Plastic v. Steel Guide Rods

Status
Not open for further replies.
One is tempted to comment that those who replace a factory plastic/polymer guide rod with a metal rod presume to know more than the manufacturer of the gun about what is best for the gun. Then there are those who would argue that plastic vs. steel is just "cheap". Cost may be part of it, but who is to say that metal is better just because it's metal? Remember, there was a time that, had someone suggested making pistol frames out of plastic, they would likely have been run out of town on a rail....
 
Yeah, i was tempted to replace mine with a stainless guide rod on my SR9. But it shoots fine with the stock, and I don't want to do damage to the slide. I guess you can put a buffer pad in front of it, not sure if that would make a difference..
 
Beretta went to polymer guide rods in many of their pistols including the 92/M9 platform. They claim that the polymer rods are better as they flex, they deal with sand and dirt better, and they are self-lubricating. All of the feedback from hard users, i.e. LEOs and military users, on the Beretta forum corroborates this. I have never heard of anyone experiencing failure of one of the polymer rods. I cannot speak to the metal ones, although mostly they appear to be fine almost all the time.

Beretta has been making guns since 1521, so I am going to believe them. :)
 
I have Glocks both ways, with metal and plastic rods.

I have seen plastic rods fail.

Most people wont shoot their Glock fast enough to overheat the plastic guide rod but competitive shooters know that after a couple hundred rounds in a few minutes that things start to heat up. This is when the plastic guide rod can literally melt.

Metal guide rods alleviate this problem.

There is no metal to polymer contact by switching guide rods.

The front of the guide rod sits in the metal slide, the back of the guide rod rides on bottom of the barrel. (also metal)
 
I generally just stick with what the gun comes with.

Beretta 92's USED to come with metal guiderods. Now, they come with plastic. A lot of guys change over to metal, and I used to be one of those guys.

However< i bought a metal guiderod for a 92 - and the damn thing didn't work. It looked the right tolerances, but it actually came out the front of the slide 2x. And, I damaged my frame getting the slide off (not bad, but just a tiny chip off the top of one of the rails - it's just cosmetic).

After that, I just decided to stick with the stock guiderods - and I have eight 92's now.

Supposedly, the plastic ones don't need lubrication - and the grooves in the Beretta polymer guiderods are better for a sand environment. Despite all that - many of us agree that 1 large factor in the change over was cost savings for the company.

However - I don't care. After that 1 experience with a replacement metal guiderod - I don't worry about it, and I keep whatever came with the gun
 
There is no metal to polymer contact by switching guide rods.

The front of the guide rod sits in the metal slide, the back of the guide rod rides on bottom of the barrel. (also metal)
Click to expand...

With all due respect, this is not true. When you reassemble a Glock, the base of the rod sits in an area of the frame where it only touches polymer (unless it has dug enough of a ditch to touch the slide lock spring...not good). It no longer sits in the half moon on the underside of the barrel in front of the lug.
 
Iv'e been told by an experienced Glock shooter to replace my plastic GR with a steel one. The gun runs with complete reliability, so I don't want to modify it.

Iv'e also never had a problem with the factory part in shooting thousands of rounds. Until I have some sort of failure that could be traced to that part, I'm going to leave mine stock.
 
Its a fix for a nonexistant problem. Replacement metal guide rods are simply a way to part people from their money in the name of unnessassary upgrades.
 
Replacing something like that from the factory seems like you are asking for problems. I would venture to say that they put some thought behind which material would work best for the application.
 
I asked Ruger about it, just to see what they would say...

Response:

We cannot recommend the use of any aftermarket parts on any of our firearms. Ruger firearms are designed to function properly in their original condition. Sturm, Ruger will not be responsible for any alteration of any part of the firearm, or for the addition or substitution of parts and accessories not manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.
 
three.jpg
 
It seems to me the whole idea of full length stainless steel guide rods started with the 1911. At least the original rod is made of steel so it sort of made sense. even with the 1911 there is lack of agreement whether it is beneficial, especially for self defense use.

Apparently someone thought if it was a good accessory for the 1911 then why not for the Glock. Enough of us have tried it to make someone a few bucks for their trouble.

It would neat to see a slow motion video of a cutaway slide so we could see what actually happens to the slide and guide rod durinf a firing cycle.
 
The only guide rod I've ever had break was made of steel. It was on a SA micro-compact 1911 in .45 ACP.

Daryl
 
All my Glocks have steel guide rods, groups shrink and with a new spring all my brass lay around my feet so I don't have to crawl all over to pick it up.
 
I replaced the poly rod in my Baretta CX4 Carbine with a steel one, the effect was overall higher felt recoil and snappier ejection of spent casings... Im not sure if the result was an upgrade but it is a little different than before..
 
Stick with stock.

There are a thousand different opinions on this, but the best advice is to stick with the material that came with your gun.

Think about it: the engineers that designed your gun get paid a LOT of money to design a reliable, accurate device. They have advanced degrees and years of experience in designing accurate weapon systems. That said, if they decide to use a plastic guide rod in their design, why change it? Do you really think random people on the internet know better than professional firearms designers?

They use plastic because it flexes. I can't explain why that is needed, but the gun is designed based on a guide rod that flexes. Its not a matter of cost, there are metals they could use that are just as cheap as plastic if they needed a stiffer guide rod, but they don't.

Putting in a steel guide rod is going to change the dynamics of how the gun fires. Maybe that will help accuracy, but there's an even better chance its going to shift the force of the recoil onto parts of the gun not designed and tested to handle recoil.

Instead of buying a steel guide rob, buy a factory replacement.

The bottom line: if a bunch of professional engineers decided to use a plastic guide rod, you should too.

If you want more accuracy, install a target trigger and target sights. If you are happy with the accuracy of your gun and just want something that will be as reliable and long lasting as possible, stick with the stock setup and spend your money on stock replacement parts, spare mags, and ammo.
 
Yeah. This thread lived out its natural lifecycle over 3 years ago.

To add new posts as if it were happening yesterday really isn't useful.

Going to close this one.

If you want to have a discussion about guide rods, by all means, start a new thread.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top