Re: steel or alloy gunparts
You don't need 7075. 6061T6 is plenty strong for a simple chassis style stock.
Understand a couple things first. "Billet" is a term that's abused often when subjects like this come up.
A "billet" is actually a forged piece of material. You start out with a block thats XxYxZ and beat it into a smaller piece. The idea being is you increase the density of the part, create a specific grain structure, and increase the overall strength of the part.
"Cast billet" is what MOST aluminum parts are machined from. The AL is poured into a mold and thats about it.
A forged billet is obviously stronger than the cast piece. Still, either would be more than enough to put up with what were talking about. I'd venture to guess that 99.9999999% of the chassis stocks out there are done on cast billet blanks.
Just run down to your local metals supply vendor and buy some 6061 T6 and be done with it. You don't need or want titanium. Not unless you want to spend a couple thousand bucks for material, then another frew grand for machining. TI is abrasive and tough on tooling. It's cool-don't get me wrong. Just way overkill for something this simple.
7075 is awesome to machine and I love it to death. It too is quite expensive and its heavier than 6061 because of the forging process. It's best kept for structural parts that see extreme duty. A connecting rod for instance in a car that buzzes along at 10K+ rpm. You don't need something this carried away for a gun stock.
2024 AL would work too but its even more expensive and I don't know if you can buy it in the raw form that you'd need. (flats/bars)
If you went steel, I'd just get a piece of 1018 or 12L14. You could do annealed 4130 but it would cost more.
Just avoid 304SS like the plauge. I'd rather suck start an M1 tank that mess with that shit. Gummy, work hardens if you cuss at it, and it won't make your gun any better.
Good luck.
C.
