doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Why are there no titanium barreled sxs's?

Even Titanium handguns have steel barrel linners.Heat with pressure cause the problem.

I developed a liking for lightweight doubles hunting public lands in Iowa, beautiful country but alot of walking between shots. I didn't have a problem with my legs hunting from dawn to dusk but man, carrying my 7.5# Parker VH, would my shoulders and arms ache the next day. Then I found the 5# 16 gauge sxs Francobanger I use today, I can carry that gun all day and feel great the next, it's truly amazing the difference 2.5# can make. Based on the concept "If some is good, more is better" it got me thinking about a super lightweight gun, hence the questions about titanium.
Yes, my 16 gauge has all the magic wand atributes, thin wrist English stock, small frame, 27 inch barrels. It's also 90 years old with very basic French proofs, to keep it safe I only shoot 1 ounce loads through it (making ammo that much harder to find in the rural countryside). For me the ultimate game gun is 5# 12 gauge sxs (with double triggers) and 28" barrels that I can shoot any modern ammo through.
Steve

Steve,
I'm disappointed. I thought you were getting small? How about a Ti .410 at 4lbs or less? Recoil is not an issue with the .410 and it IS all about the hunt, right?

Chuck
When I was living in Illinois I did alot of preserve hunting, pen-raised poultry. Some of the venues were pretty good, for instance the state of Illinois ran a concession where they just released birds and they'd get fairly wild pretty quick, still it was easy hunting, sort of like opening day pheasant hunting (and it only cost about $10 a bird). To make it more interesting I began using .410s, in fact I still have my .410 hammer gun. When I was consistently making most of my shots with the .410 I bought a true 36 gauge ML sxs; consistently hitting birds with that gun was a challenge. I still have the 36 gauge, but now I'm living in Texas where preserve hunting is big business and pretty much out of my price range (as would be a titanium barreled 12 gauge sxs). Estheticlly speaking I still like the smaller gauges, but when you hunt wild birds and maybe get just a few shots all day (like I was used to in Iowa) you appreciated the utility of the larger gauges.
Steve
PS for all the "410's are crippler guns" comments I found that in their range (under 30 yards) 410's killed quite efficiently, for the birds that went down wounded, my dog rounded them up quite quickly, they didn't suffer for long.

I don't know what the rest of you think but that Winchester 21 posted above looks like it's sporting an unfinished receiver. I guess I'm too much of a traditionalist but space age material being used on a classic double doesn't do a thing for me.
Jim

I hear ya Steve. I pick up a 12g on occasion when the birds are big, wild, and scarce.

If all the "crippler" guys were really worried about it and were true to their tone, they'd never pick up a shotgun. 12g guns have and will continue to cripple more birds than any other gauges combined in the U.S. no matter the best intentions and skill of the operator. I saw an episode of a show on TV where it was clear than Tom Knapp wounded a bird with a 12g. They cut most of it out. How many of the "crippler" opponents to small gauges shoot as well as he?

I agree, it looks like it is in the white ready for the engraver!

T

Titanium is a finicky mistress. You can machine it fairly well, but touch it with a file, stone, or sandpaper and it laughs at you-quite loudly at that. For most folks’ production facilities, you better get the exact dimensions, profiles, and surface finish you want before you pull the part off of the machine. Forget about hand work.

Ti galls worse than stainless and is more sensitive to lube. Not good in an action that has lots of moving parts and breaks in half after every couple of shots.

Ti is a fragile mistress. If you doubt it, read the warnings that come with a Smith & Wesson Ti handgun. The Ti cylinder must be cleaned with care or you will damage the surface coating S&W puts on them. Do that, and you have big problems, namely a very expensive and very worn out cylinder.

Be able to use any commonly available 12 gauge shell out there? Have you actually touched off a 1 ¼ oz. load in a 5# gun!?! I have tied myself to bulls and would sooner do that again than shoot a gun that light with Wally World shells. And that is the lower end of the 12 ga. loads. I don’t even want to think about touching off a high velocity 1 1/2oz load commonly used by MN pheasant hunters.

I recall him writing about that gun & both the frame & bblas were made of what he referred to as Duraluminum. This is a "Trade Name" for some aluminum alloys but forgert exactly which ones. Chuck may know, I don't have any reference books on the alloys at home & no longer frequent the machine shop.
The reason the 12ga wounds the most is because it is "Shot AT" so many, many times more birds than other gauges. What would be interesting is to see some real figures, though would likely be difficult to obtain, as to percentage of wounds to kills of the different gauges, all used by shooters of similar abilities.

Ti is a fragile mistress

That's true. Never make airplanes and barrels from Ti.
TsKIB in Tula made nice barrel Ti inserts of diffrent gauges, but it was discontinued because of fragile problems.