Catchabullet said:
I recall a border patrol agent coming in and telling me and my coworker about how his fnp 45's pistol grip heated up in the sun to the point of being soft while it sat in his car.
There was a STINK raised on the 'net a year or two ago about an FNP-45 that had a grip that went SOFT. I don't remember it being caused by heat, but that was a long time ago. The gun in question was discussesd on the FN Forum, where I'm a participant.
At least ONE SUCH CASE of soft grip did happen. Photos accompanied the tale. It didn't melt, but it was a very soft grip. It may have been soft before it got hot, but the poster didn't mention that.
In any event, FN-America replaced the grip frame, but the folks posting the info continued to post and complain on other forums it. It appears that something was wrong with that particular frame (a production problem) and it slipped through quality control. I suspect, however, that if a frame was softened by heat, it should have hardened somewhat when it cooled down. The one on the net stayed soft.
I've not heard of this sort of grip problem happening elsewhere with any gun.
One member of the FN Forum, a retired LEO who dislikes Glocks -- said he had heard, from a person he trusted, of a Glock frame that had melted (or significantly softened) as the result of being left on a picnic table. After doing a little research about the polymer used in most gun frames -- nearly all gun makers use their own proprietary form of Nylon 6 (which Glock uses) or Nylon 66 -- I found that it doesn't melt easily.
Nylon 6 begins to melt at 457 degrees, and Nylon 66 melts at around 500 degress. A picnic table surface would have had to get up to almost 500 degrees to cause it to soften or melt the Glock's frame. I question whether a wood or metal picnic table would ever get that hot just setting out in the sun.
That said, I wouldn't intentionally leave a semi-auto on a picnic table unattended, and if it were that hot a day, I doubt I'd be setting at a METAL picnic table in the fist place, as their benches are generally metal, too!
On a hot day, if I were in a car, the air conditioner would be going or the windows and/or doors would be open. I certainly wouldn't leave an handgun unattended in the passenger compartment of a car -- it would go into the locked trunk which would be a lot cooler.
Info on the internet says that the temperature inside a sealed car in the daytime can get up to 70+ degrees higher than the outside temperature, and do it pretty quickly.
If the temperature was as low as the high 70's, or over 100, that would be enough heat to harm a child or a dog, but it would take one helluva hot day to melt a gun frame.