Aluminum in slides and frame rails with Rugers?

R

Recoil spring

New member
I recently bought a Ruger EC-9 compact pistol (9mm) and it has aluminum frame rails, this is not an issue with me as I am focused on concealed carry and want all unnecessary weight reduced, also I don't shoot my carry guns much anyways.

Was surprised to see that Ruger is also using aluminum on the frame rails for their Security 9 semi-auto and an aluminum slide on their small SR-22. Seems that the Sec. 9 and SR-22 would likely be shot a lot by many shooters, is aluminum that tough now compared to steel components?

When I first got into handguns in the 1970's it was well known that steel was better if you shoot a lot, but if carry was your thing, then aluminum was the way to go.
 
Aluminum will likely be an issue with the slide lock notch on the slide. This has been noted in a thread years ago.
 
Al is an alloy. Alloys can be made very hard like the Al armour plate used in a lot of military vehicles(the LAV is one of those.). Or soft like an Al cooking pot.
It won't be just the rails that are Al either.
"...don't shoot my carry guns much anyways..." You should be practicing with it, using the ammo you use in it, regularly.
 
The old P95 was plastic, molded in rails, no metal at all. Lots of guns including Beretta 92FS that have aluminum frames, shoot thousands and thousands of rounds in them. I don't know how well the aluminum slides will do.
 
A steel or plastic frame will outlast aluminum. But you'll spend $6,000-$10,000 for the ammo to wear out an aluminum frame. If you can afford to shoot that much you can afford to replace the pistol.
 
They use aluminum because it works.

Will it hold up to 10,000,000 rounds? No, but it will last plenty long enough, and Ruger will replace it for you when/if the rails do wear out.

The only reports of aluminum frame rails failing on Rugers were the old Gen 1 LCPs, which have been out of production since 2013 when Ruger introduced the Gen 2 models with better sights, lighter triggers, and by all accounts more durable frames. But like most things on the internet, reports of slide rails failing get perpetually repeated several years after the fact, and what's old is no again because somebody always knows somebody else who's father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate owned one and something went spectacularly wrong with it, regardless of whether or not the story can be verified or how long ago it allegedly occured.
 
745SW said:
Aluminum will likely be an issue with the slide lock notch on the slide. This has been noted in a thread years ago.
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The notch is in the steel slide.

I don't know of any center-fire semi-autos that use aluminum slides; there might be some out there, but using aluminum slides for anything but a .22 is certainly not a common practice.

I'm pretty sure that the slide stop/release is steel, too -- so it would be steel against steel, as with any other gun.

I've never heard of any of the alloy-framed guns (which includes many Berettas, SIGs, S&W, etc.) using steel rails.

As noted above, the P95 (and, I think, the P97) didn't use metal rails at all!
 
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The metal chassis inside the Ruger SR series plastic frame is stainless steel.
They can be bought now for prices that are the same or lower than the Security 9 series.
 
Not interested in any aluminum frame/Chassis firearm. Especially from Ruger. I have my share of experiences with them. I will stick to steel. They do not make them any more like the SR9 or SR9C (other than the American and SR1911)

SR9C.

You be the judge.

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What's your point?
The post is non sequitur.
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If I had to guess, I think his point had to do with highlighting how beefy the front rail/block is on the SR9c. It does seem a bit longer than the front rails on my early Gen 3 Glock frame.

I'm always surprised by how little most people shoot (as in rarely) whenever I meet a fellow pistol owner. People get busy. Most with the EC-9 and Security 9 will probably never wear out their pistol.

The rails don't get much of a direct impact as the backwards movement of the slide should be stopped by other means. So it would have to wear out mostly due to abrasion.

After dabbling in AR's, my mind asks: 6061 or 7075 aluminum?
 
dyl said:
If I had to guess, I think his point had to do with highlighting how beefy the front rail/block is on the SR9c. It does seem a bit longer than the front rails on my early Gen 3 Glock frame.

I'm always surprised by how little most people shoot (as in rarely) whenever I meet a fellow pistol owner. People get busy. Most with the EC-9 and Security 9 will probably never wear out their pistol.

The rails don't get much of a direct impact as the backwards movement of the slide should be stopped by other means. So it would have to wear out mostly due to abrasion.

After dabbling in AR's, my mind asks: 6061 or 7075 aluminum?
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You hit it, that is the point.
 
Yes, I thought the point would be obvious but you hit it. I do not think the average shooter makes it to the range very often. And I think Ruger knows this. Therefore why spend the money in a gun like the SR9C when you can make a cheaper gun for less money and sell it for the same price.
Which gun would you buy if you shot often? The SR9C or the SecurSity 9 for example. Even the little Kahr 380 has steel put into the grip at the stress points.

Regardless, if a person feels aluminum will be fine for them that is all that matters. I will choose steel. Nice to have choices.

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Kahr
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security 9 on left- SR9C Right

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Much ado about nothing.

If you wear out a "lowly" aluminum rail pistol by shooting it to death, good for you. The average gun enthusiast (not just gun owner, but the average gun nut that does make a point to shoot frequently) won't be able to in their lifetime, if the pistol is properly maintained.

Cherry-picking isolated incidents and presenting them as if common doesn't change anything, either. That's one internet habit that needs to die, but never will. If you take a look at the interwebs right now, for example, you'll find that EVERY Glock 44 in the world has a cracked slide and/or missing extractor, because they have fired out of battery. In reality, only two incidents have been well documented, and photos and videos from those incidents are being spread all over the place, misrepresented, presented as additional failures, and turned into a pandemic.


I've never seen aluminum guides/rails fail unless the pistol was poorly designed or used outside of its design intent. -- Like Ruger admitting that the LC and EC series were never meant to be weekend plinkers, but people try putting thousands of rounds through them anyway and throw a fit when something breaks.

There's also the issue of people running steady diets of +P and/or +P+ ammo through firearms not designed or rated for it. Want to ruin a gun quickly, whether aluminum or steel? Feed it a constant diet of ammunition that the manufacturer specifically warns against.


One and a half small data points from my own collection:
I have an aluminum frame pistol with a round count over 133,000. The aluminum is fine. But the steel parts are starting to fail. Ironic.
Its non-identical twin has about 80k rounds through it. It's doing just fine.
With what has been spent on ammunition for those pistols, they could have been replaced with new pistols 29 times. ...But they weren't, because the aluminum frames are doing just fine.


dyl, 7075
 
745SW said:
Aluminum will likely be an issue with the slide lock notch on the slide. This has been noted in a thread years ago.
Click to expand...
The notch is in the steel slide.
Click to expand...
I believe the reference was intended to apply to the SR22 which has an aluminum slide. There have been some reference of the slide notches wearing in the SR22.
As noted above, the P95 (and, I think, the P97) didn't use metal rails at all!
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Yup, I had a friend who owned a range and when he started it, he bought a half dozen or so Ruger P95 pistols for range rentals. By the time he retired and closed the range, years later, he had sold all of them but one to people who rented them and wanted to buy them. He took the last one home to use as a home defense gun. It was still going strong.
 
JohnKSa said:
I believe the reference was intended to apply to the SR22 which has an aluminum slide. There have been some reference of the slide notches wearing in the SR22.
Click to expand...

Perhaps.

The response by 745SW was about an aluminum frame in the 9mm gun, and an aluminum slide in the .22 version. Because he didn't specify WHICH gun was the subject, I wrote the following in that same response:

I don't know of any center-fire semi-autos that use aluminum slides; there might be some out there, but using aluminum slides for anything but a .22 is certainly not a common practice.
Click to expand...

I have not heard of any slide notch issues with the SR22, so if that IS a problem it will interesting to know more.
 
Good point, I thing the thread got turned around from the 22.cal to the centerfire. Of which I was guilty. No I will agreee with Frank on the 22.cal on the aluminum slide being quite worthy, however I did have my SR22 returned twice for the same rail issue and finally replaced.
 
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