Brass and copper top caps - durable?

[gpjoe]

Still looking for a new mechanical mod and I am seeing more and more brass and copper mods. Love the look of both but have concerns over a brass or copper top cap. I take pretty good care of my stuff, but accidents do happen - I have dropped a mod or two in the past. One (stainless steel) resulted in a broken glass tank, but the mod survived without a scratch. It was dropped on carpeting and I believe it fell directly on the tank.

I am curious about folks experience with brass and/or copper. Can a brass or copper top cap take a spill like the one described above without stripping out the 510 connection?...and do brass and copper 510 threads wear out in normal use?

 

[bsoplinger]

If you plan to drop your mods regularly perhaps you should stick with stainless steel. Unless they make ruggedized ones
Kidding aside, those are softer metals than steel but it's all about usage. Read a Vamo thread sometime. They have plated brass top caps. You'll find about an equal mixture of "I used it once and the threads were stripped" to "you're crazy, I've used mine for a million years and the threads are like new" postings. Personally I figure unless it's a mod with an aluminum (which is softer yet) top cap I'll be good, even with the occasional drop, unless I get that unfortunate one where things line up just right, or wrong depending on how you look at it, in which case even steel wouldn't have saved it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Xparent Purple Tapatalk 2

 

[JeremyR]

No not durable for drops, especially using a stainless rba. It will destroy them on first or second good drop. Stainless + brass not good.. Something like a carto is not as damaging to the brass. These types of copper brass mods are more special occasion type mods for me, used with care.

Stainless is essentially indestructible in my experience. Even landing on the atty from 2 stories on hard wood.

 

[gpjoe]

Thanks for the replies. I'll probably stick with stainless steel since I plan on using the mod regularly. I suppose brass or copper would be fine if the cap had some type of 510 insert made from steel, though I'm not even sure such a configuration exists.

 

[Apostlyte]

I just got a brass m16 yesterday and have already noticed significant material transfer within the threads. This makes me so sad because this mod from Tobeco is fabulous. It just pops. It took me discovering this today to recall the whole mixing metals discussions as relevant to higher impact wear, ie alloy rims on steel bolts etc.