baa Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I shoot limited with a short dust cover SVI blaster. I managed to break my tungsten guide rod last week and put a stainless steel guide rod in as a temporary replacement while awaiting arrival of a new guide rod. I practiced with the stainless steel rod last night and the results were interesting. The pistol certainly felt like it had more muzzle flip. The front sight seemed to track up higher in its.. uhhh... "recoil arc(??)" But, looking at the timer, my splits were basically the exact same as they were with the tungsten guide rod in the gun. I did a couple "super fast into the berm" splits and I was able to crank out .13 splits on demand, which matches my best with the tungsten rod. Same with my normal splits at 10, 15, and 20 yards. There was no real change with transition time between targets setup in a El Prez configuration. I find this interesting and was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience. I thought the whole point of a tungsten rod (or long dust cover frame) is to help reduce muzzle flip, which I have always assumed directly affected split times. Granted I am relatively new to all of this limited gun stuff. Any thoughts? Is the added weight really helping anything? My results are very unexpected to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hostetter Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Just my 2 cents.............. Adding the heavy recoil rod may aid in reducing muzzle flip a small amount but not much. I normally use the tungsten rods to move the balance point around on the pistol more then anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I've run a tungsten GR in my short dustcover guns since '96 but not in the long ones or the SS. I learned to buy the SV GR as the tungsten is the female end and the carbon steel is the male end of the threads. I have not broken one built this way but the tungsten male end ones ALWAYS broke. They cost a bit more but don't break (unless you mess something up). I run the 12 oz classic slides except one gun that has a 10 oz slide. The tungsten does balance better but as far as flip goes I'd day it does some but not that much. It's IS enough that I will continue to use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandbagger Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 i had the same observation as you had, although i swapped the rods because i want to feel the difference in transition, gun is long and wide dc. i felt the difference in weight right away, gun is tracking the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtypool40 Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Just my Lincolns, but they are another gadet or gimmick, expensive and prone to breakage. I had one in my current blaster, and it broke at around 1500 rounds. No replacement or warrentee, just thanks for your $70. It got replaced with Recoil master, which made it about 5000 rounds and sheared the middle flange, they replaced it, but by that time I was scared and tired of $70 guide rods. I bought two 1 pc, SS GR's for about $25 total, plopped one in and have be chugging along for 30k+. Get stuff that runs, ALL THE TIME, shoots where you aim and you can manage, then MOST of the rest you can fix with practice and technique. There is a place for special fixes for really short thumbs or lefties, but in general when you look to gadgets for your fix, you push aside that YOU may be doing something wrong. More gadgets more chance for something to fail, and you have to buy two of everything to be able to sleep at night. That being said, is you find one that "doesn't break", and you really like the feel, why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear23 Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I went back to steel after i broke my tungsten. I don't notice much difference. In fact the rod had broken during the match and i never really seemed to feel the difference. Lost 80$$ in the dirt though. If you like the feel of it and its reliable, run with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baa Posted August 24, 2007 Author Share Posted August 24, 2007 This is the second Tungsten guide rod to have broken on me this year. One broke in my single stack about a week before the Single Stack Nationals. It snapped right in front of the flange-thingy. The one that just broke was a Cominolli frame saver and the the flange itself cracked. The rod itself seems fine. I wish I had done this test before I had ordered another tungsten guide rod from Brownells. It has been shipped already. I am really leaning towards not using it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resjudicata Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I've tried the tungsten rods. I liked the feel of the gun in recoil. However, they broke. I only run stainless now. I agree that the parts must be reliable first and foremost. If you don't have reliability then no other benefit is worth the cost. Chris (Of course now that I've said this my stainless rod will break). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel1212 Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Guys are you breaking the 2 pc guide rods? I have a tungsten but its one piece and has lasted well 4 matches a month plus practice since I started shooting limited in may. I have a SS in the bag because I've heard about the Tungsten ones breaking but never have had to pull it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAZZ Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 (edited) "Guys are you breaking the 2 pc guide rods? I have a tungsten but its one piece and has lasted well 4 matches a month plus practice since I started shooting limited in may. I have a SS in the bag because I've heard about the Tungsten ones breaking but never have had to pull it out." The problem is (I think) that even a 1 piece guide rod is still a 2 piece. They are usually a tungsten rod screwed into a steel sleeve at the rear / head /whatever you call it--the part where you put a shock buff. And this is where it usually breaks. "1 piece" guide rods really are not 1 piece, they have 2 pieces. They are just not 2 piece like the old steel 2 piece rods that unscrew in the middle. Does anyone mke a tungsten rod that is machined from a solid piece of tungsten? I suspect a complete, true one piece tungsten rod could not take the abuse, ergo the steel sleeve. I may be wrong on this--someone more knowledgeable chime in? Edited August 26, 2007 by RAZZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFD Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 I haven't had any problem with them breaking in my G35 or Para Limited guns. The lowest round count is the Glock with 10K rounds or so. In my Para, the tungsten guide rod makes the gun a bit more stable when shooting on the move (in terms of sighting), but that's about it. While that is plenty important for me, I've never seen any difference in recoil control over a stainless guide rod. If one of them breaks, it will no doubt be replaced with one of my stainless back-up guide rods permanently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 "Guys are you breaking the 2 pc guide rods? I have a tungsten but its one piece and has lasted well 4 matches a month plus practice since I started shooting limited in may. I have a SS in the bag because I've heard about the Tungsten ones breaking but never have had to pull it out."The problem is (I think) that even a 1 piece guide rod is still a 2 piece. They are usually a tungsten rod screwed into a steel sleeve at the rear / head /whatever you call it--the part where you put a shock buff. And this is where it usually breaks. "1 piece" guide rods really are not 1 piece, they have 2 pieces. They are just not 2 piece like the old steel 2 piece rods that unscrew in the middle. Does anyone mke a tungsten rod that is machined from a solid piece of tungsten? I suspect a complete, true one piece tungsten rod could not take the abuse, ergo the steel sleeve. I may be wrong on this--someone more knowledgeable chime in? I mentioned earlier in this thread that SV makes their tungsten GRs with a carbon steel "male end" (threaded) and the "female end" is the tungsten GR. These do not break as far as I know as I have never broken one (knocking on wood) on the two SVs I've shot since '96. When built with a tungsten "male end" they WILL always break. All guide rods that I know of have two or more pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hostetter Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 Not all one piece guide rods are two pieces. Some are machined from a solid piece of billet and regardless of the material don't break......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAZZ Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 /Too lazy to search for myself mode ON/ Bob, which tungsten guide rod(s) are a machined single piece /Too lazy to search for myself mode OFF/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STUGOTSIG Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 /Too lazy to search for myself mode ON/ Bob, which tungsten guide rod(s) are a machined single piece /Too lazy to search for myself mode OFF/ Steve Bedair makes one piece GR's. I've got one in my GGI226 and a SS one in my W. German 226. I DID have the flange break on my tungsten but that was whilst replacing it in the slide, it got away and went slamming to the concrete. Steve replaced it FOC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonub Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 been using cominolli tungsten. 50t rounds now and it has not broken and i dont expect it to break Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket35 Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 Does anyone out there have any experience with the Dawson "toolless" design tungston rods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scout454 Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 (edited) I have one of the Dawson Tooless SS rods in a 9mm Tactical STI but it only has 1,000 rounds through it. It works, it's easy to take the gun apart. Can't speak for longevity. The tungsten rods in my 2 limited guns have 5k and 30k respectively without breakage. One is a factory rod (5K) the other a Wilson (30K). ETA to correct round count. Edited September 20, 2007 by Scout454 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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