Metal Injection Molded (MIM) Parts

[wrc376]

I have been building and working on 1911s and S&W revolvers for a number of years. I usually do not bother with anything made after the early 1980s and have always taken pride in only using bar stock or investment cast parts. It seems to me that in recent years there has been a huge explosion in the use of MIM parts as a cost saving tactic. I have been of the opinion that MIM is nothing more than high pressure JB Weld-

A few days ago I was looking at the Taurus web site and it spun things to make it seem like MIM is acceptable if not great outright quality...

Am I wrong about this or are they feeding us a line of bull?

 

[XavierBreath]

MIM is not going away. Neither are investment cast parts. Neither are cast slides and frames, sleeved barrels or many other innovations that lower the overall cost of firearms to keep them affordable. Macining complex parts such as sears, disconnectors and slide stops from bar stock increases the cost.

Innovation is driven by the market. The market is driven by price. The Taurus 1911 was manufactured to meet a certain price point. MIM was as inevitable in the Taurus, as it was in many other pistols.

Metal injection molded parts have been discussed here, at The Firing Line, the S&W forum, and many other gun forums ad nauseum.