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Good morning guys - This may be a dumb question but could someone tell me what parkerizing a weapon does. Does it protect the metal from rust or is it more just a looks thing. What brings this up for me is I am thinking of getting a 1911 (have nothing now but snubbies) and was looking at a Springfield catalog, specifically the GI and mil-spec and noticed some are parkerized. This would be for carry only and I don"t want the full size but maybe the four inch. I have read that anything smaller than 4 inches may cause function problems. Also looking at the Glock single stack 45 apc. Thanks for the help - Stash

A good friend of mine carrys a Springfield Ultra compact .45acp In fact he owns 2 of them, one is the light weight. Both shoot great and he has run a lot of ammo thru them both. I recently picked up Springfields 1911-A1 5in .45acp Stainless version. What they call the "Loaded" one. Real nice firearm.

The parkerizing is just a metal finish to protect the gun from rust. Springfield GI and Mil-Spec models are excellent guns for the money. Simple, no bells or whistles, but as with all 1911 type guns you can customize it to your liking.

The smaller 1911s (under commander size) seem to be a crap shoot for reliability. I had a 3" Kimber that functioned as intended. It seems as if some do have problems with the smaller ones. I personally don't believe that they are as bad as some like to it sound.

I don't know your familiarity with Glocks, but the slimline Glock 36 is a handful to shoot. Recoil can be quite stout. There are many who don't find the recoil bad. The times I shot one it felt as if I would loose the gun with each shot.

Find a range that rents and try them out. Heck if your're in the Spring/The Woodlands/Conroe area I'd be happy to let you shoot my Springfield Mil-Spec. It is a full size gun though.

dws1117 wrote:Heck if your're in the Spring/The Woodlands/Conroe area I'd be happy to let you shoot my Springfield Mil-Spec. It is a full size gun though.

We're going to have to go do that as well. My time should free up soon.

stash wrote:Good morning guys - This may be a dumb question but could someone tell me what parkerizing a weapon does. Does it protect the metal from rust or is it more just a looks thing...
Thanks for the help - Stash

Stash,

Read all about it:

http://www.calvan.com/html/what_is_parkerizing.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkerizing

And google will bring up many more links.

Note especially the part about it holding oil. This was an added advantage on military weapons, as was the matte,
non-reflective finish.

Kind Regards,

Tom

Diode wrote:

dws1117 wrote:Heck if your're in the Spring/The Woodlands/Conroe area I'd be happy to let you shoot my Springfield Mil-Spec. It is a full size gun though.

We're going to have to go do that as well. My time should free up soon.

Yes we should. I meant to stop by to say hello this AM. Even left a little early, but for some reason when I got in the car I got on auto pilot.

BTW Welcome to the forum Stash. Didn't ment to hijack your thread.

Thanks for the help and info guys.

DWS1117 - thanks for the offer - I am a little to far from you - I am right outside of Austin.

I will rent from a range and try the Glock 36 and the four inch Springfield.

Thanks again all - Stash

Springfield Parkerized. It takes holster wears well, and it is a dull non-reflective finish.