[Pollster1]

There are plenty of ways to beef up the plastic

I recommend finding some naturally occurring twine and wrapping it around the barrel, just like you were whipping the ends of a larger rope, to strengthen and reinforce the barrel.

[muawiyah]

I was thinking more along the lines of the solution carved out for termites. They have a taste for metal ~ at least for anything as heavy as Zinc. They consume zinc, gold and other nanoparticles. They then circulate the zinc to their mandibles to toughen them up. They excrete the gold in their nests.

Yes, gold flour is deposited in discrete quantities in discrete locations by ordinary termites world-wide.

But the idea of toughing Chitin (C8H13O5N)through the process of infiltrating a harder metal into the mix is well worth studying. In some species this goes beyond the mandibles and mouthparts to the OVIPOSITOR!

Talk about some tough chicks!