A little bit of magic: Smith & Wesson AirLite Ti

Guns Magazine, July, 1999 by Charles Petty

In any phase of the game, this lightweight revolver can save your me in an instant.

Titanium! "A strong, low-density, highly corrosion resistant, lustrous white metallic element ... used to alloy aircraft metals for low weight, strength and high temperature stability." It is also the stuff of firearms mythology but this time there is no doubt. Smith & Wesson has done it with a titanium alloy cylinder for their tremendously popular Centennial revolver.

It is known as the Model 342 with a subtitle of AirLite Ti. In fact the sideplate has a representation of the titanium atom with the proper number of electrons (22) orbiting the S&W logo.

In a way the 342 is an evolution of S&W's recent AirLite .22s, but it also goes back much further -- back to 1952 in fact. That's when Smith & Wesson introduced the Chiefs Special Airweight, which in addition to an aluminum frame, had an alloy cylinder. The little revolver was quite popular, but after a series of complaints and service problems, the aluminum cylinder was replaced with one of steel in January 1954.

A total of 3,777 Airweight revolvers were made. Customers were advised to send their guns back for a steel cylinder and today, if you should happen to send one of them back to S&W for service, you won't get the alloy cylinder back.

One of the reasons is stated in the excellent History of Smith & Wesson, by Roy Jinks. "The original Chiefs Special Airweight was designed to fire only the standard velocity .38 Special cartridge. The use of high-pressure cartridges was not recommended, since handgun damage could occur. The factory also found that the revolver recoil -- even with standard ammunition -- was sometimes so violent that on occasion it would unseat the bullets from unfired cartridges, forcing them forward and jamming the revolver."

The new Model 342 is approved for use with P ammunition, but if you look at the marking on the barrel it says, " P Jacketed." The reason is the same as it was in 1951. Soft lead' bullets simply pull through the heaviest crimp under the substantial recoil generated by P ammo.

So, with that as preamble, why would S&W make a titanium gun? Well, there are lots of reasons - foremost of which is the public wants ever smaller and lighter carry guns. S&W should sell a boatload of these.

Circle Of Protection

Titanium is an interesting metal falling somewhere between expensivium and unobtainium on the periodic table. It has been used extensively in aircraft and aerospace applications but, other than the odd firing pin, it has not been seen much in firearms.

The reasons are cost and a certain difficulty of machining. Even though a lot of people talk about making stuff out of titanium it took Smith & Wesson two years of hard work to bring the 342 to the marketplace.

The success of the AirLite .22s provided quite an incentive for S&W, but the real reason is the marketplace keeps asking for "smaller-lighter." A substantial market exists among people who may never fire the gun at all. It will be installed in a pocket or purse and happily carried for years. And that's fine; that is exactly what this gun is made for. You can carry it easily, but if you shoot it much it will wear you out long before you can wear it out.

Obviously S&W has to account for people who will shoot it a lot and even though they are heavily invested in computer aided design, the extreme light weight and new materials brought new challenges. Nothing will take the place of actual test shooting. When they began to shoot the little guns some unexpected difficulties arose.

Forked Lightning

Pivot pins are a great example. Since they are out of sight, the pins inside a revolver frame are largely ignored. Actually they are subjected to some huge instantaneous g-load forces because they bear the weight of some fairly heavy parts such as the hammer and trigger.

With other revolvers those pins are made of the same material as the frame but that didn't work with the 342's awesome recoil moments. So you'll see the heads of four pins showing on the left side of the frame. They're titanium too.

As you might expect, the firing pin bushing is titanium, but if you look at the frame you'll see another bushing just below it. This is where the cylinder latch is located and even though we'd never really think about it, the loads on the frame in this area are incredibly high. The strength of the titanium solves the problem and the color provides a neat contrast.

You'll notice the barrel has an aluminum shroud over a stainless steel tube. Since the dawn of time, S&W has screwed the barrel into the frame. This one isn't made that way at all. If you try to unscrew the barrel of the 342 you will wreck the gun.

Anytime you have a threaded part such as the barrel there is a possibility it will move when subjected to stress such as the torque associated with recoil. That's fine, but if the front sight is on the barrel you could end up with a lopsided sight.

S&W developed a novel way to solve the problem. The barrel shroud has a wide slot that engages a corresponding metal tab on the frame. A special tool is used to screw in a separate stainless steel barrel tube. The shroud is clamped in place by a shoulder on the barrel tube.