Titanium frame and magwell gun projects.....

Looks great! I am sure everyone on the Forum would enjoy seeing the finished products and how accurate they will shoot!

I am not a machinist, but have heard titanium is hard to machine....? Does L-10 machine make the STI frames in titanium, and if so what is the cost of a titanium receiver....? A light and fast handling STI 2011 gun would be a plus for Steel match shooting.

Also, I had purchased a 100% steel widebody STI frame from your company a while back, and found it to be excellent. However, I no longer see the 100% widebody STI frames listed on your website. How you still selling these? I was thinking of ordering another one in the future....

 

I'll make sure to take some more pictures as I go.

Titanium requires a very different approach otherwise drill bits get stuck inside of the barstock itself and lots of sparks fly. Ti frames may be available soon, right now I am reserving them for special projects.

We are at our limit for the year, and pulled the frames. I can start delivering more next year.

 

Is that frame set up for a 126mm mag, 120mm or something smaller like an infinity 113mm mag? The MSH doesn't look short enough for a 113mm.

 

Originally, I set it up for a 113 - but my large hands didn't like it.

I modified the magwell to take a 120mm which I like very much, plus the mags are quite a bit cheaper.

 

that's beautiful, but I can't imagine it's inexpensive. I've heard Ti sucks to work with, but holds up really well for less weight than aluminum. Would be a cool single stack CCO sized blaster.

 

Machining Ti is very interesting, lots of learning experiences to produce these.

The idea is a hi-cap CCO, this one will likely be 9x23 for myself.

 

I'm very interested in this. I would love get a couple frame grip kits like this in the shop to mess with.

 

A quick look on Google finds that aluminum is actually lighter than titanium. The difference though is that titanium is stronger than aluminum, so that typically less titanium is needed to make a part as strong as a a denser aluminum part. So is the frame actually thinner than normal in areas to reduce weight? Also, is the slide titanium?

I have an STI Guardian 2011 that is somewhat lightweight due to the aluminum frame and polymer grip. But I think with the slide and mag installed, the pistol comes in around 29 ounces. I'd love to find a way to shed about 3-4 ounces from that pistol. So I'm interested in whether using titanium actually reduces weight over the normal aluminum and polymer used.

 

I doubt that enough material from a Ti frame can be whittled down to weigh less than an standard profile aluminum frame given their respective densities.

Grade 5 Ti is about half the weight of heat treated steel, harder, and fairly equal in strength.

 

Just noticed your sig with 'Rogue Tactical Custom'...is this a new venture?

 

Yes, still in its infancy

 

Phenomenal project. I can see the industry moving toward alloy grip frames across the board. Nighthawk’s offering feels wonderful, only a few ounces weight differences vs the STI plastic grip frame

 

My aluminum single stack 9mm weighs 33 oz and my plastic butted .45 Minor 2011 weighs 34 oz. I don't want a "few ounces weight difference."
Maybe if I were still shooting Major...

 

My plastic gripped alloy framed 3.9" 2011's come in around 25oz. 9oz is pretty significant.

 

Are you carbonizing the frame rails?

 

I’m working with some local companies that process Titanium with some proprietary coatings. Dimensions shouldn’t change, but wear resistance will increase dramatically.

 

Going to be phenomenal when finished