Brad L. is a physical education teacher in Arizona.
One day, he was walking down a school hallway when he collapsed.
At first, Brad thought he was having a stroke.
He tried to stand up, but his leg wouldn’t move. Students called 911 and went to get help.
At the hospital, doctors took X-rays to figure out what was wrong.
That’s when they learned that Brad’s hip implant had “suddenly and catastrophically structurally failed.”
The hip implant had severed at its neck (which was a two-inch titanium part).
Brad said, “It was like someone just went in there and cut it right in the middle.”
Artificial hips were designed to modernize total hip replacement.
They were built to last 20 years and were known for having “dual modular necks.”
But the neck was a weak point.
According to court records, more than 750 people with the same artificial hip experienced a failure that required emergency surgery.
“It’s gruesome,” said one orthopedic surgeon. “There’s no way around the fact that there’s a failed or broken implant in that patient’s thigh. We have to remove it.”
Eventually, the FDA recalled the artificial hips that were made with modular necks.
While that’s terrible, it’s a design flaw, and not the fault of the titanium.
In fact, titanium sees wide usage in manufacturing.
It’s used to make many firearms parts, including frames, receivers, triggers, hammers, and slide releases.
In addition, titanium is used in suppressors, optic housings, and knife handles.
So, should you opt for titanium parts in your firearms?
Here are a few things to keep in mind about this metal.
How is titanium made?:
Titanium is produced by heating titanium dioxide to about 1500 degrees in a vacuum chamber.
Then, chlorine and magnesium are added.
Eventually, it creates a sponge-like material that is crushed and melted down.
Lastly, it’s cooled to form a block of titanium.
As you can see, creating titanium is a long process and it’s hard to produce. It’s much simpler to make steel.
Is titanium good for gun parts?:
One of the reasons titanium is popular is that it’s about 50% lighter compared to steel.
So, if you have a titanium hammer, spring, trigger, or other parts it will reduce the overall weight of the gun.
In addition, titanium is strong. Ounce for ounce, titanium is twice as strong as aluminum.
And titanium has a high melting point (around 3,000 degrees), so it can handle the heat from a firearm well.
Titanium is a popular material for suppressors because it makes the suppressor light, strong, and resistant to heat and corrosion.
Drawbacks to titanium:
The biggest drawback to titanium is the price. It obviously costs more for titanium gun parts.
Also, titanium is hard to work with.
What I mean is, if you are building a gun with titanium parts it can be difficult to cut and drill the parts, which adds to manufacturing complexity and price.
Whether or not you use titanium parts comes down to personal preference.
On one hand, it can make the gun considerably lighter and help with corrosion resistance.
On the other hand, it costs more.
Whatever material you choose for your firearms parts and accessories, you want to ensure you have two things in place for your home and self-defense…
First, the proper types of firearms.
And second, the simple, go-to accessories for those firearms to help make sure you can put rounds on target if you ever need to defend your life, or those of your loved ones.
