Mayhap plastic is not so fantastic?

[JohnKSa]

Yes metal frames can crack, but are you all saying that a plastic frame that's under the same amount of streat would out last metal?

Generally steel or aluminum done right is able to withstand considerably more stress than plastic--it takes more force to permanently deform steel or aluminum as opposed to plastic.

The issue isn't outright strength--we hope the designer has done his homework in terms of picking the right material for the job. Frames aren't under a lot of stress, but they do a surprising amount of flexing and vibrating with each discharge. That vibration/flexing can lead to a fatigue failure over time in an aluminum frame. It can also cause a fatigue failure in a steel frame but it shouldn't if the designer has done his job properly.

Plastic handles that kind of thing very well--generally better than aluminum because of the differing fatigue properties of the two materials.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Generally steel or aluminum done right is able to withstand considerably more stress than plastic--it takes more force to permanently deform steel or aluminum as opposed to plastic.

The issue isn't outright strength--we hope the designer has done his homework in terms of picking the right material for the job. Frames aren't under a lot of stress, but they do a surprising amount of flexing and vibrating with each discharge. That vibration/flexing can lead to a fatigue failure over time in an aluminum frame. It can also cause a fatigue failure in a steel frame but it shouldn't if the designer has done his job properly.

Plastic handles that kind of thing very well--generally better than aluminum because of the differing fatigue properties of the two materials.

The other part of this topic that is often overlooked is that with many polymer guns, the parts within the frame that are critical are METAL, even to the point that the metal in the slide and the metal in the frame tend to be connected throughout the firing cycle. In some polymer guns, the polymer frame is like a plastic handle that fits over the metal. (You can see an example of this when looking at the parts diagram for the Ruger SR9; that's true of some other polymer guns, too.)

If the plastic deteriorates, it should not be a foregone conclusion that such deterioration will affect the gun's ability to function properly.

 

[sauer1911]

2nd gen glock 17, over a hundred thousand rounds thru it over 30+ years, still looks new.

9mm, +P, some +P+. No cracks, ready to go. Must have gotten a really good one.

Big believer in keeping em clean and oiled/greased.

be safe

 

[Seven High]

I was recently reading about Chuck Taylor firing approximately 300,000 rounds out of a Glock 17. The pistol is still functional. That speaks volumes about the durability of Glocks and polymer frame semiautos. Are there any aluminum frame semiautos that have lasted foe 300,000 rounds?

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I would suspect Beretta 92's and the Sig P226 would go that long with lubrication and recoil spring replacement. I have no numbers though.

 

[Blue Brick]

http://ruger.com/products/1022Carbine/extras.html

scroll down to polymer trigger guard

 

[1911 guy]

I'm not a fan of Glock pistols, but I'll use them as an example. There have been millions of them in service both in private hands and law enforcement agencies for decades. If the frames were an issue, we'd have seen some issues before now simply due to the numbers involved.

 

[ATAShooter]

All plastics & polymers start degrading upon creation, but my XD will out live me, so to heck with it, I'm gonna enjoy it and shoot the ever loving dog crap out of it.

 

[Fiv3r]

My guess is that whatever polymer frames that are out there today will outlive their model service life. I honestly think that by the time we start to see Glocks with brittle frames, Glock "perfection" will have been profected beyond what we are usuing today.

Plastics really have come a long way since nylon hit the scene half a century ago. They are only going to get lighter and tougher. I liken it to the properties of metal the we're used to produce cap and ball revolvers in the mid nineteenth century to the steel used to craft 1911s in the 1940s.