Taurus Titanium revolver question
I have heard something about a small clip of steel, meant to sit above the chamber end of the revolver barrel on titanium models. Something about "protecting the frame from chamber gases"?
My model 605 did not come with this clip.
Anyone know what these people are talking about?
Thanks
My model 605 did not come with this clip.
Anyone know what these people are talking about?
Thanks
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The only thing that comes to mind is it is to prevent erosion that might happen at the cylinder gap between the end of the cylinder and the barrel from the hot gases. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by rsnyder55
The only thing that comes to mind is it is to prevent erosion that might happen at the cylinder gap between the end of the cylinder and the barrel from the hot gases.
Do you know why that might be more of a problem than with a conventional steel frame?0 -
Many revolvers have what is know as GAS CUTTING this is one reason Ruger dropped the 357 Maximum . The hot gasses escaping between the front face of the cylinder and the rear of the forcing cone area of the barrel is like a hot torch on he top strap of the frame. The higher the pressure the more gas cutting you get . NOW I don't know any thing about Titanium as far as how it reacts to this hot gas . I though it was stronger then aluminum and stronger by weight then steel but it is used in airplanes and jet engines but I don't know what temp.. that is . 0 -
My understanding is that titanium will give you the strength of a common steel alloy at roughly half the weight. While you don't really get stronger than steel, you can get the same strength at much less weight.
The other big advantage is corrosion resistance. Even stainless steels will corrode/rust in harsh salty environments, but titanium won't.
Titanium also has two big drawbacks.
The first and obvious one is that its far more expensive than steel, not just in the cost of the metal (which is ten times the cost of steel), but also in the cost of machining and treating it.
The next drawback is that you can't harden titanium as much as steel. So parts that need extreme hardness (eg hammers) are better off being made from steel.
In a gun like a revolver, the only part that "needs" to be titanium is the cylinder, since its exposed to the highest pressures. The frame, etc, can be made of aluminum alloys, which are cheaper, easier to manufacture, and lighter. While not quite as strong as titanium, the frames don't have to be. And in fact, Taurus partial aluminum/partial titanium snubnose is ligher than the all titanium version of the same gun! (Again the advantage of all titanium is mainly in corrosion resistance).
Gun barrels aren't made of titanium because the metal is elastic and its difficult to cut rifling into it that will be resistant to bullet impact. So Taurus uses a steel barrel liner inside of a titanium barrel.
To answer the question, I suspect the issue is that titanium can become brittle from repeated super-heating. So putting a steel insert into the frame where "flame cutting" might occur would make sense to help prevent the frame from cracking at that point from lots of use.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Mgderf
I have heard something about a small clip of steel, meant to sit above the chamber end of the revolver barrel on titanium models. Something about "protecting the frame from chamber gases"?
My model 605 did not come with this clip.
Anyone know what these people are talking about?
Thanks
Neither did my titanium Taurus 41 Magnum - even though its 2" barrel is ported, I don't think I'm going to blast away enough to wear anything out. I do see the metal clip on some of the Smith lightweights though. It's usually found above the barrel between it and the frame, inside the cylinder opening.0 -
S&W has done the same with the Night Guard series in the skandium model.
http://www.shootingtimes.com/handgun_reviews/ST_unleashesthenight_200807/index1.html[url][/url]
Not sure what Taurus design or policy is.0 -
quote:Originally posted by dfletcher
quote:Originally posted by Mgderf
I have heard something about a small clip of steel, meant to sit above the chamber end of the revolver barrel on titanium models. Something about "protecting the frame from chamber gases"?
My model 605 did not come with this clip.
Anyone know what these people are talking about?
Thanks
Neither did my titanium Taurus 41 Magnum - even though its 2" barrel is ported, I don't think I'm going to blast away enough to wear anything out. I do see the metal clip on some of the Smith lightweights though. It's usually found above the barrel between it and the frame, inside the cylinder opening.
I guess my bigger question is, Does my model 605 NEED this "protective insert"?
I believe it came new without it. I never saw it, but I hear people saying it is needed.0 -
Doesn't Taurus offer a lifetime warranty? If so I probably wouldn't worry too much about it. 0 -
Does this gun "need" the insert?
Well presumeably Taurus' engineers have tested the gun extensively before marketing it, and if the gun were really prone to flame cutting or failure, they'd have noticed. In other words, if the gun absolutely "needed" it, it would probably already have it, though that is NOT to say that it couldn't help.
quote:Originally posted by rsnyder55
Doesn't Taurus offer a lifetime warranty? If so I probably wouldn't worry too much about it.
Well, its always better to have a nice warranty and not need it than the other way around, but being Devil's advocate here:
-A great warranty doesn't help you when you are in a life-and-death emergency and you are holding a non-functional gun in your hand, or worse, you're not holding any gun at all since its at the factory being repaired!
-A warranty is only as good as the company's ability to honor it. In today's economy and political environment, who is to say for sure that Taurus USA will still be around in 5 years (for example) to honor its warranties?
-Sending out a gun to get repaired costs you time, money, and is in general a P.I.T.A. And then you're at the whim of the factory to repair it on their timetable.
-Not to knock Taurus in particular (which supposedly now has good customer service), but we've all heard horror stories of guns going to out for repair, but coming back without the problem being fixed, or (rarely) in even worse shape than they left!
-Lastly, some problems just can't be fixed. You can repair/replace a bad part, but if the parts themselves are prone to failure, then your fix is only as good as the fragile replacement part's ability to hold up. And ultimately, you can't repair a bad design. . .if the gun is a POS, no matter how many times the factory fixes it then sends it back to you, its still going to be a POS.0 -
Titanium is more resistant than stainless steel to many, but not all corrosive agents. For example, chlorinated solvents can cause surface cracking or crazing of titanium alloys in fairly short order. It wouldn't surprise me if some gunpowder combustion products will attack titanium especially at the high temperatures and pressures from firing. 0
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