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Posted: 12/23/2006 3:30:39 PM EDT
| I was thinking about exotic materials for guns and thought I would ask everyone's thoughts on an AK Titanium receiver? What would be the benefits/drawbacks? Would they need to be heat treated? Could they be thinner than regular steel? Does anybody make them? I imagine they would be quite expensive but somewhat of a unique rifle build. |
my buddy's buddy's drill instructor's uncle said he knew a guy that built one out of layers of tinfoil and jbweld. 
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I was thinking about making a 300moa scope setup using two different size rings. |
 He said The P word! Cool !! 
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Ti is always expensive but the brittle thing depends on the alloy. I really dont see the utitlity of Ti components on an AK. However Ti receivers for the AR15 would be nice, because I can see some good reasons for toughening up the AR(while retaining light weight), but the AK is already tough enough IMHO. |
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I don't think you could find a machinist who would carve one from a block of Ti for $1000. I have seriously toyed with the idea of making one out of folded or welded plate, and I have already aquired the material, 6AL-4V. 6Al4V titanium is not brittle, I have made gunsprings out of it which hold up well. You can heat it to a dull red and form it without subsequent heat-treating. This brings me to the bad news. Titanium has only one drawback I can see. It's the 'springyest', most elastic crap you've ever seen. My buddy let me try his Ti roadbike one day and I couldn't stop laughing; It was a real noodle. It would make a good reciever, but would be a pain to build, and might flex enough to make accuracy suffer (worse than it does already). It would have a great sound when you rack the action, btw. The checkout gals at Boeing Surplus can tell Titanium from inconel and stainless just by the musical clinking sound it makes when you put it on the scales. ( $8 - $10/lb =>  )
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IIRC titanium, or at least certain alloys of it, has terrible wear/abrasion resistance. Probably not what you want with that bolt carrier and rails rubbing together. [ETA] This must be hunt4info's 'troll' account so he could ask this question in a separate thread form the 'new AK company input requested' thread. Oh well, guess a question never asked... |
Thats why it makes good skin for submarines, elasticity with strength. |
There are already Titanium Lowers availble for the AR. They are "drill 'em yourself kits" that start at about $300 from the guys that sell all the 80% receivers. They also have brass lowers and Stainless Stell Lowers. A Ti AR lower seems like it would be neat, but don't see the need to spend the $.... -Cabby |
| I've been seeing several threads on "improving" the AK design. The damn thing is a ingenious design the way it is. It performs exactly as it was made to. A blind monkey can work on it(although Century can't seem to get it right) What is there to improve? Mounting optics was the only problem and truthfully the rifle wasn't designed for optics, but that has been taken care of with side mounts and Quad rail systems. Other than adding more comfortable stocks, grips, and for those that need tactical AK's, and there are some, I don't know what else could be improved. |
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