Brass frame '92?

[JDL]

I saw some ads for a brass frame Puma '92 in .357 and .45 Colt. I wonder if the frames will let the bolts set back on them?
JDL

[2ndovc]

I'm sure that someone will be along that knows for sure but I thought I'd read somewhere that they're plated and not solid
brass.

jb

[Buffboy]

They are brass, the only one I ever handled belonged to an acquaintance. It looked pretty nice but it was having some feeding issues and was far from smooth. I gave him Nate's phone # and told him he could fix it but he was already talking of trading it off. Don't know what he did with it. By all accounts they are fine with standard loads but hot rodding of the 45 colt version is something I wouldn't do.

[AJMD429]

I got a good deal on a Brass .45 Puma but haven't shot it much or shot very 'hot' loads in it (the .45 Colt is PLENTY able to thump Bambi as is), so can't answer personally. It 'seems' slicker in action than the steel-on-steel but I don't know if there is any inherent 'lubricity' factor or not. I've heard that the heavy stainless steel ones in .454 Casull DID get some peening and increased headspace with VERY hot loads, but never seen much to verify that or if it would happen with more reasonable loads. If stainless can peen you'd think brass would even more, but the stainless on my .454 is VERY soft, so maybe there's the issue with the .454's (haven't shot that one much at all due to cost of factory loads and not wanting to put loading a one-gun cartridge high on my reloading to-do list.

I posted the 'strength' question maybe six months ago, so if you search for 'brass' in subject lines using the search function it might pop up. No 'definitive' answer, if I recall. I just won't plan on loading beyond factory levels in the .45; of course if you have a .357, there's lots more pressure in those factory loads, I'm thinking...