Plastic part survey....

D

Dave McC

Staff In Memoriam
Upon introspection, I realize my loathing for plastic parts may be unfounded. Has anyone had any of the plastic parts on the 870 fail? How about other shotguns, tho I admit I have little knowledge of what,if any parts are synthetic on a 500, a Defender, 37 or any other commonly used shotgun.

I'm sitting here with a Zytel handle on my last resort folding knife. There's a recoil buffer in my GM, and all those hulls I feed through my pet 870s are plastic also. These are good uses of a superior material for certain tasks.

Am I being less than fair?

Thanks...
 
let me see if there is any plastic on my Benelli Nova...
Hey, the whole darn gun is plastic!
;)
http://www.benelliusa.com/nova/
http://www.vaapensport.com/ebennova.html
http://www.benelliusa.com/showimage/index.cgi?novaca2.jpg

Other than having to worry about sliding it across a pool of burning gasoline, IMHO the plastic frame with internal metal bracing is a well executed concept on the Nova.

It is a very strong system

Plastic can be engineered today, to out perform many other materials.

I do worry about embrittlement over time, but that maybe a left over fear from old school plastics.

dZ
 
I have to say, I have not had problem with the plastic parts, but my brother-in-law has. Particularily the cap that is at the end of the spring where the shells go in. For some reason it turned up in there and it woulnd't push his shells through. Sorry , not real experienced with the names of these parts, but I thought it might be something of interest
 
I had the platic safety button on a Mossberg 500 split in half and fall off. I fabricated a replacement out of the base of one of my son's plastic toy soldiers.

The gun now has a "tactical green" safety. :)
 
I also had a mossberg 500 plastic safety go to pieces on me.
I replaced the part, immediately sold the gun, and bought an 870. That was 12-15 years ago. They don't get a second chance with me.
 
Dave,

Got the email, thanks. Never had any problems with the plastic safety on any of the 4 Mossys, nor with the trigger guard.

Gator
 
Brownells (www.brownells.com) sells a metal safety button for the Mossberg. Beats the heck out of the stock plastic one. John K.
 
Thanks for the responses,guys.

Gator, hope it helped you and yours.

Bob, that's the mag follower. Several after market firms sell a metal one for maybe $10.

BTW, my bird 870 does have a plastic follower. Since it's not a HD tool,small matter.I'll pick up a metal one someday.

No trigger assemblies of plastic, tho. Buying or building older 870s does have advantages.

I've heard of Mossy safeties busting. That's one of the things that started me on this thread.

dZ, sliding one of my 870s across a pool of burning gas probably isn't going to do much good either(G).
 
The plastic follower was the first thing to be replaced on me 870.. I don't really like the plastic trigger guard, but I can live with it for now. Hasn't caused any trouble yet.
 
The only plastic parts on my Ithica Model 37 are the butt plate, and the bead site. I'll let you know if they give me any trouble.
Eric
 
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