titanium parts on your AR10

[jeffery]

I was wondering if anyone uses titanium parts on their guns. What your experiences are with it as far as dependability and such. I was thinking of getting a castle nut and end plate in titanium if I could get it in black nitride . just not raw.

[BrianK]

Not AR10, but I have a bunch of Ti internals  on a 10/22 SBR that I use for competition. They work fine. Ti has the strength of steel and the weight of aluminum, at least that's one way to think about it that approximates the reality. Black? IDK. All of mine are the dull grey of the metal, even the few parts that can be seen. Would it be worth the additional price for the ounce of weight it saves? I wouldn't think so. The internals in my SBR are there to speed lock time with their reduced mass. In that role the metal pays off. But if you want bragging rights the grey Ti parts would be noticeable and a conversation starter. I assume they are dull grey anyway. I have no idea if they can be polished. Personally I wouldn't want anything  shiny.

[dpete]

There aren't a whole lot of finishes that will stick to Ti. 

[jeffery]

Interesting thanks. Im not looking for the tacticool look...lol. more just thinking of the strength of it at that location. I have seen several pieces that are titanium but I dont need the weight savings. The rifle is going to be heavy as a tank anyway. Just the strength aspect. Im assuming that at the very least a steel castlenut is preferable to aluminum. Seems like a stress point on the rifle. Of a sort anyway. As you might have concluded. Im not well versed in this sort of thing yet.

[edgecrusher]

Stress point? How so? Unless you plan on mortaring the rifle constantly I can’t see why…. I’ve never had it fail on any of my rifles or issued rifles….

[BrianK]

The aluminum castle nut is connected to an even weaker alum' buffer tube. While in theory it could be an issue I never heard of one failing by bending or snapping in normal use. Just don't butt stroke anything with the bare buffer tube and you should be OK. That is, abuse it and it might be an issue. But it wouldn't be wrong to have Ti parts if it'll give peace of mind. I certainly wouldn't knock you for it and I doubt others would either. "Because it's America and I can.", is reason enough to have them.

[DNP]

I second that^^^
 

need them, probably not.  But if you want them and you’re happy shelling out your own money for it, knock yourself out. 

[jeffery]

12 hours ago, edgecrusher said:

Stress point? How so? Unless you plan on mortaring the rifle constantly I can’t see why…. I’ve never had it fail on any of my rifles or issued rifles….

it just seems like it would be considering the location. Of course I am probably over thinking it

[shooterrex]

All my castle nuts are steel. About 1/2 my buffer tubes are steel.

[DNP]

3 hours ago, jeffery said:

it just seems like it would be considering the location. Of course I am probably over thinking it

It’s just a jamb nut to keep it from rotating. All of the strength (or weakness if you prefer) is in the threads of the tube and the rear of the receiver. 

[98Z5V]

10 hours ago, BrianK said:

While in theory it could be an issue I never heard of one failing by bending or snapping in normal use.

I've broken one.  Didn't snap it off, but bent the fuq out of it, right at the receiver.  Colt M4A1, too, issued gun.  The only reason it didn't snap right off the gun was because the buffer stopped it from bending more - it bent as far as the buffer would allow sideways movement, and stopped there.  I wouldn't call it "normal use" because I landed on it doing a PLF at the end of a 60-ft Fast Rope.  But still - they're not impervious to getting fucked up.  Everything has to be aligned, just right, and you can break anything.

A titanium castle nut and endplate wouldn't have stopped that from happening, though.  That was HAPPENING, just in how it worked out. 

Edited March 14, 2023 by 98Z5V

[jeffery]

I appreciate the input. Curious is there a place to get a steel buffer tube? I have never seen one. Just assumed they were all aluminum

[Lefty308]

On 3/14/2023 at 10:16 AM, jeffery said:

I appreciate the input. Curious is there a place to get a steel buffer tube? I have never seen one. Just assumed they were all aluminum

Google is your friend

https://www.vsevenweaponsystems.com/v7-buffer-tube-carbine-heavy

[jeffery]

thanks ... I had been to the sight before. didnt notice that part for some reason...lol

[unforgiven]

On 3/14/2023 at 9:16 AM, jeffery said:

I appreciate the input. Curious is there a place to get a steel buffer tube? I have never seen one. Just assumed they were all aluminum

With all due respect unless you are thinking of replicating my honorable brothers @98Z5V shenanigans your receiver extension tube should give you good service brother  I likey the steel idea when you have guys trying to find parts out of helium because the rifle is to heavy 😭

[98Z5V]

1 hour ago, unforgiven said:

With all due respect unless you are thinking of replicating my honorable brothers @98Z5V shenanigans your receiver extension tube should give you good service brother  I likey the steel idea when you have guys trying to find parts out of helium because the rifle is to heavy 😭

My issued gun had a 7075 extension on it, from Colt.  It's strong as fuq.  Unless it's in the wrong position, you weigh 195lbs, and you're testing out a no-foot-on-the-rope 60-foot Fast Rope with your loaded 35lb combat vest.  Something has to give.  I'm glad it wasn't bending my barrel, or my right kidney shutting down - because the gun barrel hit, my right side crushed into the ground, and I couldn't get my gun into operation because it was all fucked up.  The pain set in afterward, not right away.  Glad it was a training rotation, and not a 2-way range.  Great way to learn fucked up procedures, right there.  Or great way to perfect your procedures that are off.  Bleed in training, so you bleed less in combat. 

We changed Fast Rope slinging-the-gun SOPs after that one.  None of us had ever seen some shiit like that before.  Determine your strong side for PLFs.  I prefer right side PLFs. Rotate out of the aircraft with my head to the right side of the rope, feet to the left side of the rope, sets my up for a right-side PLF.   Gun was on my right side on that one, flopping around like a gerbil in Richard Gere's ass.  PLFs are never "fun," but that one was especially spicey.  Good times. 

Gun goes to the left side, slung tight with an adjustable sling, after that little charade...  and bruised kidney...    We spent some unit funds on nice slings after that one, so it all worked out great.  Fuk issued slings, right in the neck.  They suck. 

Oh, and it was at night, too.  That made it even more fun.  The only thing that would have been better is if there was no moon, instead of a half moon.  It's always better when it just SUCKS a little bit more... 

[unforgiven]

Wow  amazing 🇺🇸🍻🍻

[98Z5V]

Just lucky, brother.  I've had a streak of that, throughout this life on this rock.  Someone assigned me a Guardian Angel, but I don't deserve it. 

[jeffery]

18 hours ago, unforgiven said:

With all due respect unless you are thinking of replicating my honorable brothers @98Z5V shenanigans your receiver extension tube should give you good service brother  I likey the steel idea when you have guys trying to find parts out of helium because the rifle is to heavy 😭

Not sure what you mean. I know it probably does not matter. I mean the gun is just gonna be a bench gun but I thought it would be a unique addition. my inquiring of the titanium parts was from a strength aspect thats all. Parts are getting bought slowly but Im getting there. Cant wait to show the forum when Im done. 

[DNP]

Buy away. That’s the beauty of these guns. You can put a lot of different things on. Just stick to the reliable and basic stuff for the critical parts and the rest, run with whatever you think is cool.  Looking forward to your completion as well. It’s always fun to see a finished rifle. 

[BrianK]

2 hours ago, jeffery said:

Not sure what you mean. I know it probably does not matter. I mean the gun is just gonna be a bench gun but I thought it would be a unique addition. my inquiring of the titanium parts was from a strength aspect thats all. Parts are getting bought slowly but Im getting there. Cant wait to show the forum when Im done. 

Well, what they're trying to tell you is do it because you want to and not because it needs to be stronger. Unless you are going to abuse it in some major way, and that means have a pack horse roll om it as it goes over a cliff or some such you just won't abuse it enough so that stronger parts will amount to anything meaningful other than lightening your wallet.

[unforgiven]

2 minutes ago, BrianK said:

Well, what they're trying to tell you is do it because you want to and not because it needs to be stronger. Unless you are going to abuse it in some major way, and that means have a pack horse roll om it as it goes over a cliff or some such you just won't abuse it enough so that stronger parts will amount to anything meaningful other than lightening your wallet.

Thanks brother 

[BrianK]

On 3/16/2023 at 11:09 PM, 98Z5V said:

Determine your strong side for PLFs.  I prefer right side PLFs.

We didn't have the choice. the orientation of the T-10 (it was 50+ years ago) and the wind decided for us. Yeah, I guess with rope you'd have a choice, but we didn't. The only time I ever did a PLF correctly was when I was coming down on a concrete road with a red and chrome motorcycle in the way. I slipped as much as I could to miss the bike and did a textbook perfect PLF on the concrete. Clearly part of my brain knew all along how to do one but just never saw much sense in them until it was needed ( I guess). But while I saw what was coming I had an "Oh S--t!" moment and had to think fast. I have idectic imagery of it.

I was trying to remember what LZ it was and all I can come up with is Wackernheim in what was West Germany back then.

[98Z5V]

7 hours ago, BrianK said:

We didn't have the choice. the orientation of the T-10 (it was 50+ years ago) and the wind decided for us. Yeah, I guess with rope you'd have a choice, but we didn't.

I went to Jump School in 1989, and jumped T-10s.  So, I guess that's 34 years ago now. 

Oh, You can "steer" a T-10 parachute, completely.  Front risers.  It's all in how you push one, pull the other, or slip one by a couple handfuls, while pushing on the other. 

It doesn't have toggles, or the steerable openings in the back, like the MC1-1(x) - the MC1-1B,  MC1-1C, and all the other stuff after that...

You can DRIVE a T-10, if you know how to drive a T-10.  I always aimed them for the assembly point, so I didn't have to ruck that fucker very far.  You are not "at the mercy of the wind" and "going where the wind takes you" in a T-10, by any means.  You just need to drive that parachute, and know how to drive that parachute.

How many jumps you got?

[BrianK]

Yeah, I know about climbing the risers to spill air and steer it, but it only does so much. That particular jump I didn't actually realize how deep the kimchee was until it was almost too late to do anything. My biggest goal was not to land on the bike. That would have ruined my day. Once the civilians realized we were using the LZ they'd come out to spectate and get in the way. And farmers fields had central concrete roads running through them. Not for thru traffic, but for the farmers use. But anyone had access to them. 

I'd need to find my camo band from my helmet and count the marks for accuracy, 20ish jumps, most were C-130s which I hated due to the propwash. I loved the C-141 and any chopper. Since I was also the training clerk I also got to dodge jumps I didn't want to take part in (C-130) and make sure my name was on the manifest when I absolutely wanted to jump. Many times the flight to the LZ was the hairiest part. Germany was loaded with air traffic and a 20 minute flight could take well over an hour dodging other planes. I'd sleep but a buddy got the bright idea to take a sick bag from one plane. Before the next jump he filled it with veg' soup and acted like he puked in it during the flight. Then upended it and began to eat it for what others thought was the 2nd time. I wasn't there to observe the effect on anyone but I heard about it. 😆

Our unit was nuts. We'd unass the plane in under 10 seconds if the stick was just us. Door position? What's that? Once the stick started moving it didn't stop unless other folks were put in among us. MPs mostly from what I remember. From the ground we could tell when other folks were coming out 'cause they'd take door positions and there would be distance between 'chutes. Then the plane would start to puke our unit again, like squeezing a toothpaste tube. It made for some interesting jumps when we were that close together. Chutes didn't open in faces but it was close. 

We heard about MC-1s, they were in development at the time but we never even knew what they were called. We just knew they had panels missing in the back through scuttlebut. I never saw one back then. Now I've seen videos of square chutes in use. 

I was in A co 12th Engrs and we were in support of the 509th Inf 8th Inf Div. At the time we were told we were the only Airborne Engrs on the planet. But the 509th was Airborne so we were also. We were jabbed for everything communicable. In theory we could do heavy drops and be anywhere on the planet in 24 hours. I was trained in heavy drops, but we never tried it. Our main job was in blowing the bridges across the Rhine using "classified high explosives". It takes alot of kilotons to blow a huge bridge abutment if you catch my drift. Many years later I met a high ranking officer, got to talking, and he told me that we never would have used them, but they were there on base anyway, or at least something was in a building with bars on it that they took very seriously and kept guarded. maybe the building was empty and it was all for show. We all knew what was supposedly in there. That was an entire life ago and the world was much different. 

FWIW, engineers and Oppenheim Germany has an interesting history from WW2. We were just up the road a few klicks in Dexheim. Blink when driving by and you missed it. Yes, we practiced shutting down river traffic on the Rhine (once), bridging it again, and crossing. That was an international exercise and the Brits were involved in it. I think we used the bridging site from 30 years earlier for our FTXes. I didn't realize it at the time, but I'd be willing to bet the rough terrain we drove our tracked vehicles on were old shell craters. Most times flood areas are pretty smooth and level. This was not that.

It was interesting, at times fun, I got to do things few ever get to do, and I needed it at the time but after 3 years I was glad to be out. I've never regretted the experience.