The following comment was pulled from the attached video.
Bird didn't make their own meters, Before Bird moved production to china they used Simpson meters.. Ever since Bird, moved production to china their quality has gone down the crapper, The slugs are now brass plated plastic. Coaxial dynamics is really become a better product but they are still over priced.
I'm curious as to why CB'rs have such a Bird fetish, I mean they aren't all that accurate. Bird laughingly claims +- 5 percent of full scale but the calibration lab I use has told me in the 40 years they've been in business that the overwhelming majority of bird slugs they've tested barely met +- 10 percent and they are a military contractor
I wonder what this brass plated plastic looks like.
Also, an article on how to modify your Bird slugs:
https://www.hayseed.net/~jpk5lad/BIRD%20Slugs/birdslug4.htm
That bloke shits me!
Have you noticed how he pronounces "Bird" like Mr Snuffleupagas?
"Brass plated plastic" might be a thing.
Way back in the day, I owned a book about home electroplating.
It concentrated more on tin, copper, & chromium plating, but one thing which was interesting was electroplating wax.
This was achieved by coating the wax with graphite, then plating onto that.
If they plated enough material upon the wax pattern, they could melt the wax out & have an object made of the electroplated material.
I don't think they mentioned electroplating plastic, but I know it can be done, as when I was a little kid, I remember plastic toys with metal plating on them.
After a while, the plating would peel off.
Much more recently, my daughter's Hyundai Accent had chromed plastic internal door handles.
Unfortunately, in short order, they followed the example of my childhood toys!
The next model just used plain old plastic handles!