broken tungsten guide rod?

[bigsaxdog]

built a 6" caspian .45 in the fall for L-10. the thing has run perfect from the get-go, got over 5K rounds thru it, so it's all broke in. have run it with CP buffs always, but was at a match the other nite, and i checked the buff and it was kinda beat. not wanting the gun to jam in the run, i took the buff out. at the end of the run, the RO says, "something just fell off gun!". the tungsten rod broke right at the threads. the rod head was kinda peened(i've been using a pretty light spring), but i wouldn't think that 40 rounds would break the rod. all i can think of is that the kinda raised pads on the recoil face of the slide tried to torque the rod enough to make the thing crack, and when i use a buff, it evens out the recoil impact, so the guide head doesn't torque/twist as much. any gurus out there got any solutions???

[L9X25]

It was likely an STI 2-piece carbide guide rod. All carbide is very hard and very brittle. I have seen seveal of the threaded 2-piece types (like yours) break and fall out during or after a run. You need to get a one piece unit like SV and others make. They will last practically forever.

Leo

[sfinney]

Even if it was a one piece and it broke at the guide rod head like you said, it was just to brittle...... the buff may have been all tha twas keeping it from shearing, or maybe it was close to breaking anyway. Tungsten rods break alot.

So do recoil masters.

If you want reliabilty stick with one piece steel and a buff

[kurtm]

The reason the STI two piece rods break is because they loosen up under use and then the tungsten part snaps off right at the thread because it had some "play" when it lossened. I use red lock-tite and snug it down real well befor I even shoot the pistol and have never had one break since I learned this trick. I have over 15,000 rounds on the stock rod the pistol came with. KURTM

[TBF]

I have not used tungsten guide rods.

But, tungsten TIG electrodes will shatter when dropped on concrete.

You learn the first time you drop one during sharpening, and the second, and third..

Especially the larger sizes. ( And they ain't cheap to replace either )

Travis F.

[grassy knoll]

I had one break in my Para and sent it back to Cominolli and he replaced it gratis, he also sent me the recommended buffs since then, no prob.

[bigsaxdog]

it was an EGW rod. never had to loctite it, cause' it always stayed tight. just ordered a steel one from brownell's, but i gotta call EGW and see if they'll warantee it??? saw that Bob Londrigan guy at the Fla Open, and the first thing he said about my gun was to get rid of the tungsten rod. maybe he knows something.......

[.40AET]

Still using a Cominolli tungsten rod. It's been in 3 different guns and has had 30k rounds of use. I do keep the stock steel rod in my bag, just in case.

[uscbigdawg]

I agree with Bob. One of things that Pat Cochran from Aftect and Rusty Kidd told me was never use tungsten rods. They have a way of eating frames up and you get the death lock up.

Just their opinion, but in the grand scheme of things, between full dustcover/full profile guns and bull barrels, how much more weight does one REALLY need.

Just a thought.

Rich

[TDean]

the tungsten rod broke right at the threads. the rod head was kinda peened

Was this an STI/SV frame?

EGW recently modified their tungsten rods to fit the different size recess in these frames. A good smith will radius your older style tungsten rods to fit these frames.

Tungsten, like any other metal, can be made in a variety of ways. Electrode tungsten may be far more brittle than the stuff used to make gun parts?

[benos]

I've put zillions of rounds through SVI guns, with SVI's tungsten rod, and never had a single failure or otherwise bad thing happen to the gun. Years ago, when Sandy began making his own tungsten rods, he incorporated a radius in the critical area where the rod typically fails, which was great improvement.

Anyone know of any failures with genuine late-model SVI tungsten rods?

be

[srf]

I've also shot a lot of rounds with a one piece tungsten guide rod (but not as many as BE). I've always used a shok buff and never had a problem. The only thing I seem to crack on a semi-regular basis are tungsten reverse plugs. I take a little time to make sure nothing can scratch or ding the plug and these failures have reduced somewhat. I do keep backups in my pistol first-aid kit.

[bigsaxdog]

it's a caspian slide/frame. the problem is that the caspian slide has these little raised pads at the top of the recoil face, and when the slide comes back to contact the guide rod head, the rod wants to torque a bit, and without a buff to accept that movement, the rod breaks. i kinda figured this, and then when i called EGW, that george smith guy told me the same thing. guess it's not uncommon with caspian stuff. probably the 6" slide helped on the leverage too, so...... they wouldn't replace it though.."we send directions out with it to always use a buff, blah, blah...." gonna try it with a steel one, see if there's that much of a difference.

[TBF]

In case someone misunderstood my above post.

I do not mean tungsten is ALL brittle, no doubt it can be tempered like any metal.

But , it can actuall shatter on concrete floors when subjected to repeated heating ( 7000+ degrees ) and cooling cycles .

I did not mean it is a bad thing for guide rods.

But I think it is at least more prone to being brittle than most steels.

Travis F.

[Phil Dunlop]

I think they use a tungsten alloy for guide rods, They will be more or less brittle depending on the mix.

For guide rods in general the fit of the head to the frame is critical.

I borrowed a steel rod without fitting and found the slide would hardly go into battery because the rod was too tight in the cuts on the frame.

Its no wonder a tungsten rod breaks under those circumstances

P.D.