Question about 3rd Gen Alu Frames

[GeoJelly]

Greetings SWF - I have had the 3913, below, for almost 20 years and have fired less than a box through it. That said, the frame shows what I think is a lot of wear given how little it has been fired. But, I have to admit that there's something (well, a lot really!) that I don't know about 3rd Gens. Does the barrel actually impinge (maybe that's the right word) against the frame when dropping down during un-locking? Or, is most of that force or wear up against the slide stop lever (especially at the angled area by the arrow below)? Reason for asking, I'm looking at one of the 6906 re-imports available, and the seller says they have been fired up to a thousand rounds. I'd hate to buy one to find out that the frame is all chewed up on it. Hopefully, I'm just being a worry-wart and the frame will look fine? Inquiring minds - or a small mind in my case - want to know!

 

[spistols]

Do a word search here on the forum for "Galling". A lot will show up, and this is normal.

 

[armorer951]

Put the barrel over the frame without the slide and you can get a pretty good idea where the contact occurs. Initially, when opening the barrel cams down approx 1.5 degrees....then as the slide opens, the barrel foot slides down the angled slots on either side of the interior of the frame below the rails, and, eventually, the flat on the bottom of the barrel hood impacts the top of the frame rails....where you see the shiny spots on top the rails above and in front of the slide stop.

I don't see any unusual wear or damage in the photo you submitted.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

And you will love the 6906 re-import! I have one and it's grand!

 

[yeti]

From what I can see it doesn't look bad. I prefer to use a modest amount of light full synthetic grease on aluminum frames for that very reason.

 

[stansdds]

With the S&W metal frame pistols, you will see some scuffing of that surface and with aluminum frames, even a little peening. I would inspect the barrel for burs. Many of S&W's barrels left the factory with small burs that can scratch/gouge the frame.

As for lubrication, I place a small amount of white lithium grease on all the contact surfaces where the barrel touches the frame and the slide rails.

 

[Big Shrek]

Greetings SWF - I have had the 3913, below, for almost 20 years and have fired less than a box through it. That said, the frame shows what I think is a lot of wear given how little it has been fired. But, I have to admit that there's something (well, a lot really!) that I don't know about 3rd Gens. Does the barrel actually impinge (maybe that's the right word) against the frame when dropping down during un-locking? Or, is most of that force or wear up against the slide stop lever (especially at the angled area by the arrow below)? Reason for asking, I'm looking at one of the 6906 re-imports available, and the seller says they have been fired up to a thousand rounds. I'd hate to buy one to find out that the frame is all chewed up on it. Hopefully, I'm just being a worry-wart and the frame will look fine? Inquiring minds - or a small mind in my case - want to know!

Since they've covered the answer...I'll cover something else...

THANK YOU for having a great pic of the problem, with added arrow!
I've still not figured out how to add those...LOL
But it's a good pic, that sizes up very well, so one can see everything
that one needs to see...could practically teach a class on "How To Do Internet Pics" off that one photo

 

[GeoJelly]

Good comments all, Gents - Thanks! Yoda, knowing that you can take good pix - could you post a similar frame photo of your "new" 6906 when you have a chance? I hate to admit my lack of sophistication - I use a nine year old Windoz computer and used MS Paint to edit the photo! And, also thanks for the comments about burrs and rough spots on S&W barrels. I hadn't thought of stoning the barrel a little bit - specially the spots, that armorer951 mentioned, where the barrel hits the top of the frame rails at the end of the recoil cycle.

I kinda hate to buy something sight unseen - but the place (Robertson's Trading post) has three different grades of 6906's - and I'm enough of a realist to realize that it prolly won't look brand new! At $369 I think it'll be a much better deal than paying almost $600 for the newest blog hottie - the SiG 365...

 

[Remmark54]

I have bought a number of things from Robertson's and have been satisfied, including the guns. They do a very fair job in their ads. You can clean up guns too with various "cleaners" and that will help. All of our guns needed that. We are happy with how they turned out.