I passed up a 396 recently due to flame cutting. I've been reading some past posts on the subject but have not found anything specific to this model of revolver. So the question is how much flame cutting is too much and is it a real concern on an aluminum frame? Maybe I should have bought the gun anyway.

Is flame cutting normal wear?

I gave up on the titanium cylinder guns because of throat erosion in the cylinder and I will bet you if you have flame cutting on the frame you will find that the front of the cylinder is also probably flame cut and the throats look like a dried cracked riverbed. Smith replaced the cylinder on mine and then I sold it. This was the third (a 360, a 340 and a 396) titanium cylinder that they had replaced for me and I decided that was enough.
Chip King

Which model 396 were you looking at? Night Guard or Mountain Lite? Did it have the blast shield attached to the topstrap over the B/C gap? The shields on my "N" frame NGs are larger than the one on my 396NG. Don't know why it's not longer as it just bearly covers the gap..

It's a 396 Mountain Lite "no dash". It does not have the shield. My concern is with the aluminum frame will the flame cutting get worse or is it self limiting as some suggest. None of my stainless revolvers have been shot enough to show anything like this.

First titanium is very tough material to machine. Avco Lycomming the jet turbine engine manufacturer purchased a cnc machine from Japan first to manufacture the main engine rotor for the US ARMY M1 ABRAMS Tank engine. The machine from Japan couldn't cut this tough material
The Bullard Machine Tool Company just designed a new belt driven vertical lathe. This was the challenge and test to set it up to turn the main rotor when the Japanese machine failed. The Bullard machine tools are well known for being rugged. There used throughout the heavy manufacturing around the world even today. I build this lathe. Along with $250k worth of tooling, well the rest is history we see these tanks generations later still in the sand box today.

My point is titanium is tough material. My question is does the flame cutting just happen with reloads or all brands of ammo? Do you think the extra gun powder in the reloads can be just enough heat and left over flame to torch cut the throat?

If it's used in a turbine engine it's surely seeing the heat.

I built this lathe for the tank engines main rotor in 1980. The tooling would probably cost double or more today.

I have noticed in passing that the scandium frames are the ones that tend
to have the steel flame shields. The "regular" aluminum frames don't.
I am sure there are exceptions.
I have a 396-1 and in shooting the Speer commercial 200 GDHP ammo and
200 gr plated bullets over 6.5 gr of Universal, I have seen no flame cutting of the frame.
My main gripe with the titanium cylinders is lack of a good way to clean
the hard pack crud that builds up at the front of the chambers at the start of the throats.
I was recently told by a S&W customer service rep to NOT use a bronze brush in these cylinders.
As someone else said in one of these threads "the alloy guns are for carrying a lot and shooting a little".
I plan on finding a good load or 2 and then not shoot it much.
IMHO flame cutting of the frame is an exaggerated problem.

I do still wonder some at the supposed frailty of the coating used in the titanium cylinders.
Given how tough titanium alloys can be, why is this coating even needed?
Sure would be interesting to hear the whole story some day.

---
Nemo

I've got a Ti-cylinder S&W and this is news to me - can anybody confirm or elaborate on the above? Thanks,

I've had a couple lightweight revolvers with flame cutting that looked worse than it was. Unsightly? Yes. Compromising the integrity of the frame? No.

__________________
I'm with the banned ...

That would depend on the price, how bad the flame cutting was and what kind of ammunition you intended to shoot.

The original 396 did not have a shield. It should have since some folks then to load 44 Special pretty hot.

Aluminium frames are not chambered for magnum cartridges, Scandium frames are.

I have actually been looking around for the answer to this question since I got a 396 a couple of months ago.
In correspondence with S&W CS in combination with another matter, I asked them a second time.
Considering the source, I deem this to be the final answer:
No bronze brushes in the titanium cylinders.
If someone else gets the same answer from a different tech,
then that would be the final confirmation.

Me:
"I also have received no response to my request for information about the use of a bronze bore brush
in the titanium cylinder chambers. Yes or no?
I usually chuck one in a drill to clean the hard pack at the front of the chambers."

Them:
"REFERENCE NUMBER: LTK111770709XXXX Please use this ticket number in any correspondence with us.

Dear Customer,

Do not do that to a titanium cylinder.

Sincerely,

Paul G"

---
Nemo