Handgun Life

[Gun1]

Just to be clear - frame or slide cracking is a grain structure issue, metal fatigue due to repeated use. It is NOT happening because the pistols are grinding themselves thinner and thinner until they’re too thin and finally crack.

That actually makes sense. I spoke with a Sig Sauer CS rep today who really knew his stuff and he mentioned that all handguns will eventually go. Even a P320 FCU which is just the metal insert.
However, as far as metal thinning out, if the metal doesn't fatigue and crack will the slide rails eventually thin out and fail, or they will crack from metal fatigue before they thin out? I've seen some photos of competition handguns with the slide rails pretty thinned down, but still functional.

 

[Varminterror]

if the metal doesn't fatigue and crack will the slide rails eventually thin out and fail, or they will crack from metal fatigue before they thin out?

Almost unilaterally, yes, the slide or rails will crack before wearing too thin.

When things to wear or gall loose due to extreme volume duty such as competition, typically they get rebuilt or abandoned for a new pistol long before the slide or rails would thin through to the point of weakness.

 

[Jim Watson]

Similar posts under Gun1 on Benos, it seems he is in California where roster gun choices are limited and grey market off roster guns are hellishly expensive. So he might reasonably be more interested in service life than free market shooters.

He wants a USPSA Production gun, just as well under their magazine capacity limits. The roster includes most Glocks and a lot of CZs which are durable and fixable. I might get a little nervous about the P320 FCU, too.

Me?
I'd get a roster 1911 and shoot Single Stack and just TRY to wear it out. Pretty much what I am doing now but I have enough guns in "rotation" that I am unlikely to concentrate enough use on one to wear it out.

Hard chrome - if you can find somebody still doing it - or DLC will give such a hard surface that friction wear is very slight.

 

[Varminterror]

DLC will give such a hard surface that friction wear is very slight.

And when it DOES wear through, recoating with DLC brings it right back where it was supposed to be.

 

[Gun1]

Any recommendations for DLC coating?

 

[JohnKSa]

Are these guns you're concerned about heirlooms or valuable collector items? If they are, then preserve them in their current condition and if you want to shoot them, do so sparingly. Buy other guns to shoot and wear out.

Otherwise, shoot them with good quality ammunition and maintain them properly and stop worrying. They will last a long time--maybe longer than you do. If they eventually wear out, replace them or repair them. You can buy a spare or two now if you feel like it's necessary to have backups already on hand in the event of some kind of failure. Since there's no rush, you can keep your eyes open and make good deals. I have backups for some of my guns that I found used in very good condition and therefore got great deals on them.

Trying to make your guns immortal is an impossible task. Nothing lasts forever no matter how much time and money you spend trying to achieve that goal. Better to spend your money on ammunition and your time on shooting.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Prior to getting into competition I always thought that firearms were indestructible and lasted indefinitely. However, I was recently told that, for a semi-auto, each time the slide cycles it scrapes off a miniscule amount of metal from the slide rails. Eventually, the slide rails will get so thin that the frame will need to be replaced, or the rails will outright crack because they're so thin.
On that note, do revolvers also suffer from something similar to this, or revolvers last longer? For revolvers I've heard that frame stretching can be a problem.
So, if I do something like cerakote on the slide rails, will that stop the wearing done on the slide rails, or can that not be done, or it won't stop the wearing down of the slide rails?

You know...not to discourage your questions, but you sure ask a lot of questions about wear and fatigue failure of firearms.

Here's a question for you:

How frequently have you heard about these types of failures in firearms?

For me, I'm gonna go with "none", and I've been around a number of decades now.

 

[jmorris]

However, I was recently told that, for a semi-auto, each time the slide cycles it scrapes off a miniscule amount of metal from the slide rails. Eventually, the slide rails will get so thin that the frame will need to be replaced, or the rails will outright crack because they're so thin.

When you hear things like this, do you ever ask yourself if the speaker wonders if you really believe what he is saying? Or is he probing you to see what you know?

Next time, how about you counter with, “how many cycles do you think it takes to do that? And see what he says, to see just how outlandish they can get.

Be sure to be able to remind him that an engine at 6000 rpm, will cycle more than 21 million times, in just one hour of life, lifters, rockers/valves, rings, cylinders all being metal on metal, not to mention the miles of chains, these days. How many cycles are they going to be able to make before the metal is so thin it outright cracks?

If you are into competition shooting, you probably already know the value of a good lubricant.

 

[jmorris]

I have an example, it’s the highest round count firearm I have that’s not a machinegun.

It’s easy to see the toll many thousands of draws from Kydex (plastic) holsters have had on it from the outside.



Dirty, you can see where parts touch and where they don’t.



Wipe the oil from it and you can see the lack of metal loss. Actually looks better than the outside.





Keep in mind that this barrel has had over 300,000 rounds through it.





The TiN has been knocked off where the barrel hits the frame
(same with the 45 ACP barrel).



The breech has seen better days but is a replaceable part.







Everything gets old and needs to be replaced at some point but if you always keep them put up, you are not going to get any better using them. If you wear out a decent pistol or rifle, I certainly hope you get more out of your improvement than the tool cost you in the first place because that’s the cheap part of competitive shooting.

 

[scotty]

I have 3 pistols that I've used for USPSA competition years ago. An EAA Witness in 9mm, a Glock 22 .40, and a Para-Ordnance P-16 .40. All have 40k+ rounds through them. The slide/frame rails have gotten a bit shiny but all function and look as new. I learned early on that practicing beyond 200 rounds or so per session that I was practicing my mistakes rather than improving my performance. They got stripped and cleaned after each practice. Springs were changed more out of guilt than necessity.

 

[d2wing]

I read somewhere that a H&K USP9 that I had is designed to last for 100,000 rounds.