The metallurgy is interesting to me. All the talk about improvements in metallurgy mean nothing if the makers are just using some easy casting alloy with additional alloying agents intended only to improve machining or pouring.
We have made some parts of some modern bronze alloys that are difficult enough to machine, with high enough tensile and other properties that I would certainly put it up against any low carbon, and some medium carbon steels with confidence. I can't think of any reason why anyone would make a gun out of them, especially since brass framed revolvers are the economy models.
All that talk lowers expectations throughout the shooting world, and people expect their brass framed revolvers to slowly die.
What was the actual alloy commonly used back in the day? Many bronzes pour well and have good properties. "Bronze" today means something much different than what traditional bronze was throughout history, much less tin is used today typically today. I don't know why they call many of the alloys bronze now.
Again, "Improvements" mean something different to a manufacturer trying to stay in the black. I would not be the least bit surprised to learn that the "brass" framed revolvers of the 1800's were much stronger than those made today.
Funny you should ask.
I cannot tell you with certainty what the alloy was that was used in Confederate brass framed pistols, but I can tell you quite a bit about the 'brass' framed Henry and Winchester 1866 rifles.
These guns used a metal commonly referred to as Gunmetal. It was actually a bronze alloy, not brass.
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Historically, bronze was easier for early civilizations to produce because of the natural occurrence of copper and the tin bearing ore cassiterite. It was fairly simple to alloy these metals together. That's why the era between the Stone Age and the Iron Age is usually referred to as the Bronze Age. Zinc, required to make brass, does not exist in nature in a pure state, and more advanced methods of refining ore were required to produce zinc for brass. It took centuries before these methods were learned.
The content of the bronze alloy commonly referred to as Gunmetal was 80-88% copper, 10-15% tin, and 2-5% zinc. Small amounts of lead were sometimes added to make it flow better for casting. The frame of a Winchester Model 1866 analyzed with modern techniques revealed the alloy was 80% copper, 14.5% Tin, 2% zinc, and .5% lead. Why are these guns referred to as 'brass framed' when they are actually a type of bronze? Because gunwriters have called them that for decades and it is too late to change it now.
Bronze cannon from the 15th Century were usually copper with 10-15% tin, no zinc.
Cannons were made of bronze rather than iron for a long time until a satisfactory method was found of casting iron to take the pressure of the exploding powder charge. Bronze was simply easier to cast with. Bronze was used for American cannons as late as 1857 with the bronze Napoleons.
Historically, because of the extra effort needed to smelt zinc, brass was more expensive than bronze. Brass was commonly used for furniture on a gun, trigger guards, butt plates, even sword hilts, but frames were usually made from Gunmetal.
As far as what modern manufacturers are using in their brass framed guns, a couple of years ago I had brass from the sideplate of an Uberti Henry analyzed by a process known as X Ray Fluorescent Analysis. The result was 56% copper, 44% zinc. Not a trace of tin. So much for advanced, improved, modern alloys being used today.