Brass 1911

Colin

Colin

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Took this from another forum:


M1911A1 'BRASTIL' .45 caliber, 1932, experimental. SPAR1632 In 1932 Springfield Armory experimented with die casting pistol frames and slides from a high tensile corrosion resistant bronze alloy called 'brastil.' The resulting 'golden gun' represents one of the first attempts to die cast handgun components. Despite the success of the test, the project did not move beyond the experimental stage.

http://www.museum.nps.gov/spar/vfpcgi.exe?...O=1632,WORDS=m2

...die cast from a high tensile strength corrosion resistant alloy called "Brastil," a registered trade mark of Doehler-Jarvis Corp. Pottstown, Pa.


Closeups from someone's trip to the museum -

http://www.pbase.com/mrclark/image/73439213

http://www.pbase.com/mrclark/image/73439214

http://www.pbase.com/mrclark/image/73439215
 
Brastil apparently stretched eventually and vertical impact surfaces inevitably warped. Not only that but it didn't appreciable save on machining costs. The next period of 1911 mass-production was the start of WWII and the strategic value of copper was too high to use it to make something that could be made out of steel.

If someone wanted to retry the experiment today it might have better luck as there are much more robust bronze alloys, and the machining and casting technologies are far better.

BTW, none of the above links worked for me - server overload :)
 
The copper issue makes sense. It was likely a more stategic material than plain ol' steel. After all, how many 1911's do you think you could make with the same amount of steel that went into a couple of Liberty freighters or even one destroyer or, *gasp*, one of the big cruisers with the armour plating that was 12'ish inches thick in many places. Obviously steel wasn't in short supply.
 
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