✅ SOLVED Has anybody ever heard of a real revolver made out of white/pot metal before?

[creskol]

I found one today and have been working on trying to clean it up. Kinda at a standstill trying to figure the best way to preserve the frame.

 

[unclemac]

here you go...

model 66 22 magnum pistol rohm - Google Search

 

[garren]

I found a General Precision .22lr "Saturday Night Special" a few years ago. It looks to be made of pot metal. When I looked it up it is apparently one of the worst guns every manufactured.

 

[creskol]

here you go...

model 66 22 magnum pistol rohm - Google Search

Thank you! Appreciate the link.

 

[Tony in SC]

I cleaned one once in the tank that I clean engine blocks in. The only parts in the basket when I pulled it out was barrel, cylinder, hammer and a few screws. No frame at all !

 

[creskol]

I cleaned one once in the tank that I clean engine blocks in. The only parts in the basket when I pulled it out was barrel, cylinder, hammer and a few screws. No frame at all !

Yeah.. That's what I am afraid of with this one. I may just leave at the state it's in right now.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Rohm’s main notoriety is that was the make of pistol used by Hinkley to shoot President Reagan. The iconic “Saturday Night Special”.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Rohm’s main notoriety is that was the make of pistol used by Hinkley to shoot President Reagan. The iconic “Saturday Night Special”.

Strange, that. He could have bought any gun he wanted, price irrelevant.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Happily he went with a reltively lame .22LR.

 

[Tony in SC]

In the early 60's the little Rohm 22's could be bought for 10$. Used they could be bought for 2$. On some of them the barrel and cylinder didn't line up and pieces of lead would come out the side!

 

[Georgivs]

Found a 22 in the river last year made out of pot metal. It was in rough shape

 

[releventchair]

Zamac is a type of Zinc?
Aluminum and alloys of zinc and ect...All get looked at for melting points in the Saturday night special arguments.
Saturdaynight special being a derogatory term for cheaply made , for starters.
Some did function and hold up well. Others not so much.

Law(s) arrived (where?) requiring a receiver material melting point above 1000 degrees.

Hard to compare to aluminum because alloys change characteristics. For example A380 aluminum melts around 1100 degrees. Zamac 3 at 700-750 degrees.

Anyways , many early S.N.S.'s featured zamac. Not so much for recievers ,slides , frames.
Barrels and chambers , certain pins ect. exposed to higher pressure means something stronger is needed.

It gets kinda mixed up. But an alloy breaking down easier than steel on a long corroded item is no surprise.