Iron bottom said:
I see that that Walther has a PPQ steel receiver now. It appears that the goal was to have a really accurate firearm to compete in the shooting contests. What will happen next?
Is that your assessment, or is that comment based on some other sources?
There is no reason to assume that a polymer-framed gun must be less accurate than a steel-framed gun. But because so many people believe that polymer-framed guns don't have the same accuracy potential as steel-framed guns,
it may be that Walther is just "preaching to the choir." If there's a demand for a product feature, it can make sense to offer a product with that feature. If it will sell.
A few years back, you could get a steel frame for Glocks (maybe you still can), and users found that the steel-framed guns, when they were set up properly, were very reliable and very accurate. But there
were some functional and accuracy issues.
The problem was that the polymer-framed frames seemed to be much more
flexible (in every sense of the term) than metal-framed guns
and the poly-guns were more tolerant of after-market parts than were the metal-framed guns. This was a problem for the firms making steel Glock frames, because shooters who "hot-rod" their Glocks live and die (are dependent upon) with the use of after-market parts. Those shooters began to get unpredictable results when those parts were used in a metal frame.
The firms making the steel Glock frames, after a lot of analysis and testing, found hat many of the after-market parts were not made to stringent standards. They learned, for example, that a part ordered from a given vendor one month might be shipped with slightly different specs the next month. Quality control among
some after-market part makers was not what what it should be.
I think nearly all of the firms making those steel Glock frames are no longer in business. Had Glock been making the "hot rod" parts, howver, the results might've been different.
How about Ransom Rest tests of steel and polymer guns to prove the superiority of steel frames?
Ransom Rest tests are designed to
assess that mechanical accuracy of a gun,
and to remove the human element, such as pushing or pulling on the trigger, which can push or pull the gun off target as the trigger is pressed; just jerking the trigger can cause problems, too. For metal-framed guns using a Ransom Rest can also measure whether the play between the frame and slide affects accuracy in the Rest -- and aiming the gun is not necessary.
While steel frames flex a bit when the gun is fired, the frame typically returns to the same starting point; polymer-frames don't always return to the same starting point. That means that if you're not using the sights, a steel gun will be have more consistent groupings than a polymer-framed gun. Gun designers and gunsmiths using Ransom Rests must, therefore, aim each shot with polymer-framed guns because of the flexible frame, but they still find it very necessary to use the Ransom Rest to fire the gun.
The TOP (slide, barrel and sights) of the gun is the most critical part, and if the rest of the gun is designed so that the slide and barrel line up consistently from shot to shot -- which can certainly be done if the gun has a metal sub-frame. If the shooter of a polymer-framed gun uses the sights (or a slide-mounted optical system), the gun's performance can match steel-framed guns, if the other related parts are well-fit