So in the death of the classic SIG thread it diverted a little bit into polymer longevity. I mentioned that had action figures from around 1985 that were still pristine as well as grips from at least the 20's-30's that had been to war and back and were pristine. I didn't want to derail so my thoughts on why I stopped worrying about it.

One of the reasons I stopped worrying about polymer was looking at my old toys that my daughter came across at my parents house. Now rubber o-rings like those used in the G.I. Joe's showed deterioration but the plastic on them was fine. What was left of my original Star Wars Millennium Falcon as well as the star wars figures all looked, felt and worked just fine.

So basically we are looking at toys, made with crappy toy plastic, that were played with by a little boy inside, outside, thrown around etc. and they all are in fantastic shape from a plastic point of view.

It was then that I got to thinking that if crappy plastic toys that were played with from the late 70s to mid 80s were still viable then chances are the average UV stabilized nylon/polymer etc. used in firearms, which don't generally see the abuse most children visit upon their toys then they should last for a LONG time, at least as functionally long as I or possibly a single decedent might need.

Hell even polymers that are treated harshly in LEO holsters or warfare such as M16s etc. have held up remarkably well.

I do believe that polymers are fundamentally short term in relation to steel when cared for, but that short term is at least my lifetime, IMO. So I stopped worrying about it.

My daughter brought ole' Ace McCloud home a while back for me and just like a flyboy he was trying to get into Barbie's pants a half hour later.

Ace McCloud!
Holy hell I forgot about those toys. I was the right age to own several of those when they came out back in the 80's.

My favorite response in that thread was by someone who mentioned the Remington Nylon 66. The Nylon 66 used DuPont Zytel for its stock and receiver. Over a million of them were produced between 1959-1989. If any of them have had their plastic deteriorate, I haven't seen or heard of it.

https://www.americanrifleman.o...-remington-nylon-66/

I am so old that most of the toys from my childhood were metal, the better one's steel. My parents had bought me some large truck types, road grader, ect substantial steel with solid rubber tires,molded with raised tiny letters saying Goodyear, and on steel rims. They had been stored for years in a hot attic, so the paint had deteriorated so about 40 years ago I stripped and repainted them for my son. My grandson now has them The rubber tires show some age, but are still holding up well. I did have an electric rain from the late 40's very early 50's with some plastic cars. Some of that plastic has gotten very brittle over the years.

Danny Devito had his own "action Figure" ?

or is that a Giant Barbie?

It'll last longer than your bones.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
It'll last longer than your bones.

Yep, that is what I figured out and why I don't worry. Well that and I have guns of all type because.....well something about first step admitting...nevermind. At any rate, I don't worry about my Glocks or HKs crumbling to dust.

quote:

Danny Devito had his own "action Figure" ?
or is that a Giant Barbie? Big Grin

Don't hate the playa.....so Ace likes him some Amazons.

Good friend who's been shooting 3-gun for a long time cracked his slide at 600K+ rounds. G17 Gen 2, his "baby". Sent it to Glock, they replaced the complete slide at no cost.

Talk to vintage toy collectors and hear about almost mint condition toys made out of bakelite plastic back in the 1930s. And modern day polymer is far superior than bakelite or something like lucite.

Your Glock will outlive you and your child easily.

I could see the vast majority of polymer firearms lasting a century. But don't think they don't take a beating like kids toys. The frame takes a good beating everytime you fire a round. A lot of force is transferred to the frame everytime a round is fired. That being said, polymer is tough stuff and lasts a very long time of which nobody knows exactly how long because nobodies seen any real failures in numbers yet.

I'm 53 and my childhood toys survived in my parents' attic for 40+ years. They weren't exposed to UV light, but I bet it hit 140+ degrees in there most summers, and freezing in the winter. Those plastic toys were as good when I pulled them out as the day they were put in there.

The trend seems to be toward modularity. The P320 can crumble away and be replaced for a few bucks, so plastic and polymer doesn't seem to be too much of an object.

The polymer pistols of today, and yesterday, and twenty years ago or more, are holding up just fine.

This thread makes me want to take a bubble bath with a GLOCK.

An acquaintance of mine has a good friend who uses a Glock 17 for some kind of competition shooting. So far he has put 86,000 rounds through it! Only springs have been regularly changed. If that's not amazing, I don't know what is.

The polymer in quality handguns is far superior to the stuff used to make toys. Unless you set it on fire, it would outlast anyone here.

So long as it doesn’t decompose creating the phenomenon that the polymer becomes physical sticky (due to diffusion/migration of oily additives like plasticizers to the surface) and/or chemical (due to degradation/aging). Should be good to go..

quote:

Originally posted by CQB60:
So long as it doesn’t decompose creating the phenomenon that the polymer becomes physical sticky (due to diffusion/migration of oily additives like plasticizers to the surface) and/or chemical (due to degradation/aging). Should be good to go..

I did have a rubber butt pad “go to goo” once.

I have yet to handle a polymer/nylon framed pistol or rifle that has exhibited the tacky/out gas type thing. I have had it happen on car parts like radio knobs etc. and I have found a little rubbing alcohol takes care of the problem for a good long time.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
The polymer in quality handguns is far superior to the stuff used to make toys. Unless you set it on fire, it would outlast anyone here.

That was exactly my point and why I was using childhood toys as a bit of a control. The plastic used in them is FAR INFERIOR to high tech polymer formations/nylons etc. yet those abused toys for the most part have lasted 35-45 years usually with a long stint in attics/sheds etc. with lots of heat/cold cycles. They are what finally set my mind at ease as far as polymer longevity.

Yes handgun frames see a fair amount of flex during firing but the vast amount of energy is steel on steel inserts and that energy transfer and flex has shown to be more then durable enough over time and huge round counts.

Mostly this question comes up a lot and, while chemically, polymers WILL break down, practically speaking it likely won’t be your or your heirs problem. I found it useful to look at toys because just about everybody has some as a point of reference and there resilience given their far inferior plastics as well as abuse over time really do show how tough these modern UV polymers should be especially given that fact that most folks keeps guns clean and stored well.

As long as you don’t set them on fire or let your dog use them as a chew toy they should last a VERY long time.

Besides hedge your bets buy a GP100 and or Smith 686 those should last several hundred years easy in case you plan to be cryogenically frozen.

I don't worry one bit about polymer's life in a gun.

Leave a steel 1911 outside in the rain for a year or two. What will you have left?

The point is, metals require a certain amount of care, too. And are subject to cyclic wear.

What I like about poly framed guns as opposed to aluminum framed guns is that the actual contact/wear parts (think frame rails) are steel. So the wear is steel on steel. This is as opposed to steel on aluminum, which the steel is bound to win.

Also, with a number of poly framed guns (although NOT Glocks), the frame rails are pinned to the poly frame, and are removable/replaceable. Now who knows if down the line a couple of decades, if those parts will still be available, but it's nice to know that they can be replaced.