The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Polymer Framed Handguns

LT130TH · August 16, 2019, 03:39 PM

I just stumbled upon this thread in 2019. Over a decade later, I hope that the kind of comments I've read in this thread, bashing plastic firearms, have all been put to rest by now. It's vividly apparent that the individuals, back in 2008, pushing the "plastics are inferior to metal" opinion have/had zero education/experience in science and engineering fundamentals such as statics, dynamics, material sciences, chemistry, heat transfer, thermodynamics, etc. I'm still bewildered that, even by 2008, so many had never gotten beyond the 1980's skepticism of Glock's intro to the firearms world. Here, in good ol' today, where we know better, the list of manufacturers turning out polymer firearms is huge: Springfield, Walther, CZ, FN, HK, Smith and Wesson, Sig, STI, Kahr, Beretta, Ruger, etc. All the top makers have finally begun capitalizing on the fact that polymer indeed serves shooters very well, from personal defense to competition...and for more important reasons than profits. Introducing polymer into a pistol allows the weighting to be targeted/placed where it needs to be to optimize recoil control, which provides the shooter the luxury of more accurate rapid follow-up shots. But reducing pistol weight, in general, makes everything faster, and more comfortable for shooters of all types. Look at the number of manufacturers who are now making their metal slides lighter, and lighter, reducing the reciprocating mass of their automatic pistols. Less weight is not a bad thing, unless you're stuck in the 1980's where the only way to make a pistol accurate, and reduce felt recoil, was to make it as heavy as possible. Thankfully the gun manufacturers use a little thing called physics in their design process, which produces tangible, empirical data, rather than opinions. And now, we have companies like Sig progressing this materials optimization even further, with their tungsten-infused polymer, giving those who want the weight of an all metal pistol the recoil performance properties of a plastic frame. Thank you science and engineering for not leaving us stuck in the 1980's...or even 2008.

August 16, 2019, 03:39 PM	#33
LT130TH Junior Member Join Date: August 16, 2019 Posts: 1	I just stumbled upon this thread in 2019. Over a decade later, I hope that the kind of comments I've read in this thread, bashing plastic firearms, have all been put to rest by now. It's vividly apparent that the individuals, back in 2008, pushing the "plastics are inferior to metal" opinion have/had zero education/experience in science and engineering fundamentals such as statics, dynamics, material sciences, chemistry, heat transfer, thermodynamics, etc. I'm still bewildered that, even by 2008, so many had never gotten beyond the 1980's skepticism of Glock's intro to the firearms world. Here, in good ol' today, where we know better, the list of manufacturers turning out polymer firearms is huge: Springfield, Walther, CZ, FN, HK, Smith and Wesson, Sig, STI, Kahr, Beretta, Ruger, etc. All the top makers have finally begun capitalizing on the fact that polymer indeed serves shooters very well, from personal defense to competition...and for more important reasons than profits. Introducing polymer into a pistol allows the weighting to be targeted/placed where it needs to be to optimize recoil control, which provides the shooter the luxury of more accurate rapid follow-up shots. But reducing pistol weight, in general, makes everything faster, and more comfortable for shooters of all types. Look at the number of manufacturers who are now making their metal slides lighter, and lighter, reducing the reciprocating mass of their automatic pistols. Less weight is not a bad thing, unless you're stuck in the 1980's where the only way to make a pistol accurate, and reduce felt recoil, was to make it as heavy as possible. Thankfully the gun manufacturers use a little thing called physics in their design process, which produces tangible, empirical data, rather than opinions. And now, we have companies like Sig progressing this materials optimization even further, with their tungsten-infused polymer, giving those who want the weight of an all metal pistol the recoil performance properties of a plastic frame. Thank you science and engineering for not leaving us stuck in the 1980's...or even 2008.