"FWIW, I`ve made my living in the plastics business since `89. I wiould never buy a "polymer" frame pistol."
Then I guess you don't plan on buying a new car any time soon, since there is an incredible amount of "plastics" in them. You need a'55 Chevy.
BTW, what are your credentials to back up your statement?
Plastics are a way of life now, good in some aspects, bad in others. Polymers are VERY dependent upon the way they are processed and the additives used in them(for wear/weather properties, mold release, thermoset, etc, and to the actualt temperature they are processed at). Car parts? Look at plastic car parts closely....notice how they weather, fade, crack, and break? My `99 Jeep has a LOT of gray on it. The gray used to be black. UV light and the air we breath are a bitch. Plastic is used in vehicles to keep manufacturing costs down, weight to a minimun for fuel mileage, and to speed up production.
I use plastic products because it`s a way of life in today`s world. It`s cheap and that`s what people want. The firearms manufacturers use it because they can injection mold thousands of frames/parts in a matter of minutes and hours compared to the rate of machining or casting/machining steel parts. It drives their profit margins way up. I imagine Glock makes more off of a $500 pistol than Colt or Springfield makes off of a $1000 one. Use it then either recycle or pitch it in the landfill. I`ve made a nice living off of it and plan to keep at it. Steel is expensive as a raw material and to manufacture/machine/fabricate, so living wthout plastics is impossible. Polymers have an extremely useful place in our world in several areas as well, most noteably medical. I have designed equipment for heart catheter tubing in the past, tubing that may well have been used to save my father-in-law`s life after his heart attack.
I`m not dissin plastic. I just believe it has it`s place, and that place is not in a firearm that will reside in my house(other than a .22). You may love them. Welcome to America....buy what you want. I will do likewise.
Oh yeah, credentials...BSMET, Clemson University, `88. I have worked as an equipment design engineer in the plastics industry since `89, working closely on production and R&D projects for some companies you may have heard of such as Dow, Dupont, Monsanto, Solo Cup, General Motors suppliers, Honda suppliers(I kinda accidentally shut down the north American production line for the Honda Accord in Dec `95, LOL), Pactiv(hefty brand), and many others. I`m currently working as a consultant on a new "Rapid Runway Repair" system for the Air Force using an asphalt compound derived from the plastics industry. We plan to bring the production on-line this fall. We`ve been working on it and doing AF testing for the last 3 years.
Keep buying plastic y`all...........it keeps my gun hobby going!
edit/additon.......I used to know a local boat dealer who refused to own his own boat. I asked him why he never got one. He said the mark-up was so high, ie profit, that he couldn`t stand to screw himself llike that.