Scandium frames???

[airman]

Hey, we all need a teacher now and then, else how would we know anything?
Regarding scandium - I owned a 'scandium' 642. It worked fine and I had it all slicked up, even added a laser, then traded it for a stainless steel revolver, a 60-4, to reduce the pain of recoil.

 

[jessegpresley]

Hey, we all need a teacher now and then, else how would we know anything?
Regarding scandium - I owned a 'scandium' 642. It worked fine and I had it all slicked up, even added a laser, then traded it for a stainless steel revolver, a 60-4, to reduce the pain of recoil.

642 is aluminum, maybe you mean a 342?

 

[Broadside]

Although I've not used my Ph.D. in metallurgy and materials science professionally for many years, I do know that S&W does not make revolver frames from scandium. Scandium is a rare-earth metal [originally mined in Scandinavia] that is used almost exclusively as an alloying agent to improve the properties of aluminum alloys. These alloys generally contain between 0.1 to 0.5% scandium. (from Wikipedia article on scandium: The American gunmaking company Smith & Wesson produces revolvers with frames composed of scandium alloy and cylinders of titanium.) I suppose they really should have said it was an aluminum-scandium alloy, just as they should have said the cylinders are a titanium-based alloy. Heck, almost everything is an alloy; even 18k gold has 25% of copper and nickel in it.

I just found this article which may help explain: Straight scoop on scandium | Guns Magazine | Find Articles at BNET

This is certainly an informative post. While this information is probably common knowledge among many on this forum, it is most likely new information to at least a few.

The question that I have and have yet to see answered is in regards to the strength of the aluminum/scandium alloy as compared to S&W's standard aluminum alloy found in their Airweight series of revolvers. How much, if any, does the addition of the scandium element increase the strength or durability of the frame over a standard aluminum alloy frame?