How much weight do you actually save on Ti action?
(I posted this in another thread about Ti, sorry if anybody reads it twice)
I am not an authority or a gunsmith, just another guy asking the same question. I have found three mfr's who show about 6-7 oz saved by going titanium. (hunting season is over, it's too cold to have any fun at the range, so I'm bored . . .)
Mack Evo claims 35% weight reduction over standard Rem 700 and says their Evo SA Ti weighs 20.5 oz pictured with integrated lug, so that indicates Rem 700 SS would be 20.5 x 1.35 = 27.5 oz. = 7 oz lighter.
Lone Peak shows the Razor SA SS at 26 oz, and the Razor SA Ti at 20 oz, both pictured with integrated lugs. = 6 oz lighter.
Mesa shows Crux SA Ti at 20.8 oz, pictured with integrated lug, but it isn't clear if that's bare or with the "included" 20 MOA rail. I assume it's without the included rail. Mesa shows SA Crux SA SS at 1 lb but that is so imprecise that I think it's a shipping weight, not a scaled weight.
Pierce SA Ti action says 17 oz, but they show it pictured without the lug, which is an "accessory", so you probably need to add 2-3 ounce lug weight to the 17 ounces. I couldn't find the weight of their steel action to compare, nor the weight of their lug.
Pierce says that Ti is 42% the weight of steel, but based on ASTM standards I believe they should say 42%
less, not 42%
of.
A 2.8 inch cube of SS would weigh 100 ounces, the same size cube of Ti would weigh 56 ounces, and 7075 aluminum would weigh 36 ounces. But you can't start with a 27.5 ounce Rem 700 SA action and say that the Ti action would weigh 27.5 x 56% = 15.4 ounces, because the bolt is still steel.
However because Ti is so much stronger than steel for the same size (75% higher tensile strength), makes me think that you could make the same strength action with smaller dimensions and save even more than 7 ounces. But then it would not fit Rem 700 footprints.
What I can't find is data on actual weight of both bare actions: Rem 700 steel and Rem 700 Ti, on the same scale to see what the actual difference is. Probably because it doesn't really matter to anyone unless they're as bored as me.