Are non-plastic guns becomming extinct?

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Nor are they as strong as a properly tempered steel frame, that is regularly & properly maintained.

So what you're saying is a gun that gets chewed on by a dog, dropped repeatedly, left to rust or photodegrade and is ill maintained maintained can break earlier than a well maintained one sitting in a safe or at the range?
 
My point exactly. More durable (and lighter, and cheaper) = better for a carry gun that will be getting constantly exposed to sweat, humidity, rain, hot temps along with the above, etc...

Unless your pistol is made entirely of plastic, those are still a concern.

Makes one wonder why all those mission critical parts are still made from the inferior, less durable compound, steel. :scrutiny:
 
Plastic must have an amazing feature that it causes all metal in which it contacts to not rust.

Or could it be the treatments offered a Glock can also be used on other pistols? I have pistols that have gone through the swamps in southern Louisiana, particularly a CZ-75, Tanfoglio, and Ruger Pollice Service Six. They've been through mud, crud, and salt-water brine.

No rust.

Odd, isn't it, that any rifle survived WWI? By evident Glock users, those steel-and-wood rifles should have been rusted hunks of junk after the first week.
 
No.
For collection and target/competition use I prefer all steel with 1911 as one of top three choices.
 
More durable (and lighter, and cheaper) = better for a carry gun that will be getting constantly exposed to sweat, humidity, rain, hot temps along with the above, etc...

Lighter? Check.

Cheaper? Check.

More Durable? Only in terms of corrosion resistance, and only compared to bare/untreated metals of certain types. Long chain polymers have amazing strength for their weight, but pale in comparison to metal alloys, especially high carbon steels. Polymers do not have good abrasion resistance (especially without lubrication), cannot withstand high temperatures, are degraded or destroyed by many chemicals, and, as mentioned, deteriorate from UV exposure. Steel can withstand very high temperature, is far more abrasion resistant, is completely unaffected by UV, and the only chemicals that can affect it are corrosive acids, and they act slowly.

Dunk your 1911 in brake cleaner for a couple hours, it will look lighter in color after it dries, until you wipe it with a silocon cloth. Dunk your polymer gun in brake clean for a couple hours, it will be all gooey and completely useless.

There is also a reason slides and barrels are still made of steel, and that polymer framed handguns use steel or alloy inserts for the frame rails.

Buy a polymer gun because it is lighter. Buy a polymer gun because it is cheaper. Buy a polymer gun because it feels better in your hand. But for Pete's sake, don't buy a polymer gun because you believe it is stronger/tougher/more durable than metal; It isn't. And all polymer guns still have plenty of metal parts, so it is foolish to think that a polymer frame = gun 100% impervious to corrosion.
 
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More durable in the environments in which they will actually be subjected to during the course of their actual use. I don't care what happens if you cook it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes like a pizza or dunk it in a bath of whatever chemicals for 2 hours, because neither of those things will ever happen. I care how it resists moisture, salty moisture, and moisture while subjected to realistic levels of heat (car in the summer). Plastic does the job better in every way as a frame material. Obviously it can't be a barrel/slide/trigger parts material.

I will say I've never had a bit of rust on Glocks or M&Ps slide/barrel finish. I had some rust on the rear sight of my M&P after it was in the car all day in very hot/humid conditions. So I think metal treatments now are good too, far better than some of the older ones (I'd never leave my older 228 in the car all day when the newer guns are available) but even if they made a metal frame and treated it in the same fashion, it might be almost as rust resistant as plastic, but would be heavier, for nothing gained.
 
So, were I to make a 1911 with the same surface treatment as a Glock, it wouldn't rust either, right?

So, it isn't the plastic that prevents corrosion but rather the surface treatment. That doesn't make polymer magic, and so is not exclusive to poly frame pistols.
 
Why are the materials used to make guns such as steel and wood no longer so popular?

Simple Economics and Marketing....


It's far cheaper for a manufacturer to inject some plastic in a mold than it is for them to forge a chunk of steel and then machine and finish it. The marketing dept along with gun rag writers come up with buzz words like new, lightweight, space age, and maintenance free to sell this low cost alternative to the masses who gobble it all up. The bean counters then add more plastic pistols in a manufactures product line to garner bigger profit margins for the shareholders.
 
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