Handgun Durability: How Long...?

I have a Sauer 1913 that is the better part of a century old and with the exception that it is missing a couple parts (done intentionally by previous owner not due to wear or failure) and it is in damn near perfect shape and function. As was also said it is even sporting some form of plastic grips which have held up just fine.

This certainly wasn’t sealed away out of the factory and went through at least one war and was a family memebers CCW / All around Gun for many years.

So based on the fact a fairly well used Gun stood up to the century mark I would imagine you example would last HUNDREDS of years no issue.
 
There are flintlocks in museums all over the world, and many of them could be taken out of the cases and hunted with today. Many are 240-265 years old.
The were all made of iron, steel, brass and wood.

Stainless will last longer.
 
I'd say 100 years is a piece of cake. I've got a couple of 1860 cavalry sabers, a pair of Krags, and a trapdoor Springfield that look none the worse for well over 100 years and all of them have had less than museum quality care. Rod
 
When Ruger first started using stainless they put a single six on the roof of the factory. After 3 years in the weather the sights had rust on them.
 
The 1907 Swede Mauser I had until recently worked just fine; and like others have said, I seriously doubt it was kept in pristine conditions all the years before I had it.
 
"...the springs cease to work..." Springs do not loose temper due to time or use.
Rubber does tend to dry out over time regardless of anything else(oil will quicken it too), but the metal would be fine. No reason wood would deteriorate under those conditions either.
The Swedes found a very, very early bronze hand gonne on the bottom of the Baltic. Sits in a Stockholm museum. Another 12th or 14th Century gun was literally dug up on the site of a German castle. It's in another museum. As I recall, both are in working condition.
 
They've pulled cap and ball revolvers from old dusty barns from the Civil War and they fire. You're pistols would be just fine.
 
100 years is nothing for modern guns stored in a dry location. Even if the gun was dry after that time you could oil it and it would probably shoot with the same ammo you put in it 100 years before. Small flecks of rust even if they form would not be enough to cause a malfunction. After 500 years, maybe the springs would be tired. rc
 
I don't know the answer. But I can report that I still shoot a well used 100 year old Webley revolver, that was not wiped down and stored untouched in a climate controlled room for the last 100 years. It has never failed to fire, still times up properly, extracts and ejects the spent cases as it's designed to do, etc. It wouldn't be my first choice for carry nowadays, but it does still work as it's supposed too......
 
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