Titanium

One of those, "I like the idea of it, but when you think about it it just seems unnecessary."

Titanium guns.  A product of the 90s when the Soviet Union dissolved and Russian titanium commodity metal came online for the rest of the world.

You think, "lighter?  that's a good idea, right?"  Well, yes and no.  You get diminishing returns with the added recoil associated with less mass.  Plus the cost is higher than the composites now available. 

I guess if you insist on lighter metals, the titanium would probably be more durable than a scandium or aluminum gun, but the few connoisseurs that insist on that, is that enough to justify the higher cost?

It didn't help the case for titanium that Taurus was the company that jumped on that bandwagon.  Other unrelated quality issues would cast the material in an ill light.

I think these are reason that Ti was a flash in the pan.  For all I know there were other issues.  Like brittleness or somesuch.  But cost is enough to kill anything.