pick THE best frame and slide material !

[j427x]

what is the best frame and slide material for semi auto handguns?

with all the semi-automatic handguns on the market with , polymer/plastic frames with forged or cast steel slides with aluminum frames, cast steel slides and frames, cast steel frames with forged slides and finally forged steel slides and frames--so many types of parts out there and the combos are nearly endless.


i have a very early USA made m9/92 with the alloy frame from the mid 80s--shot unknown amounts of rounds--but in the thousands++++

this pistol also served as a host for a 40s&w slide and eventually 357sig barrel and slide. in the first few years of the m9s adoption there were a number of frame failures in normal use. but mine got treated like a redheaded stepchild. and so far nothing has cracked.


EAA witness has some bad frames and slides not too long ago don't know if they were cast or not but they were steel. strangely the very early examples of the witness and later versions didn't seem to have the problem nor did the match guns that i know of . all the cracked frame and slide witnesses i have herd of were 45 and 10mm.

i don't know if any of the witness polymer guns cracked or broke??

i have a few glocks i have a old model 22 that i converted over to 357sig a number of years back. so far no problems. yet with the more heavy 357sig loads you can feel the frame flex a little. same with the 31--maybe a little less flex. i had a 10mm glock , i sold it and bought a witness match in 10mm

one of my pals still has a glock in 20mm --he ain't worried much about the plastic frame --although he does have some concerns about the glock barrel!

back in the day i built a few pontiac powered hot-rods. the poncho V-8 mostly had cast iron rods. and back in the day everyone said the iron rods were a no-no and would fail. a really built up motor might get the cast-steel rods. anyway to make a long story short NONE of the pontiac mills died from rod failure --and some of the cast steel 455s were turning 7200RPM frequently. i think we were running the cast rod motors at a 6400 red-line. in those manual shift cars though rarely shifted at the right time sometimes going way into the red.

a properly cast part COULD be very good although a poorly cast part with flaws could be very very BAD!

what about the forgings? i have seen some outside produced forged steel that was very poor quality.

what about those south american and spanish semi autos of years ago? some of them i know were pretty good. but i do remember some from the 80s that had very soft forgings--IIRC

[[486]]

I voted for a few, mostly because you didn't have an option for "whichever's been proven", past that it doesn't really matter
GLOCK seems to know how to do polymer frames, anyone can make a reasonable steel frame/slide, so long as they've got good castings/forgings. Sure, there are things like Al being a bit less durable than good old Fe, but you probably won't shoot enough to notice the difference, provided you keep good springs in the gun.

Get something with good reviews and you'll be fine.

[j427x]

i left the poll multiple cause you might want to pick more than one "best"-

i am partial to forged steel frames myself but i have a few other pistols that are polymer or alloy that have taken all kinds of abuse and had no problems.

but i don't know if i would go with the same solution on another make of pistol.

[[486]]

Originally Posted by j427x

i am partial to forged steel frames myself but i have a few other pistols that are polymer or alloy that have taken all kinds of abuse and had no problems.

Yup. Plenty of million round glocks out there.

[moleman]

I voted for forged steel/steel and aluminum/steel. I have no problems with cast steel guns or polymer guns except when its my money thats buying them.

[Illya Kuryakin]

Originally Posted by j427x

.........one of my pals still has a glock in 20mm --he ain't worried much about the plastic frame --although he does have some concerns about the glock barrel!

Dang, must be a real hoot to fire.




Sorry, just pulling your leg....................

[railbuggy]

Its what I got,a pre-ban Norinco with a nickle coat.
Forged hardend steel all the way.

[4thIDvet]

I had too go with the NASA Mall Ninja stuff.
Hell if they can put a man on the moon it has too be the best.

[j427x]

you in recent years i have seen some terrible examples of steel. rotten china bolts, what looked like contaminated sheet steel from Brazil , brittle steel from the USA and so on.

normally with GOOD forged steel that is properly heat treated sure it is the best.

the cast frames and slides could also be a problem --if there is any kind of flaw in the casting it is going to fail.

i haven't seen a nylon 66 anything fail. but you never know when some bean counter will decide to alter the plastic so they will start failing in order to sell more later. like they do with automobiles , toasters and every thing else-- made to break rather than made to last.

[[486]]

Originally Posted by j427x

toasters and every thing else-- made to break rather than made to last.

That just doesn't make sense, if my toaster broke a year after I bought it I wouldn't get the same brand, that's just dumb. They wouldn't make money off of it, lose money infact, as they'd get a reputation for being crap.