Why do People Put Steel Outer Barrels in Their Pistols?

[emilianoksa]

I ask because the outer barrel isn't a particularly important part in terms of performance,  and because the thought of a steel barrel rubbing against a pot metal or even CNC aluminium slide causes me concern.

Wouldn't an aluminium outer barrel be more practical?

 

[witchcraft58a]

So I run steel outer on steel slide and steel outer on Alu slide.  For me it's mainly preference, I like a heavier pistol but I find Alu outers in particular break easily.

No issues in relation to wear as long as it's maintained & cleaned when used. I tend to find a dry PTFE spay works well and stops any grit accumulating between the Alu and steel.

 

[AK47frizzle]

Mostly stock barrel you get on pistols are pretty terrible quality. I've had so many we glock barrels break on me. I bought a steel gunsmodify one and that was the end of the breaks.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

that's because all you people running tilting barrel pistols and not embracing the straight blowback master race

 

[Impulse]

Because most after market threaded outer barrels are steel and I must put suppressors on EVERYTHING!

 

[emilianoksa]

Mostly stock barrel you get on pistols are pretty terrible quality. I've had so many we glock barrels break on me. I bought a steel gunsmodify one and that was the end of the breaks.

Click to shrink...

That is because the WE glock was copied from the TM one which has the polymer outer barrel and slide. Since polymer bends the outer barrels didn't break in the TM one. The WE one is pot metal and tends to snap.

However there is a simple fix commonly applied in the US that many Brits don't seem to be aware of. I have  used it on my WE Glocks.

https://imgur.com/a/4Mnjt8f

This modification allows the barrel to drop further taking pressure off it from the movement of the slide. It also minimises wear to top of the barrel block which normally gets scratched up pretty quickly.