5903: Forged or Billet, and what is the alloy?

[Schwankster]

I just purchased an old police turn-in model 5903 (from the San Juan Puerto Rico police department) and it has a LOT of holster wear but next to no wear on the inside. I'm going to have the frame hard-coat anodized locally, and the shop is asking if I know if the frame is Billet, Forged, or Cast. They are also asking what the alloy composition is, and mentioned 6061 or 7075. If I can provide this info it'll save them some time (and me some $$) in the refinishing process. Does anyone know the answers to these questions? I've tried searching, but my google-fu seems to be weak today.

[surfgun]

It is almost certainly a forging. That is how S&W has always done their revolvers and the traditional S&W auto’s lineage goes back to the model 39 of the 1950’s.

[Schwankster]

I just called S&W to ask them and I was told that my frame, based on the serial number, is forged. So there are different frame manufacturing methods of the 5903 depending on the serial number range, according to S&W. They wouldn't disclose the alloy composition because it is "proprietary information" and wouldn't discuss it further. They wouldn't provide any details about it.

[GaryHK]

Not sure what's so "secret" about it. Sig uses 7075-T6 forged aluminum on a lot of their receivers and state so.

"Proprietary information" is secret speak for "I have no idea"

[donk52]

Well, I was told, from an unnamed source, S&W used to own an unobtainium mine somewhere in the Amazon jungle back in the day. Just sayin'.

[GaryS]

S&W forges all of their frames and receivers. Well, except for the plastic ones which are molded at their facility in CT.

I've seen the forge on most of my factory tours, back when they did factory tours.

The forgings are then machined on one of the 100+ CNC machines that they own.

I believe Rugers uses the lost wax casting method.

Since the 3rd Gens have been discontinued for some time and a lot of the people who knew them well are retired, I'm a bit skeptical of answers from customer service. Even more so now that they have off sited CS phone support. Sometimes you have to play telephone roulette to find someone that can give you a correct answer.

[stansdds]

S&W used forged aluminum pistol receivers. As to the exact alloy, I don't know and it is likely that their customer service people do not know either.

[Schwankster]

The shop said the frame is 7075 aluminum alloy. I got my 5093 frame back, and it looks GREAT! I had it bead-blasted and re-anodized in black hard-coat so it would hide some of the scratches & dings, and it did just that! I'll post pictures once I get it back together. I'm waiting on a couple of small parts from Numrich, and I still need to polish the slide and other small parts.

[GaryHK]

Originally Posted by Schwankster

The shop said the frame is 7075 aluminum alloy.

So much for "proprietary". LOL

[GaryS]

That's CS speak for "I have no idea what you're asking me, so I'll just making something up that sounds like I know something."

Originally Posted by GaryHK

So much for "proprietary". LOL