SS vs Tungsten guide rods?

[citizensoldier16]

After doing some research for another thread, I was looking around on the Lone Wolf Distributors website and came upon the guide rod page. It looks like they offer their proprietary stainless steel guide rod, but also the same rod offered in tungsten. What's the benefit to tungsten over stainless? Is it just a weight thing? Is the tungsten rod worth more than double the price of the SS?

SS guide rod (g17): $19.95
Tungsten: $44.95

http://www.lonewolfdist.com/Products.aspx?CAT=83

[skyugo]

the tungsten adds mass to the front of the gun to reduce muzzle flip.
the general consensus on this forum seems to be to stick with the factory plastic guide rod for carry/duty use. if you're building a comp gun your needs may be different.

[Mjolnir]

Anecdotal evidence, but I've personally witnessed three Glock plastic guide rods break during (different) shooting classes... I think I lean towards replacing said plastic guide rod with a stainless one. Not sure who makes a good (enough) product, though.

[smokenssz]

The Glockstore.com has a good guide rod. I have one in my G22 and it works perfect. I have not observed any accelerated wear on the gun or damage. I did it just for fun and not for any other reason. For duty use its up to you I wouldnt use it but thats just me. Check them out though.

[orionz06]

The advantage is weight and the ability to use different spring rates. IF reliability is a concern, the stock assembly looks pretty good.


Remember the life span of the recoil spring when considering the aftermarket assemblies. The number I knew from my Glock days and from others more recently are 5k rounds for 9mm, 3k for .40. The breakages in a class have me question something as the guide rod sees very little force in a properly functioning gun.

[skyugo]

As i understand it the gun will function with a broken guide rod also.

replace it every 5k as recommended and i doubt you'll have any trouble.

[Magic_Salad0892]

I run a Glockmeister SS spring.

2 reasons:

1 - I got scared of the ''frame chewing'' people are seeing with these early Gen4 recoil assemblies.

2 - I like the single captioned recoil spring setup better, and believe it is a more reliable system in the 9x19mm Glock platform.

If GM makes a polymer assembly it'll be the one I buy.