I have two Model 12s. I had another thirty years ago. I have a 642 and a 42. I have had a couple of other 42s. I have three 37s. Sounds like about ten. None were cracked last time I looked. I bought a cracked-frame 12 advertised on this forum for parts. I saw a cracked-frame 42 floating around NW Fl looking for a sucker. Sounds like 17% to me.
I am NOT a metallurgist, but sifting through the various allegations, observations, and professions of ignorance, it seems to me to emerge that some aluminum-frame guns, probably a fairly small percentage, will crack because their barrels were screwed in too tightly, but most won't.
I would worry more about stripping screws.
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