One sweet pistol!!

 

Those Total Titanium Revolvers has been out of production for a few years. I don't believe Taurus ever officially stated why they were pulled, but the internet rumor-mill was Titanium became too expensive to manufacture entire revolvers out of this alloy. Taurus has continued to use Titanium for a few models' slides or cylinders.

Hopefully your spouse's nice revolver becomes more collectible...as much as Taurus firearms are seen as collectible in the larger firearm collectors market. That said, their titanium revolvers do seem to demand a higher price than the other similar-model versions.

 

I think the official end of production for the "Total Titanium" line was 2006. The model 444 Ultra light has some titanium components and was discontinued in 2011 (according to my sources lol).

Coop

 

Titanium is considered a "strategic material". This insures that it will always go up in price. It's a royal pain to machine, hard on tool bits, and hand-fitting is equally tough. The idea is great, but the existing tooling makes it expensive to create a finished product. Unless it's priced accordingly, you could call it a "loss leader".

 

I've had my 851 UL for two years now. Back when I got it, I asked by LGD to order the total titanium, but even then only the ULs were available. I think the TT were about 3 ounces or so lighter.

 

Back when the USSR imploded, a lot of hungry Senior Soviet Submarine Officers started selling off the stockpiles of Ti intended for submarine construction. The metal was transformed into common items like crowbars and shovels. I still have one of the super-light, rust-free, yet very strong crowbars. It's all I have left from the 2 crowbars and one shovel that I originally started with.......

 

I traded a Taurus 851 in stainless steel for a 651 in total titanium in 2006. Much lighter weight and beautiful finish. I wouldn’t take $2000 for it as it fits my body in an IWB holster so well.

 

Posting in an 11 year old thread may not generate many, if any, responses. Best to start a new thread.