Glock durable enough to become an heirloom?

[BamBam]

I've read a few posts speculate that the polymer of Glock pistols will deteriorate over time and crack.

I have to admit that I don't know of any 30 year old plastic that isn't brittle.

I wonder if my G-22 will become unusable when it's 50 years old?
I always figured I'd pass it down thru the family.

Any opinions?

[midnight]

Good grief...again?

[Handy]

This is a bit of my heartache with polymer, especially expensive polymer (I have a cheap used G19). Plastics are getting better all the time, but is still a complex organic compound and is at least a little unstable. Add to that the flex that many poly frames are built to absorb and it doesn't look good over the long haul (50 years, say.)

You can help yourself by keeping your frame out of sunlight and avoid putting any chemicals on it (especially solvent, but there is no reason to drench plastic with oil either).

Some will argue that this is silly behavior (Just shoot it, dude!), but we all used to buy weapons with the understanding that they may never wear out. Talk to the guys firing real Sharps rifles in competition.

Consumer good are becoming increasingly disposable. Good for tupperware prices, bad for guns. Really bad for guns when you consider that the plastic ones cost the same as the forged, machined, finished steel ones.


The big flip side to all this is: Will it matter in 2050? A Glock will either be a joke, illegal or something you can make a perfect copy of in your kitchen.

[Peter Gun]

It isn't mere plastic, its nylon reinforced polymer, which is basically fiberglass with nylon substituted for glass. Lots of 50 year old fiberglass boats still around and they get a hell of a lot more weather than a glock! Structurally, fiberglass hasn't been around long enough for any of it to deteriorate due to weather. On most fiberglass applications it is the gelcoat that weathers. I think the glock will be dug up as a perfect artifact years from now with all the tupperware and plastic garbage bags in the landfills.

[Handy]

Go ask the owner of an old Corvette if fiberglass ages.

Chemically, reinforced polymer doesn't have much to do with resin set fiberglass, anyway. You might as well compare both to metal matrix composites.

Tupperware, boats and gun frames live pretty different lives and their decomposition can range from no big deal (tupperware gets opaque with age) to critical (slide in the face).

[J.R. Bob Dobbs]

Nobody knows. Anybody who claims to, is wrong. Perhaps their speculation will prove to be correct, but it's still speculation until you've seen what 50-100yrs will do to it.

I'd like to think my polymer guns would last 50yrs. But I probably won't, so I really don't care. If I wanted to leave an heirloom gun, it would certainly be made of metal.

[lonegunman]

Quote:

"It isn't mere plastic, its nylon reinforced polymer"

Man, with spin like that, I must assume you worked for Clinton in the 90's....

I guess it all depends on what your definition of plastic is.

Glocks are not works of art... as long as they outlast me, thats all that matters.

[T.Stahl]

Will my Glock ever become a heirloom?

I think that's more a question of whether or not I'll have children and grandchildren who will be interested in these "outdated projectile-arms" ;) than a question of whether or not my Glock's plastic will be brittle in 50 years.

And even if it got brittle, so what? Glock grips are cheap. And given their wide distribution there probably will be new grips available in 50 years, either from Glock or someone else.

[asintaderoche]

50 yrs. there will be frame available in:

stainless steel
carbon steel
titanium
alloy

maybe a new kind of plastic will be invented, for as long as there is a market for frame to replace the old one..... there will be a replacement...

glock knows they will last forever, the plastic generation is just beginning...

[VVG]

Lots of 50 year old fiberglass boats still around and they get a hell of a lot more weather than a glock!
Not quite 50 years, and most early fiberglass boats were massively overdesigned. Boats have a whole different set of problems, with UV exposure, osmotic blisters, and moisture absorption by the fiber reinforcement the biggest problems, none of which apply to handguns.

You've all seen plastic containers holding chemicals, so the presence of oil or solvent is something the designers undoubtedly considered. But Glock doesn't say what resin they use, do they? If it's a fiber-reinforced "nylon" that's hygroscopic (absorbs moisture) and not necessarily great news for long-term durability - although bilge pumps and rifle stocks have been made of Nylon.

I think the correct answer is "No one knows." I'm not buying any polymer pistols that I plan to keep, while I have no problem firing my 1944 manufacture M1911A1.