Anybody gonna run one in IDPA or ICORE?
I will if I can find the support gear.Originally Posted by Alpha Sierra
Coming with a manufacturing background in oilfield, automotive and aerospace here. In one of the videos upthread someone from Colt said they had a number (I forget that number) of fewer parts. To me this makes it a completely different gun than the original and I would make book that it has MIM parts in it. That's not a deal breaker for me as there are a lot of misconceptions about MIM parts. Some of it is justified.
MIM done right is no issue at all in my mind. Note that when I say "MIM done right" I'm talking about the top QC tier and not cutting ANY corners, processes or inspections.
Some may confuse MIM with investment casting like Ruger is so good at. MIM isn't that. Investment casting still requires machining like any other casting process, just less material is removed from normal casting. The MIM process is actually pretty amazing. The part is actually molded and a part in the size envelope of fire control components in guns have a tolerance capability of dropping from the mold of well less than .001" after heat treating. The average human hair is around .003" in diameter. A finished MIM part will weigh 98% of the same part machined from wrought or forged steel.
MIM parts are heat treated just like their wrought brethren but are generally just case hardened. There are reasons for this. A "soft" steel isn't brittle like one that is hardened through can be. Think japanese blade steel. In a nutshell, they laminate it and only fully hardened only the center portion that makes the cutting edge. That makes it tough and resistant to breaking. This case depth on MIM parts can be anywhere from .001" to .006" deep depending on metallurgical properties of the steel used and the heat treat process. Could even be deeper but that's the common range.
With the complex geometries of parts like this and the precision that can be had from the process, it only makes sense to use MIM if you are mass producing things. It's literally possible to just assemble the parts and not need to machine or hand fit a single solitary thing past polishing a surface here and there. Also MIM gives us kitchen table gunsmiths the ability to get a nice action job by only polishing with felt or cotton and jewelers rouge. No stones or files needed unless you are changing the actual geometry which because of the case hardening is not a good idea. That's why gunsmiths don't like it, because they have had their ability to "reconfigure" what the factory puts out taken away from them.
There are several levels of QC certification and which is specified by the manufacturer. The only question and the one we won't get answered is what level are they buying their MIM parts to? I read a post some time back, maybe here of P-F, that they had a Springfield Armory TRP with a ridiculous round count on it, something like 250K rounds or some such. It still had it's original MIM slide stop I think, I don't recall which specific piece it was but it was a key part, and was still chugging along. If they are doing MIM "right" I got no issue at all with it.
The frame might fit but the underlugged barrel likely will not. The Python is closer to the S&W L-frame than the N-frame, both in terms of length and height, but the heavy underlug of the Python barrel is what will keep it out of my K and N frame holsters.
After watching several reviews I have yet to see any discussion of what treatment, if any, the barrel rib and top of the frame have. If Colt left them bright stainless like the rest of the gun it's going to be reflection-city for the sight picture on sunny days. Hopefully the barrel rib is serrated, or at the least matted. In a perfect world the frame top strap would be matted and the barrel rib would be checkered or finely serrated to cut down on reflection.
The barrel lengths are 6” and 4.25”, not 4”.
I’m guessing it is to allow sales in Canada ?
Yep, I'm pretty sure the 4 1/4" is a Canadian thing.
Yup. In the video posted, Hackathorn mentioned that it was to be able to sell the guns in Canada.
I recalled that was why Ruger was doing 4.25” barrels.
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