Cast or Forged?

[Richard]

Tell me what makes a good forged frame/slide so much better than a good cast frame/slide? I asked a knowledgeable friend this question and he said that a forged frame/slide starts life as a casting. His opine was if you buy either a descent cast or forged frame/slide it wouldn’t make a difference. What do you think? Regards, Richard

 

[Dobe]

Think of a forged piece of steel as compressed. This makes the same size piece of metal more dense, and with less possible voids in the metal.

Today's top quality castings are not as strong as top quality forgings, but are generally strong enough for most handgun frames and slides. Ruger has been successfully casting firearms for years. I believe Caspian frames are cast.

 

[12many]

Any ideas on the difference in life, if any, , either in years or rounds, for a high quality forged vs. high quality cast frame?

Thanks.

 

[waynedm]

The only real benefit for forging is in the barrel for when it heats up. As far as the frame or slide goes they don't get hot enough to deviate during temperature change. The only real benefit of forged frame verus cast is if you plan on dropping it on concrete a few times, the cast frame will crack whereas the forged one will bend.

It's also a bragging point! I guess if it helps your ego . . .

 

[gudel]

what about ruger's barrels, are those cast or forged?

 

[RNB65]

Cast or forged? Sheesh, there for a second I thought I had wondered into a golf website.

 

[wally]

Among proper steel alloy selection for the task, and proper heat treating, if its forged or cast is a distant third place for importance.

Basically forged starts out as molten metal, poured into a slab and hammered into rough shape before final machining. Cast starts out as molten metal poured into a mold much closer to final shape before finishing. Forged if done right will be measurably stronger but its debatable if the difference matters for handgun frames (after all plastic frames hold up very well indeed) or slides.

--wally.

 

[Boats]

Unless a void is present in a casting, I think the difference is largely immaterial if the casting quality is very high. Ruger's been casting for years and its facilities do or did the castings for Caspian. CZ has been using castings for the 75/85 series' frames for a long time without complaint.

When castings are used for highly stressed small parts, such as a 1911 internal extractor or a CZ slide stop pin, those are parts just asking for failure. Most of the stresses in the reciever are localized to machined bar stock pins, and castings do very well in that capacity.

 

[Mikeo]

Quote: "Cast or forged? Sheesh, there for a second I thought I had wondered into a golf website."


My thoughts, exactly.

 

[CWL]

Any ideas on the difference in life, if any, , either in years or rounds, for a high quality forged vs. high quality cast frame?

If you need to ask this type of question, then you are the type of firearm user that will never wear-out your gun. Modern guns are made for war, they don't wear out.

 

[atblis]

Well

Modern guns are made for war,

Well, not a lot of what we buy. They are made to look nice in the case, and sell (and be made as cheaply as possible). Heck, I don't think some of the 1911 makers intend for their guns to even be shot. At least that's what you'd think based on how well they function.

At lot more things are cast than you might imagine. I would avoid making assertions including things like all, always, superior, etc. Might have been true 30 years ago.