Trapshooters Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Has anyone had experience with S&W 1911 sc??????

3K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Shooting Coach 
#1 ·
My wife has been wanting a 1911 45acp and we saw the S&W 1911 e series sc (scandium). I have no knowledge of the use of scandium , for instance "does it rust"? How well does it hold up? She also looked at the Springfield 1911 TRP. I have S&W 1911 Pro Series S&W and have been fond of it. Your suggestions are welcome. I found the TRP to have a very rough grip below the trigger guard, does this "bite" the hand when using ?

Charlie
 
#4 ·
I got to shoot one for 10 rounds during the Smith&Wesson Days at the local indoor range. It was equipped with a Crimson Trace grip and would put a 230 RN right where that red dot was on every shot. It also seem to have milder (maybe just different) recoil than my MarkIV Series 70. The gun itself may have been tweaked just for the demo, but it was impressive. Intended to buy one, but never seemed to have all of the money needed at one time. Good luck.
 
#5 ·
The Scandium is much lighter and will result in more recoil...is she up for that? My buddy has a Scandium in 357 that he only shot once with 357's, this is a guy who is an instructor and easily shoots 4K rounds per year and he states it was like a bomb in the hand. My wife shoots around 5-8K rounds per year and I would not consider any lightweight 1911 for her and she is no wimp by any means.
 
#6 ·
The E series S&W and the TRP from Springfield are two of the very best values in the 1911 market right now. You have to spend a lot more to buy the same quality elsewhere. I own one of each and they are both keepers! No increased recoil with the use of the scandium frame. Those dudes slide like butter!

If you can find one of the bob tailed commander E series pistols, that's the one to get.

ss
 
#7 ·
"My buddy has a Scandium in 357 that he only shot once with 357's - it was like a bomb in the hand."

Agreed. They had one of their short barreled Scandium .357's at the range for Smith&Wesson Days too. The gaved me 5 full steam 125 JHPs. I fired one round and returned the gun with the remaining 4 rounds. I didn't think it felt like a "bomb", but more like grabbing hot 110V wire - the heck with that. They had a .500 S&W Magnum there too. Fortunately (for me), when they sent the gun to the shop owner, someone had locked the safety on it and didn't include the key. He was not happy.
 
#9 ·
Scandium is an element, a very expensive one. S&W adds it in small amounts (maybe less than 1%) to the aluminum alloy in their high end frames. I found this on the Smith & Wesson forum:

"When added to aluminium, scandium substantially lowers the rate of recrystallization and associated grain-growth in weld heat-affected zones. Aluminium, being a face-centred-cubic metal, is not particularly subject to the strengthening effects of the decrease in grain diameter. However, the presence of fine dispersions of Al3Sc does increase strength by a small measure, much as any other precipitate system in aluminium alloys. It is added to aluminium alloys primarily to control that otherwise excessive grain growth in the heat-affected zone of weldable structural aluminium alloys, which gives two knock-on effects; greater strengthening via finer precipitation of other alloying elements and by reducing the precipitate-free zones that normally exist at the grain boundaries of age-hardening aluminium alloys.

The original use of scandium-aluminium alloys was in the nose cones of some USSR submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). The strength of the resulting nose cone was enough to enable it to pierce the ice-cap without damage, and so, enabling a missile launch while still submerged under the Arctic ice cap."
 
#10 ·
No rust issues whatsoever with the scandium alloy. I've got probably 1500 rounds through mine so far with absolutely zero issues. Not even one FTF. The action is so smooth and the grips are the right profile to keep the gun solidly positioned in your hand without excessive grip pressure.

I locked it down in a ransome rest along with my TRP (severe duty), and my Les Baer Thunder Ranch. The best groupings out of the three was the TRP that held a 1.63" 7 shot group at 25 yards. The S&W and the LB were both just under 2". I used the same handloaded 230 grain ammo to eliminate as many variables as possible.

ss
 
#12 ·
For a low mileage carry gun, not so bad. I have seen serious frame peening in high mileage shooters.

A light 45 is going to kick more than a heavy 45.

If you are going to shoot it much, get the all steel gun.

If you are going to shoot it and not carry it, get one with adjustable sights.

Better yet, for a shooter, get a Sig Target 1911. Beats the Smith (or most anything else), hands down.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top