Hi,
I am a big fan of the alloy frames and have owned 25+ over the last few years, so happy to share my experience.
1) The samples available in the US over the last few years seem to be mostly European LEO trade-ins. They show holster wear and other cosmetic handing wear but surprisingly light mechanical wear in most cases (only one of the 2 dozen or so that I have owned had major mechanical problems but even then, the bore was in great shape) . This led to the supposition by some on this forum that they were "carried a lot and fired little". But this only a guess.
2) I have documented 3 distinct date ranges for these imports (all of the these are FN rollmarked). There may be others but these are the ranges I have seen personally over the last few years.
a) 1975 (w/ Oval cam like it's steel siblings)
b) 1979 (w/ Round cam)
c) 1982 - 1986 (w/ Round cam). This group was also marked with "inventory or armory" numbers in addition to the factory serial number.
3) I have not experienced a cam failure (Round or Oval) on any of my alloy Hi Powers. I have had 1 oval cam in my collection where the cam became loose and tried to walk out of the frame. It was on an 1986 vintage specimen that was otherwise in good shape. I asked a gunsmith buddy to take a look and he was able to reseat the cam by rotating the splines slightly and then used red loctite to set the whole thing. That gun has had about 250 rounds through it since that work and the cam is solid so far.
4) There is some debate on this forum over whether you should use a barrel that was made for oval cam in an alloy frame with a round cam. I can tell you from personal experience that it works mechanically. I have a Detective slide married to a round cam alloy frame as my EDC for a couple of years now. However, I do not put a ton of rounds through the gun (1 box or less a month). YMMV
5) Obviously, since the frame is an aluminum alloy, your refinishing choices are slightly limited. The frame will not take a blue nor one of the newer Nickel Teflon or Nickel Boron treatments like NP3 or Ceraplate (this info comes from Mary at Cummings Custom Refinishing). It can be anodized, cerakoted, or hard chromed (special process required per Bob Cogan at APW). I have done all 3 of these during my custom projects with success. Personally, I prefer to leave the old anodizing in place and just cerakote over the top. This has been a durable, attractive, and inexpensive option on my builds.
6) Lastly, NEVER use +p or +p+ ammo in an alloy Hi Power. You are asking for the gun to fail prematurely.
Otherwise, they work like any other Hi Power and will accept factory or 3rd party parts that work in the steel frame version (triggers, hammers, springs, sears, etc).
Hope this helps. I am sure the other alloy fans will weigh in too.
Scott
