As a smith working for Rocky Mountain Arms, I worked on a lightweight S&W in .38. The guy sent it in from Portland, Or to have it Bear coated (teflon coating used on F15 landing gear, made by Dupont at $10k per gallon). When I took it apart, the concealed hammer was rusted. A phone call to the owner revealed that he kept the firearm in a cool dry place at home. Now remember this is PORTLAND, Oregon (I lived there for three years) where it does RAIN a lot. This customer had only had this pistol for about six months and almost EVERY MIM had some spot of rust on it, while the concealed hammer was completely rusted. And the MIM parts are ALL fairly fragile. Don't drop one from your work bench (height of about 3.5 feet) as it CAN cause the large pieces to fracture or break, regardless of what ANYONE else says. I've seen this happen. The bottom line was that after refinishing the pistol and ALL it's parts, the rust problem never reappeared, according to the customer.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wallew on 2001-05-03 21:51 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wallew on 2001-05-03 21:51 ]</font>
