Metal vs plastic pistols and holster wear

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emilianoksa

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I watched a video of a man who had a TM 4.3 for 6 months. He skirmished with it, probably quite a lot, and kept it in either a kydex or plastic holster - kydex if memory serves me right. The frame, which is painted alloy, had enormous wear (ugly and unnatural to look at) , but the plastic slide looked OK.

All metal pistols seem to lose their finish quickly, even if they are not repeatedly holstered and reholstered. I wonder how well the finish on TM all plastic guns wears. Metal guns are clearly painted. What accounts for the black finish on plastic guns? Is the finish only skin deep or are the guns cast from black plastic, which is plastic all the way through.

I sold my TM M9 and have regretted it. I have been thinking about replacing it. I don't skirmish much, and so have little need for a holster. Should I buy a metal M9 from KJW, KWA or WE, for the realism or another TM? In fact you have to look very closely at the gen 2 versions of the TM9 to realise it isn't metal. The finish is excellent. 

I don't mind signs of wear as such. All pistols wear but gbbs with cheap black paint wear in an unnatural way. They generally look bad when the paint comes off and lose realism. 

 
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none of the metal pistols will perform as well as a TM. out of that list KWA will perform the best its a KSC/KWA design unlike the WE, KJW being TMish clones. however unless you get a sale KWA are over priced for a 20ish year old design. The chrome coating on the TM guns wears through quickly (i keep my chrome desert eagle and Detonics as display pieces) so the option is to either clear coat them or have holsters with a soft lining. As the black TM pistols are bare plastic they don't wear anywhere nearly as bad as painted guns but they are prone to getting badly scratched if gritty material gets into the holster.

 
Almost all metal pistols are el cheapo pot metal (a mix of zinc and aluminium). It’s poor quality, damages and wears easily. But is heavy and adds realism.

As @BigStew says TM’s will scratch, but still be black, as they are black plastic (barring the Hi-Capa frame).

If you want the finish to last, get a pistol cerakoted, pretty much nothing else will do.

Personally, I’d be more concerned about performance than what it looks like.

 
Thanks to you both for the replies.

I thought about the cerakote solution, but then the price brought me down to earth.

It's a lot of money to spend on a pot metal gun. More than the price of the gun itself.

I find myself being drawn back to TM black plastic.

 
I've had mostly TM pistols over 12 or so years, on the odd occasion I've bought non TM pistols, I've regretted wasting my money as they are gash compared to marui.

 
Not only are almost all metal airsoft guns made of shit metals, the surfaces finishes are generally really shit paints and from what I've seen over the years that seems to apply even more so to the pistols than the rifles.  Actual kydex is nails as plastics go and it'll eat airsoft grade paints all day, especially those used on anything Nuprol rebrands and all the other super common metal guns out there.  You can also damage TM plastic if you've got a tight kydex holster, but it'd have to be mega tight and abrasive to do anything more than aesthetic wear (and you'd have to do a shit ton of draws).

 
Can’t say I’ve ever noticed any significant wear on any of my TM pistols vs WE ones that I had; which did wear significantly. 

 
BigStew said:
unless they don't make it I always go TM for pistols 
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I regularly refer people to the following diagram and i myself follow it not just for pistols by GBBRs too.

As for OP, yeah most metal in airsoft is cheap Chinesium (POT) metal cast from moldings, only CNC'd parts are better but incredibly expensive.

And there is much to be desired for the finishes in airsoft, TM cerakoating there MWS was an excellent move on the half.

Also I own two TM M9s, one is a TM M92FS which was my first TM pistol (and my conversion to TM) and the TM Albert .W Model P01 (TM M9A1 with Resident Evil Blue Umbrella trades) love them both and whilst i still own my original TM M92FS i mostly use the Albert one.

Ill never forget the day i tried my TM M92FS at my first skirmish, up till then i had used WE because "METAL SLIDE" ? and was mostly just expecting the same shit range and accuracy. To see the TM M92FS shoot and the BB just going, and going and going in a straight line until i could no longer see it made me go "WOW, what is the magic in this?" ?

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