Otto said:
1. Plastic guide rods can break...steel doesn't.
http://www.brianenos.com/forums/inde...owtopic=149765
2. The added weight helps reduce muzzle flip.
3. Some shooters experience less felt recoil with steel guide rods.
1. Steel guide rods can also break (or bend). One fellow posting here mentioned that he had it happen with a Browning Hi-Power. I would suggest that it's not a big issue for either material. (I've seen one Glock plastic guide rod fail, but the gun continued to function properly...)
2. The added weight of a steel guide rod COULD be a plus, but most of us, unless we go the TUNGSTEN Guide Rod route (i.e., a very HEAVY guide rod), are UNLIKELY to notice a difference. Muzzle flip MIGHT be less, but I've never seen any photographic (or other evidence) of that fact.
3. Re: felt recoil: The affect on recoil (due to the increase in weight/mass) when a steel guide rod is used would arguably be like (but less than) firing the gun with one extra round in the mag.
I don't think most folks could really notice that difference.
I've never heard of anyone complaining about how FELT RECOIL increases from the first round in a 17-round mag through the last round -- and that change in the gun's total weight (which has an effect on FELT RECOIL) would be a MUCH GREATER than the change in mass/weight introduced when swapping a plastic guide rod for a metal one.
Some shooters also claim
better accuracy when using steel guide rods -- but I have yet to see such claims proven. (A Ransom Rest test might be a good place to start.) The bullet leaves the barrel before the slide has moved more than a small part of an inch, and I
don't see how a steel guide rod could have that much influence on results at that point in the firing cycle.
I've always been told that consistent barrel to slide lockup is the key to accuracy/precision with aimed fire. A lot of folks switch from factory CZ recoil springs to Wolff recoil springs. The Wolff springs were first made for the CZ "clones" made by Tanfoglio (and later imported by Witness). Those guns use a much larger diameter guide rod than does CZ. That larger-diameter recoil spring, when used with a CZ guide rod, allows the spring to move around a lot more during cycling -- and you'll see signs of the movement on the barrel and inside the slide and frame. Lots of slop, there.
If the guide rod is so important to accuracy I would expect to see changes in accuracy when going to a larger diameter recoil spring -- as the guide rod can't play a big role in handling that larger-diameter spring. I haven't heard anyone complaining about poorer accuracy from the larger diameter recoil spring.
Otto said:
A couple of notes:
Up until the late 90's CZ used steel guide rods in their guns and switched to plastic as a cost savings measure.
CZ Custom uses stainless steel guide rods in all but a few of their custom guns.
Steel guide rods should be avoided with CZ alloy-framed guns.
CZ did change to plastic for some models around then, but they NEVER used steel guide rods in their alloy-framed guns.
I
think my earliest CZ " -- a 75B Turkish contract overrun model -- had a plastic guide rod; that was in the mid or late 90's. My only CZ right now is the second one I bought in 1999 -- a Satin Nickel 85 Combat, and it has a plastic guide rod. All of the pre-B CZs I've owned had metal guide rods, but all of them were the little dinky guide rods which are about 2 inches long. They don't do much until the slide is almost fully to the rear.
Way back, a bunch of us used the pins from a Stanley door hinge, which is all brass, as guide rods for the compact models -- until we decided the plastic ones were durable and didn't degrade performance. Maybe CZ should have tried BRASS for their alloy guns? I think that brass may be softer than the aluminum alloy used in their alloy-framed guns; I'm pretty sure the brass is softer than stainless steel.
As for CZ Custom using steel with their custom guns? I understand. But I wonder if they do that to PRE-EMPT complaints: "I paid $XXXX for that gun and I'll be darned if I want a plastic Guide Rod for that kind of money..."
Question: does CZ use a steel guide rod in their 9mm 75B SA model when the Custom Shop tweakes it? That one doesn't use a full-length guide rod like the otherwise similar .40 75B SA model.
As for avoiding steel guide rods in alloy-framed guns, that is probably a good idea. I was once told that by the head gunsmith at CZ that using steel in a alloy-framed gun was a bad idea and any damage from the steel guide rod would not be covered under warranty.
Since then I have heard conflicting stories, all supposedly from CZ, but second-hand, that it's not something to be concerned about. . Anybody know the OFFICIAL CZ position on steel guide rods and alloy frames?
The steel guide rod IS harder than the alloy frame, and based of the guide rod rests and rocks on the receiver stop during the recoil cycle, so it makes sense that there COULD be wear at that point.
