Service life of handguns

[JohnKSa]

...injection molded plastic, mass-produced stampings, and light alloy fabricated by the lowest bidder do not and cannot measure up to ordnance steel.

Yes and no. Clearly there is no comparison in terms of pure strength. But durability has as much to do with design as it does with the materials used. If one can design the frame of a handgun so that it is a low stress part then it makes sense to use a light, inexpensive, corrosion proof material in place of steel.

...the hype generated by Gaston Glock...

Hype won't make a handgun last 193,000 rounds (Chuck Taylor, a noted gunwriter, has a Glock 17 with over 190K rounds through it so far--and it's still running), so clearly there's more to it than hype.

 

[3o3brit]

I dont know about the total rounds fired from them but I inhereted two guns from my father, one is a .32 Colt New Police from the early 1900's and the other is a Winchester 62A from about 1942, The Colt still shoots fine with the period ammo I have for it and I use the Winchester all the time as my plinking gun.
No sign of either wearing out.

 

[Baba Louie]

Back in '95 I bought a pair of Lugers imported in from East Germany. Grip checkering worn smooth, smoothbore barrels (very little in the way of rifling left), blood pitting on each, weakened springs.

War Babies. They still shoot.

Not real accurate what with the tiny strange sights and spongey trigger and who knows how much spin is really imparted on the bullets (no keyholing tho).

And Loose? A little

If they could speak and I could sprechen die Deutsch, I wonder how many rounds they saw...

 

[Handy]

Durability is the result of design, materials, ammunition, and care (probably in that order). In a perfect world, forged steel would be the ideal, but the old forged BHPs don't seem to last as long as their cast steel replacements, and neither as long as a cast aluminum Ruger.

Sig 210s are good examples of what you can do when good design and premium materials come together. But the Rugers, Sig Sauers, HKs and Glocks demonstrate that 'lesser' materials can easily approach that standard.


Design, design, design. All others are distant seconds.



Personally, I prefer "better" materials, but I view the best stamped steel designs as a creative way of forging thinner parts while avoiding some of the stress risers associated with machining.

 

[Mike Irwin]

"And does anyone remember that a S&W model 19 was also called a Combat Magnum?"

I don't personally remember it, but I do know it.

What's the service life of a handgun?

That's not unlike the old question "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?"

The true answer is...

All of them.

 

[LHB1]

"And does anyone remember that a S&W model 19 was also called a Combat Magnum?"

Yes, I remember having bought two new S&W Combat Magnums (M19's) at different times and also a S&W Combat Masterpiece in .22 LR. They were great guns. I replaced my M19's with a S&W M28 (.357 mag) which was later replaced with a S&W M29 (.44 mag) which in turn was replaced with three S&W M629's (.44 mag). Having reached the pinnacle of revolvers IMO I still have and shoot the M629's. My ultimate revolver!

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

ps: The above list summarizes 45 years of active pistol shooting.

 

[bjmanersr]

I have Colts and Smith and Wessons that are 100

and they still shoot fine with the correct amo.