonRon]

I carried a government 1911 for years before I seen the light. Never again for an EDC.

Amen, my aching back more than once!

 

[engineer88]

Hahaha! Wow, some of us would have had to be royalty in medieval times. Heck a long knife back then weighed what a 1911 weighs today, let alone a full on sword or hammer, mace, etc. God forbid even thinking about a shield or armor. We really do have it good now. Don't get me wrong polymer is awesome. I appreciate my polymer guns for different reasons and weight is one of them.

However, I pass up my excellent Smith and Wesson airweight at 15oz every day and the SP101 at 24oz ends up iwb. Yes, I love the airweight, I just like the lockless, solidly built, 357 capable Ruger better. It is just a personal choice and one that is easy to live with. I have done 12 hour days on my feet with a 28oz+ gun on the hip and was fine. A good stiff, wide belt is the answer. It really makes ccw easy.

 

[REAPER4206969]

Sub 28oz. is perfectly reasonable. 40oz.+ is not.

 

[ElectrikKoolAid]

Intended use needs to be considered here.

In my life I have owned a Mustang and an F-150 that both had 5.0 liter motors, but they are vehicles with very different purposes.

The XD45 I carry has a different purpose than the high-end 1911 I lust after, though both have the same "motor".

A polymer pistol is lighter, dissipates recoil (somewhat) and has corrosion-resistance that make it an excellent choice for EDC purposes. It will never pass as a work of mechanical art, even though many steel guns have satisfying aesthetics that add nothing to their durability or shootability.

I can put a trailer hitch on the Mustang, but towing a boat is best done with the F-150. (OTOH, trolling for blondes was better in the Mustang IIRC.)

Few tools fit every scenario, and guns are no different.

 

[~Boomslang~]

Nothing refinishes like steel. Alluminiun frame guns are a pain in the ass when they wear, slide never matches the frame. Unless of course you go the dura?ceracoat route.

 

[hemiram]

For the life of me, I have never understood the complaints about steel guns being too heavy to carry all day. I carried a 6" Dan Wesson 15-2 heavy barreled gun, handcuffs, a nightstick a speedloader, and mace 5 days a week for about 4 years, and the weight of the gun never a concern. I wasn't even aware of it. How a pound or so less weight on someone who weighs more than 125 pounds is a concern is just odd to me.

 

[Fastcast]

Do you steel lovers actually carry?

And by "carry" I don't mean throwing it in your glove box or strapping it on for a trip through the "bad areas." I mean eight hours minimum while doing everyday tasks.

Ah, yea.....We're not all soft.

When men were made of steel and ships were made of wood.

Amen, my aching back more than once!

Than, you're out of shape!

 

[jmr40]

Steel framed pistols have been on life support for decades, some guys just haven't figured it out yet. They will always have a place for guys who play games with their guns at the range and in magnum revolvers, but their day is over for serious SD, military and law enforcement use.

I'm sure if they had the internet in the 1870's some guys would have been whining about how superior their trusty black powder revolvers were and how they would never be replaced either.

 

[M-Cameron]

im a wood/leather/steel guy personally.......

i mean, plastics are great.......but they just dont acquire "character" ......

personally i think a well used all metal gun looks really nice.......where as a well used polymer gun just looks.......well dull and used.