Monday, July 09, 2012

That's a very good point...

ToddG called a halt to his endurance test of the Gen4 Glock 17 at 71,260 rounds due to a bit of odd wear on the breechface. The gun was still functional and, per Glock, probably had at least another 10,000 rounds in the slide (and Glock would no doubt replace the slide at no cost,) but since Todd uses his test guns as CCW pieces, he ended the test rather than continue carrying it.

Nothing out of the ordinary there, and I wasn't going to mention it until someone made a comment over there that I thought was worth repeating:
It is also notable that the steel slide wore out before the polymer frame, which were once thought to be too fragile.
The "plastic frame" thing should have been laid to rest years ago, but it somehow stays alive in internet forums, the dustier corners of gun shops, and way out on the far lanes at the club range. One is certainly free to question whether a polymer frame will last a hundred years, as the oldest ones are only a third of the way there, but I'd say the question of whether they'll last a hundred thousand rounds is well settled.

11 comments:

Bram said...

According to the enviro-guiltists, all the polymers in my consumer products will last for thousands of years if I don't properly recycle them.

Jeff said...

Ya know, the older those plastic guns get, the more likely they are to be able to make it through a TSA checkpoint. Their radar reflectivity goes way down with age. :)

og said...

Engineered plastics have been in use for many years, at least 30 of my personal experience, possibly more. if I were an LEO carrying a sidearm I'd for sure be carrying a Grock. I tell first time shooters to buy a Grock.

I like traditional firearms the way I like old sports cars, but a new Mitz Evo will clean the track with most anything German made before 75.

We took a couple of Japanese engineers to the range for the first time, they had never shot nor even touched firearms. One kept saying "I want to shoot Grock"

I have not been able to stop myself from saying that since, or giggling a bit when i do.

Les Jones said...

Too, there's a reason Glock chose the frame for the plastic part of his autoloader. He designed it so that the frame doesn't get that much stress.

Mikael said...

"We took a couple of Japanese engineers to the range for the first time, they had never shot nor even touched firearms. One kept saying "I want to shoot Grock""

Yeah they have no L in their language, no V either(they substitute B). It's funny translating names into japanese phoenetically. Vladimir becomes Buradimiru.

AuricTech said...

But would Valentine Michael Smith own a Grock?

KM said...

Many of our cars have timing gears made of "plastic".
What gets changed when it's due?
The belt.

I know it's an apples and broccoli comparison but "plastics" are used in a LOT of different places.

Will said...

@KM:

which is why the idea of a plastic eating microbe of sorts would be such a disaster these days. We'd be in deep shit, if such a thing got loose.

T.Stahl said...

Hirtenberger, G17, 348,210rds, barrel needed replacement.

Nuff said?

No!

T.Stahl, G17L, 12,500rds, cracked slide.

Anonymous said...

Interesting as I had read somewhere that the Gen 4 Glocks are POS's. Apparently not.

Tam said...

docjim505,

The answer, as it so often is, is "It's complicated." ;)