Have you ever wondered why the U.S military has never approved a polymer-frame firearm for general issue?

I’ve heard rumors about how the polymer frames of certain firearms tend to “demolecularize” when faced with some of the temperature and pressure extremes encountered in certain military operational environments. The few examples I’ve heard of all involved the frame of polymer handguns becoming brittle on a chemical level, leading to some nasty failures as guns were fired and their frames violently came apart.

Dustin Ellerman’s FNX Tactical shown in the video above has gone to the other extreme, becoming too flexible instead of too brittle after sitting out in the Texas sun.

Yikes!

Military use requires firearms to be able to handle temperature extremes, rapid changes in temperature and pressure, years of storage with minimal maintenance, harsh usage, and exposure to various solvents and chemicals.

Polymer frame failures are rare, period. That allowed, these failures do happen more frequently in the extremes encountered in military usage, and fears of polymer guns going to pieces or turning into jelly may be enough to sideline otherwise decent designs that might have a chance in the Army’s Modular Handgun System (MHS) replacement program for the Beretta M9.