Titanium

DaRoosta

Titanium is being used instead of steel in some of the newer firearms by some of the major manufacturers. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with any of the new titanium-based firearms, either handguns or rifles or might be able to share some of the properties. Specifically, I'd like to know how titanium stands up to the heating of the barrel and if the rifling holds as true as with steel. I am assuming the fit of all working titanium parts are equal to that of steel. The lightweight characteristics are really appealing; I'm just wondering if they're worth the hype (and in most cases extra cost).

---

JWhite2399@cs.com

JudgeColt

Titanium is an amazing material. It is so corrosion resistant that it is used in desalination piping. It is strong enough to be used in engine valves. Body tissues will bond to it, so it is used for bone implants and tooth implants. It is also difficult to work and is hard on tooling, so it is expensive to use in anything. I am not aware of any of the new crop of mass-produced firearms that use both titanium receivers and titanium barrels (Remington, etc.). As far as I know, only the receivers are titanium. Titanium barrels are rare and expensive, and I have only seen them on expensive custom rifles. Therefore your concerns about barrel accuracy and shifting point of impact are unfounded unless you have one of the expensive custom rifles that offer titanium barrels. That said, I have never read anything negative about titanium barrels, although I assume (without knowing) that they are not as accurate as steel barrels. If they were more accurate or more durable, the bench rest shooters would use them. The idea of an all titanium firearms does appeal to me, but so far, titanium is used only on a few parts, and the remainder of the parts are of conventional materials. I would like to see a titanium slide on some semi-automatic pistol so as to further reduce the weight. Taurus is supposed to have some pistols with titanium slides (I say a prototype .45 at the SHOT Show and it really interests me), but I have yet to see them in regular production. One last point, titanium is heavier than aluminum. That is why Taurus all-titanium revolvers (the barrels are not titanium as I understand it) are heavier than the Smith & Wesson revolvers with aluminum frames and titanium cylinders. Sorry I cannot better answer your question. Anyone have personal experience with a total titanium rifle barrel?

Umpimahken

I'm not sure how it will work in firearms for the long haul, but personal experiance with titanium is that it is strong light and does not like to flex or bend. There is a lot of titanium fixtures used in prosthetics and I have tried some. Granted I'm no featherweight, but the titanium fixture lasted about 6 weeks and then failed without any warning as I was walking out of a restaurant. It's quite an experiance to be walking along and suddenly one leg is about 10 inches shorter than the other. It does not handle that kind of stress very well. On the other hand, the steel fixture we had used earlier lasted about twice as long before it failed and then gave some warning by bending for a few hours before it broke off completely. Want to have some fun? Go up to the Risk Management Specialist for your company and tell them you broke your leg outside their office the day before and watch the panic build in their eyes until they realize it was your prosthesis and you are standing there talking to them using your spare leg. They might hit you if you don't move fast enough to get away. [This message has been edited by Umpimahken (edited 11-11-2001).]

DaRoosta

Thanks for the replies so far. I was looking at some of the Taurus revolvers and the new Titanium Remington 700's. They both look like they're using titanium barrels, but I can't seem to find complete information and none of the shops around here have them for me to look at in person.

luger01

Titanium is NOT used for barrels, because of its ability to stretch and resume the original shape. Taurus used steel liners in its barrels, S&W uses a thin steel barrel under an aluminum shroud.Can you imagine what terrible accuracy you would get if, as the bullet begins it's path down the barrel, the barrel expands and the rifling loses contact with the bullet?Hope this clears up a misconception.