Question about Polymer pistols

[St. Phatty]

I had a question about Polymer frames on pistols.

Is it "ready for prime time" or is it better to stick with metal ?

Since this is a Cannabis website, I don't want to link to it. If it's not OK to post this, just delete it, no problem. But there's some definite experienced firearm folks here, so I thought I'd ask.

I figure since I do target shooting for exercise, it might be OK to put this in the Great Outdoors section.

The part of the description I'm asking about -

"compact-sized polymer-framed pistol * * * Made from high-quality stainless steel and advanced polymers, this pistol * * * "

So basically the handle and part of the thing that the barrel is fitted to, is made of plastic.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Glocks are polymer pistols, as are many handguns today. Ymmv by quality of mfg.

 

[delta9nxs]

there are a lot of high-quality polymer pistols on the market.

they are built with plastic to reduce weight.

you say you want the gun for target shooting but inquire about a "compact polymer-framed pistol".

that's what most folks are using for everyday defensive carry, not target shooting for accuracy.

if a target pistol is what you want i'd go with steel. the extra weight is an advantage target shooting.

if you name the caliber i can point you to guns that are excellent for target shooting.

if you want a lightweight defensive handgun and are not real familiar with guns in general i would suggest a revolver.

smith and wesson and ruger make some great short barrel lightweight revolvers.

 

[flylowgethigh]

Sig 365 has a polymer frame. It is a sweet little pistol, prime time already.

SIG P365 9mm Everyday Carry Pistol Series | SIG SAUER P365

Game-changing pistol series designed to give you more capacity with ultimate concealability; 9mm, High-Capacity, Micro-Compact handguns with lots of options.

www.sigsauer.com

 

[armedoldhippy]

smith and wesson and ruger make some great short barrel lightweight revolvers.

i went with a S&W 442, in .38 SPL. i looked at the .357 Scandium, and thought better of it. after shooting the regular Airweight i bought, i'm glad i did not go the .357 route. the standard 158 grainers in +P were stouter recoil than i want to experience every time out. found some 95 grain specialty self-defense loads that make life much more bearable...

 

[delta9nxs]

hey, there's nothing wrong with .38 special as a defense round. a whole bunch of bad guys went to the forever box after being shot with snub-nose .38's

i've owned a ruger blackhawk in 357 and it was not fun to shoot. i used 38 wadcutters for target practice

i used to be a hard, fit, 210 lbs with low body fat. now, at 72, i weigh about 140 and am 2 " shorter.

my hands hurt a lot just from building the house and i have a lot of weird muscle aches and pains.

so high recoil handguns are not for me anymore.

i like revolvers for self-defense.

no such thing as a "failure to feed".

if you do hit a dud round you just immediately pull the trigger again.

ammo is getting so expensive that most folks don't practice very much.

owning a gun does not make you ready for a gunfight.

22 ammo is cheap and plentiful, but for a long time, self-defense experts claimed that it was not powerful enough to be used for protection.

modern 22-caliber manufacturers now make rounds that are designed for short-barreled guns.

the primers are greatly improved.

people often overlook 22 wmr or magnum as it's called but several brands have rounds specially designed for defense or small game.

the best i've seen reviewed is federal punch in 22 wmr.

i've seen chrono test on it showing 1350 fps from a 3" barrel. so a 45 grain projectile delivers 188 ft pounds of energy.

this is equal to most 380 autos.

and it significantly exceeds the FBI minimum gel block penetration of 12" at 14.5" from the same 3" barrel. and great expansion.

other good choices are speer gold dot and Hornady critical defense.

what guns fire both 22 and 22 wmr? because a gun that did that would be so cheap to practice with that you would develop almost reflexive shooting skill.

there are quite a few single-action guns available that have interchangeable cylinders.

but you better be really fast with a single action or a dead shot because they are slow to fire and tortuously slow to unload or reload.

double=action of course fires with a pull of the trigger and no cocking is necessary.

so there is a very short list of double-action, single-action guns with interchangeable cylinders.

taurus model 992, which is a medium framed 40 oz 9 shot revolver. about 800 bucks.

diamondback sidekick. which is a western-styled sa/da revolver with a 9 rd capacity that weighs 32 oz.
about 300 dollars. flip out cylinder and speed loaders ensure rapid reloads

i intend to take the diamondback sidekick and do a little custom work on it.

it comes out of the box at almost 10 inches long with a 4.5" barrel.

i want to do a bird's head grip change that will cut 1/2" off the grip and a barrel cut to 3".

then it will be around 8" or a little less.

there are a few other things i can remove to lighten it. i think i can get it down to about 25 oz's.

here's a pic of one stock. and a similar single-action only that roughly shows what i want to do with it.

if i can get the double action trigger pull down to about 8 lbs i will probably remove the hammer spur.

first the stock gun then what it will look like finished.

i can take the same gun with the 22lr cylinder and shoot it all day long developing skill.

put in the 22 wmr cylinder and you have an extremely reliable defensive handgun.

very little recoil with either round.

the FBI statistics show that most self-defense shootings occur at less than 7 yards or 21 ft with most of those occurring at 10' or less.

these western-styled guns point almost instinctively. like pointing your finger.

trust your eyes and natural coordination at close range.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I done shot that bastid lots of times, he never up and died on me before!

Spoken by a woman who would shoot a few .25 auto rounds into the belly fat of her husband when he really upset her.

.22WMR or .380 is about the minimum I would recommend for self defense, along with a LOT of practice. My personal goal is to be able to shoot without aiming, essentially pointing the knuckle of my trigger finger as I fire. It takes me a few dozen rounds to get the feel of a new pistol or revolver before I'm wickedly accurate.

 

[delta9nxs]

in the ian fleming books, james bond carried a 25 acp beretta bobcat. he didn't need anything bigger because he always shot the bad guys in the heart or head.

but in the movies, they decided that he needed something at least big enough to be visible in the hand so they had him use a walther ppk in 380.

i've owned a bunch of high-quality guns over the years.

some real collector's items like a 9mm parabellum luger dated 1938. a Walther p-38 which is a big 9mm da/sa combat auto, dated 1944.

smith and wesson model 59, browning high-power, colt 6 shot 38 special. my first handgun was a ruger bearcat.

smith airweight bodyguard 38, an 11 oz 5 shot with no exposed hammer

i was 13 and bought it with lawn-cutting money.

rode my bicycle downtown by myself to buy it.

my first gun was a 20 gauge mossberg bolt action with an adjustable choke at age seven. it was given to me for duck hunting.

after the bearcat i had a ruger single six with the extra mag cylinder.

i have always liked the way western style revolvers point.

 

[armedoldhippy]

browning high-power,

i've always admired them for fit & finish. but the dang things felt like i was holding a quart beer bottle in my hand with the 18 +1 capacity. granted, you probably won't need to reload unless you are shooting it out with LEO...

 

[Tynehead Tom]

Todays polymers are getting so advanced they often exceed the tensile strength of most aluminum commonly used to make pistol and rifle receivers. The problem becomes a matter of wear resistance and it is hard to beat steel for this. So this is why most polymer framed guns have steel inserts bonded into the polymer so that the slide rails and other support structures are steel and the rest is advanced polymer.
The Polymer 80 is a fine example of a kit that can be assembled if you live in the USA. Lots of firearm kits in the states to play with.
In Canada they banned the 80% receiver kits a few years ago when the polymer kits started to become popular up here.

As for a personal defense gun..... it's hard to beat a hand built 1911 Commander in 45ACP , 45GAP or 10MM but if you have smaller hands or can't keep a caliber that large on target under stress, stick with a 9mm.
The only reason I would choose a revolver as a personal defense gun is if I did not want to leave brass behind hehehe.
I'm a 1911 guy...... to my grave

 

[Frosty Nuggets]

Most bad guys pack a Winchester, Chuck Norris packs a Chinwester under his beard.

 

[luposolitario]

nobody tell abaut 32 caliber - 7.65 browimg or parabellum , cheap and old good metal .. whit two different ammunation , u have a sub sonic and fast raund to shot long..

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

The Polymer 80 is a fine example of a kit that can be assembled if you live in the USA. Lots of firearm kits in the states to play with.
In Canada they banned the 80% receiver kits a few years ago when the polymer kits started to become popular up here.

I like how the GST-9 will accept slides from multiple glock versions.

As for a personal defense gun..... it's hard to beat a hand built 1911 Commander in 45ACP , 45GAP or 10MM but if you have smaller hands or can't keep a caliber that large on target under stress, stick with a 9mm.
The only reason I would choose a revolver as a personal defense gun is if I did not want to leave brass behind hehehe.
I'm a 1911 guy...... to my grave

The only reason I dislike 1911's is due to the angle between the slide and grip. When I'm aiming straight ahead there's almost zero movement left in my wrist to absorb recoil. I literally have to change how I aim due to how high I have to lift the end of the barrel. Especially with a .45, the recoil pulls my entire arm up as soon as that tiny bit of wrist action is locked up. Check the difference for yourself.

With a 9mm I still have wrist action left at max recoil with heavy loads, which means I'm back on target and firing again without moving my arm. This leads to a significantly faster and more accurate firing rate. For me anyway. I can put 17+1 rounds, rapid-fire, through a spot the size of my palm at 20 yards.

And don't give me this b.s. about 'holding your gun on target' or fighting the recoil with your muscles. lol That's not how you shoot accurately and quickly.

 

[delta9nxs]

the cool thing about big, heavy, steel guns is that you can still beat them to death when you run out of ammo.

remember some of the old west derringers that had a small bayonet-type point sticking out from the muzzle.

so, you could shoot 'em once or twice, stab em' a few times and then, just for fun turn it around and beat 'em with it!

 

[delta9nxs]

the little toy hobby gun i'm thinking of is just for the around-town type of stuff. it's a pretty good little "get off me" gun.

i really don't have a need for a large caliber combat gun anymore as i'm retired from the "ahem" "cough, cough", "pharmaceutical sales" industry.

but, around the house and property, a nice mossberg pump should take care of business.

i like the maverick 88 18.5" with the folding stock

 

[CavanalCannabis]

I’m probably gonna hurt some butts, but I’ll never understand recommendations for a revolver for anything other than novelty and range play. ESPECIALLY for new shooters. To each his own, but there are many reasons to avoid a (any) revolver for serious personal defense.

The only reason I can kinda agree to using a revolver is failure to fire/dud round; yeah you can just pull the trigger again. However, the likelihood of that scenario is very slim, especially compared to the likelihood you’ll need more than 6-8 rounds on tap. How fast can you reload a revolver if you’re in a stressful situation? Simplicity under stress is paramount in a defensive situation, and the last thing I wanna be doing is fiddling with empty shells and speed loaders. Unless you’re Jerry Miculek, you’re better off with a very simple to use and reliable polymer framed pistol like a Glock or comparable.

I’d also recommend against a 1911 or similar for personal defense unless you’re highly trained. They’re like race cars; sure they can be run fast and are very accurate, but require more maintenance and skill to operate proficiently. And, I feel like safeties are liabilities on defense pistols; again, the fewer switches and buttons required for use, the better.

For defense, you want simple, reliable, and something you’re comfortable with. Really hard to beat a Glock or s&w m&p AND (very important) hours and hours of safe practice. The muscle memory programming required to run one of those well vs the other options is considerably less.

Every person and circumstance is different, but generally, simple is better.

 

[delta9nxs]

are you saying an autoloader is simpler than a revolver?

https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/model-627. this revolver holds 8 rounds of 357.

the 1911 in stock configuration 45 acp holds 7.

no gunsmith will tell you that an autoloader is more simple mechanically than a revolver.

the polymer micro 9 is the rage right now for concealed carry and most of them carry 8-9 rounds.

FBI statistics show that in most personal defense shootings 3 rounds or less are fired.

knowing you might need to defend yourself and knowing you are going to a gunfight are 2 different things.

self-defense shootings are over in seconds and rarely is there a protracted gunfight.

i think paranoia comes into play with a lot of new shooters and they buy big powerful combat handguns because they assume it gives them an advantage.

then they go to the range and find out firing one is not as much fun as they thought and don't practice much.

or they find that an afternoon at the range is going to blow through a hundred bucks worth of ammo.

or they discover how hard it is to control a high-recoil weapon for follow-up shots.

 

[moose eater]

Spoken by a woman who would shoot a few .25 auto rounds into the belly fat of her husband when he really upset her.

.22WMR or .380 is about the minimum I would recommend for self defense, along with a LOT of practice. My personal goal is to be able to shoot without aiming, essentially pointing the knuckle of my trigger finger as I fire. It takes me a few dozen rounds to get the feel of a new pistol or revolver before I'm wickedly accurate.

Fellow in a bar in Fairbanks probably 35 years - 45 years ago, was shot in the shoulder blade by a woman standing behind him, and the bullet deflected off the soft bone of theshoulder blade. Ran under the skin, like some parasite in a sci-fi movie.

The Raven .25 autos were available in the mid-80s at wholesale from Shotgun News back then for all of $25 to $35; they were pure junk and an insufficient round to boot.

A female rider from a ride-board in Tempe failed to tell me she had a pistol onboard around 1983, summer, as we were headed north to the border to Alaska. She'd lied about the funds she had, assuming she'd make other trades. Not the gun.

Got to Great Falls , Mt. after telling her about the 1978 Firearms Restrictions that took place in Canada, and she handed it over for the gas money shed lied about.

I sent it to myself from a gun shop in Great Falls, to an FFL dealer in Fairbanks, and sold the bugger once it was back in my hands, for all of ~$30, I think, to someone who was happy to have it, and apparently lacked knowledge about that worthless gun and caliber.

 

[delta9nxs]

i was on haight st in the late 60's one night and it was crowded with a bunch of pedestrians,

this "friend" i was running with had one of those cheap little 25 straight blowback saturday night specials.

it only had a notch in the slide for a safety.

somehow it fell out of his coat pocket and hit the ground and fired 3-4 rounds all by itself.

people scattered in all directions but nobody got hit.

he didn't even try to pick it up. just kept on walking.

 

[moose eater]

Re.. the OP.

I prefer a spurred hammer (not available on too many modern polymer frames). I prefer a solid indicator like a spurred full hammer to hang onto in situations where an added 'safety' is a good idea. Uncocking is made more safe in my opinion that way, too. (*no hazzardous 'bobbed' hammers like I had on a S&W 669 stainless back in the day; gave up 9mm altogether for the lack of abrupt stopping power, as well).

I tend to carry hotter calibers, as well. In town, either a properly loaded S&W Model 1066 stainless 10mm (Pennsylvania State Trooper trade-in I scored from KY Imports about 23 years ago), or a .357 Ruger Speed Six 2-3/4" stainless.

For the bush, I used to have a 4" S&W Model 500 .500 S&W Magnum 4". Too heavy, and beat the hell out of my snowmobile dash, even when wrapped in a towell.

My wife's custom-built Ruger Super Redhawk in .454 Cassul is a stainless (bead-blasted to get rid of Ruger's ugly satin gray finish), 4-5/8" bbl, custom cut & crowned, with a muzzle brake machined into the last ~1" before the muzzle, honed and tuned with Wolf Springs at the hammer and trigger. Awesome gun for bear, etc., but slaps the hand harder than the .500 S&W ever hoped to. The major reason for that is the lack of ballast from the lighter weight, while pushing Buffalo Bore and Cor-Bon hardened lead alloy with hot loads in the 335 grain (+/-) range. Serious penetrating rounds for large critters of what ever species.

All of them have spurred hammers and steel frames for my preferred sense of safety and familiarity, and for better absorption of recoil. Lighter guns kick more, and thus tend to sacrifice accuracy as already posted by another.

Glocks & similar are fine, but I won't own one.

Briefly had the H&K USP. S&W .40 my brother died from, and sold it for several reasons, though it had the spurred hammer. Action was too sloppy, forfeiting accuracy, imo.

I stick to steel and a spurred hammer.

Only real downside I've had with the spurred hammer issue, has been custom made cross-draw horizontal carry shoulder holsters with a thumb-break release, and sometimes, unless properly skyved down on the width of the strap behind the hammer, the thing can bind between the hammer and the strap during a rapid extraction. No good like that, but it can be fixed relatively easily with a razor knife and burnishing tool.