S&W rebound spring housing I WAS WRONG

[roysha]

Well, what more can I say. I WAS WRONG! After a couple of fellows responded that possibly it was a MIM part, I took one of them apart again and checked with a magnet. Yup, it's steel. It was so smooth and black and shiny I immediately assumed plastic. So, that's what I get for being too quick on the trigger, pun intended, plus being paranoid about the use of crap material in some of the new guns. I have had a lot of faith in S&W for about 50 years now and keep expecting the worst. Naughty me.

[stubshaft]

Whew...I know S&W quality was going down the tubes, but plastic was just too much.

[rintinglen]

I thought something couldn't be right. The trigger lever is still metal and would bore into the rebound slide if it was plastic.

[imashooter2]

Should outta edit the original post to say so… S&W deserves to have that error corrected in the headline.

[M-Tecs]

Well, what more can I say. I WAS WRONG! After a couple of fellows responded that possibly it was a MIM part, I took one of them apart again and checked with a magnet. Yup, it's steel. It was so smooth and black and shiny I immediately assumed plastic. So, that's what I get for being too quick on the trigger, pun intended, plus being paranoid about the use of crap material in some of the new guns. I have had a lot of faith in S&W for about 50 years now and keep expecting the worst. Naughty me.

MIM parts can be magnetic and they have been used in the firearm industry since at least the 70's.

[racepres]

I thought something couldn't be right. The trigger lever is still metal and would bore into the rebound slide if it was plastic.

In the last Industrial Job I had...some years ago, On most Machines, a Steel gear against a Plastic gear... years of Service, and the steel showed considerable wear, vs the plastic running against it... but... those were gears..

[practical_man]

Thanks for clearing it up.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

In the last Industrial Job I had...some years ago, On most Machines, a Steel gear against a Plastic gear... years of Service, and the steel showed considerable wear, vs the plastic running against it... but... those were gears..

I have seen some plastic parts on the interior of motorcycle engines. Nobody complains about them.

[roysha]

Should outta edit the original post to say so… S&W deserves to have that error corrected in the headline.

I did.

[rintinglen]

Whether a plastic part can be serviceable depends entirely on the service. The trigger return spring housing has a steel spring rubbing along inside a tunnel while being forced rearward against the spring by a roughly 1/16 inch diameter steel rod that has a rounded tip. IIRC, the stock spring is about 15 lbs. Take a 2d nail, round the tip, and repeatedly place a 15 pound load on the head while resting the point on a piece of plastic. You will see displacement. It won't take many repetitions either. Even a high dollar Dupont Polyimide simply doesn't have the strength for this sort of application.

Whether plastic parts motorcycle engines, clocks, or copier gears can withstand the loads placed upon them is immaterial.