Beretta plastic guide rod?

M

mvdemarco

New member
Was looking at a new Beretta today and I noticed that now Beretta uses a plastic guide rod!! For some reason that just rubs me the wrong way! Do the stainless Berettas also come with a plastic one too?

Mike
 
From what I understand, the plastic guide rod is standard on the new 'fs'. Found alot of info at the Beretta forum re: plastic guide rod. I guess they last and they work well...just not too asthetically pleasing. Stainless rods can be found in the aftermarket!
 
Yep, I recently bought a new U.S.-made 92FS Inox and it, too, has a plastic recoil spring guide. I'm willing to believe that this plastic part is functional, but it does cheapen the look of the gun. I don't know if it's strictly a U.S. commercial product, or if Italian and military contract Berettas also use it.
 
The military M9's all have the metal recoil spring guide. Beretta would not be able to use the plastic one unless it was approved by the Department of Defense (or one of the sub-departments therof). When a company makes stuff for the military the specifications have to be exactly what the drawings show.

Of course, one wonders if the military will order any more Berettas. I don't know what their average service life in years is, but I would guess that within another ten years the existing M9's are all going to need replacing. The few that I have seen all looked like they had the $hit beat out of them.
 
A lot of pistols use plastic guide rods. My Sigs have plastic guide rods, as do my Glocks. They work fine. I prefer metal ones, but companies seem to use plastic now (possibly to save money)???
 
It just rubs me the wrong way, as it is glaring proof the manufacturer is using cheaper parts while at the same time they are raising the price on the base gun. It just makes it obvious that you're getting less than what you would have previously paid for.
 
It is my understanding that the guide rods are not cheap plastic, but a polymer, and one of the benefits is now it is self lubricating.
 
This is really a very interesting example of Marketing brainlock and not understanding customers. You've got a good gun that retails for $600, and you decide to stick in a polymer guide rod..... why? To save maybe $1 in manufacturing cost? To reduce the weight by 1/2 ounce? This is dumb... now you have to convince people that polymer is as durable.. Maybe it is, but I doubt it. It's going to rub a lot of people the wrong way. They should have offered the poly rod as an option that people could order or add on later.
 
BTW: there is data showing up now that polymers (even the good stuff like Glock uses) are tough and break resistant when new, but get brittle with age due to the effects of oxidation and being subjected to cleaning solvents. I wouldn't own one.
 
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