Glock vs. 1911, 45 ACP vs. 9mm, and metal vs. polymer are the old arguments of the gun world. I won’t cite the deep magic to you, as you’ve likely heard it before. The debate over metal vs. polymer has raged since Glock made the polymer frame pistol a reality. I imagine at the time it was quite a fright since a gun is a handheld explosion controller. The idea of trusting polymer seemed insane. However, that time has passed. Yet here we are, talking about polymer vs. metal once more.
I don’t want to dive into the old debates. Instead, today, I want to take a more practical look at the differences. I want to weigh the weapons, not literally, but in terms of their benefits and downsides, in a practical conversation — which can be tough to accomplish. A Glock handles a lot differently than a M1911, so it’s not a fair comparison.
It can be tough to find a gun with both a polymer and metal frame, but not impossible. SIG produces the P320 in both metal and polymer frames. I have a Sig P320 AXG, which is a special P320 with a metal frame, and have a few polymer frames to go along with it.
The Benefits of Polymer
The first polymer frame production gun was HK’s VP70. It was an interesting design, but not a very good one. A terrible trigger and the hefty blowback caused recoil made sure this pistol wasn’t popular outside of the Alien franchise. Twelve years later, Glock changed the pistol world with the Glock 17.
Ever since then, we’ve had the inevitable march toward polymer frames. Everyone makes them now. Even holdouts like SIG saw the light and went polymer. One of the big benefits of polymer is the ease of manufacture. It makes it easier and much cheaper for companies to develop firearms. Admittedly, start-up costs are high, but individual fire production cost is not.
If you were to look at the costs of guns in the 1980s versus now, you’d walk away surprised. The prices from metal frame guns of the era, like the S&W 39, aren’t far from the cost of a Glock. Forty years of inflation have been beaten by going polymer.
The polymer also doesn’t rust and doesn’t require a specialized finish, like anodizing. This keeps the price lower. The polymer also delivers a different recoil impulse, a lighter recoil impulse even. It’s why the 2011 designs use a two-piece frame with a polymer grip. The polymer flexes and bends during recoil, which gives you a better recoil for the weight impulse. It can be a bit more customizable as well. It’s easy to get custom work done to a polymer frame or to produce custom polymer frames.
Benefits of Metal
Metal frames are admittedly much more rugged. A dog can’t chew up your metal frame. Polymer frames are plenty tough, but metal will always be a little tougher. The metal frame designs tend to be weightier, and weight does help reduce recoil.
If you are using a hammer-fired gun, the metal frame and trigger components can be made a bit better with polishing through custom shops and through custom components. Metal frames can also be heavily customized and serrated, milled, and cc’ed with ease. Most metal frames also feature replaceable grips, which allow for different degrees of customization.
In my experience, metal frames tend to be more ergonomic. They can be thinner without sacrificing durability. This often makes it easier to grip and easier to use. The CZ 75 is a major example of excellent steel frame ergonomics.
My Testing Procedure
With the SIG P320 AXG, I could easily move the FCU and slide from frame to frame to try and find a practical difference between a polymer frame and a metal frame. I initially wanted to test for recoil but ended up discovering a thing or two beyond just recoil and control. I’m shooting on a 96° F day with 70% humidity, and I’m pouring sweat.
I discovered that the texture and feel of metal seemed much more aggressive and better tuned for a sweaty grip. It stuck in my hand even as I dumped water into the ground. The aggressive grip texture helped, and while polymer can get quite aggressive, I haven’t felt any nearly as aggressive as metal. It showed when shooting and made a difference during long strings of fire.
The biggest test was the recoil test. How much of a difference did a polymer frame make over a metal frame? Does flex win, or does weight win? I tested initially with an X Series grip module and the standard AXG grip module. How do we measure recoil? I could tell you how it feels, but feeling matters naught in the face of numbers.
To measure recoil, I used the MantisX with the Recoilmeter. I used the same ammunition and fired three shots with each frame over and over. The end results were interesting.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Using the MantisX, the AXG frame generated an average of 11° of muzzle rise per shot.
Each shot was slowly fired to best examine recoil. I quickly swapped frames, dried my hands, and used the Xseries polymer frame. This generated a surprising 14.5° of recoil on average. That’s a fairly big difference. I tried over and over again, and that seemed to be the magic number.
Out of curiosity, I turned to the Mirzon grip. The Mirzon grips are custom and promise to reduce recoil compared to the normal grip. The Mirzon grips are polymer. They come with or without tungsten weights, and mine does not have the weight installed. It’s a plain frame as far as the Mirzon goes. I hooked up the MantisX and let it fly. Imagine my shock when the Mirzon frame lowered the muzzle rise angle to 10° on average.
That’s interesting, so I dried my hands and tried over and over. It always resulted right around 10°, sometimes on the high side and sometimes on the high side of 9°. The Mirzon grip module seems to do what it promises.
Who Wins?
It’s interesting. The Mirzon, a grip specially designed to reduce recoil, does deliver the lower recoil. The AXG beat the stock polymer, but the custom polymer beat the metal. I guess no one wins necessarily.
The results show that it might be a bit more about the design of the polymer than the execution. Both materials have their benefits, but I don’t think we’ll see many new metal-frame handguns anytime soon. A few customs here and there, but not much more than that.
Still, I personally love good metal guns. What’s your favorite? Let us know below.
