Curious I have a SW 1911 pd Scandium frame. What is considered alot of rounds down an alloy frame 1911?
Mine is two years old coming up on 10 thousand rounds…
Replaced recoil spring at 4 thousand, was have failure to return to battery.
Recently my mag. release button broke. S&W mailed me a new one at n/c.
This gun shoots everything from WWB to my own wadcutter reloads reliably, an I use it during IDPA.
So in a similar time frame 2 years what is considered “alot” of rounds before things might start malfuctioning requireing replacement or breaking?
For Alloy framed 1911s?
My 1st S&W 1911 (own five) is close to 17k rounds without a single failure. This gun was upgraded with a EGW sear, disco, hammer and angle barrel bushing but in terms of frame wear it’s as good as day one and I expect to get many more rounds out of it. I may replace the barrel with a Kart kit when it hits 20k - 22k but for now she still runs as good as day one. One of my Gunsite Commanders is also past 12k and like the other the frame/slide are still as good as new. I don’t know much about metals but from what I have seen the scandium framed S&Ws seem to wear much better than the other lightweight alloys (with the exception of titanium maybe). Regarding springs I change my recoil springs religously at 1k round intervals.
No, but wouldn’t shooting 500 rds a session, induce a different type of wear? as opposed to shooting the same 500 rds over a larger time span…?
I recall a video m4 test where the firearm was fired no stop till the barrel drooped…
Take the same amount of rounds over a 5 year period would the results be the same?
I guess i should also have asked about cleaning & lubrication intervals also.
Just curious…
500 rounds isn’t a large enough number IMO…now if you said shooting 10,000 rounds in one range session versus over 30 range sessions then i think their coudl be a difference but I am a chemist not a metallurgist so i can’t say for sure
I’d say cleaning and lubrication would be the biggest factors…
10k with no lube is definitely more wear than 500 followed by a decent clean/lube job 20 times.
As far as heat goes, i’d say the gun would get too hot to hold before you’d trash the barrel due to heat buildup. Unless you’re wearing oven mitts and trying to break it…
What about firing rounds one right after another? Lets say you have 3 clips and a friend is loading them as you shoot. Is it bad to continusly put rounds through your gun like that? I know metal expands when it gets hot.
heating steel up to 300-400 degrees is virtually meaningless. This little chart here shows teh formation of various crystalline structures. note the temperatures on the left side column (degrees C)
the very inner surface of the barrel may get near these temperatures, which will eventually erode it out, but that will take a LONG time to hurt accuracy on a combat handgun.
I seem to recall hearing 15k was getting up there in an alloy 1911, they’re certainly not as long lasting as steel. S&W has great customer service, so i’m sure they’ll take care of you if anything does go.
given that the 1911 frame dimensions are based on the strength of steel ,and that there isn’t much room to add extra aluminum to make up the strength difference, you end up with a weaker frame.
aluminum tends to crack outright when overstressed or fatigued, rather than yield like steel does.
so keep an eye out for cracks. keeping a good recoil spring in it should help mitigate problems.
You may have to spend another 3000.00 on ammo before you get an answer, even if you get an answer then. Although aluminum has good qualities in that it can get hot and cool over and over without ill effects, it can crack under stress without getting hot or cold, where metal will bend. Using +P ammo in your aluminum frame pistol will speed up this process. Why not just carry the aluminum frame pistol and use a metal frame for the range. IMO, 10,000 is getting close, but I do not believe 5000 rds per year has anything to do with it, unless you do it all in one session. It is 100 rds per weekend with 2 weeks off for great shooting and reliability.
If it makes you feel any better the addition of scandium supposedly helps the aluminum resist cracking. S&W has .357 magnum revolvers made out of it. I think it will last a little longer than a normal aluminum frame. On the bright side its a Smith and Wesson, just shoot it and if it breaks call them and they’ll send you a box to put it in and ship it back. On a side not the Russians made MiG-29’s out of scandium-aluminum alloy. Good stuff.
seriously.