Nitridox Pro Black vs. Tenifer?

[e.lectronick]

Hey all,

I understand that it has been settled once and for all: The SR9 series of pistols wears either a brushed stainless slide OR a Nitridox Pro Black Alloy Steel slide.

This begs the question: how does the Nitridox SR9 or SR9C stand up against wear and tear and corrosion resistance compared to it's closest competitor; the Glock 19 or 26 with the very well regarded Tenifer finish over alloy steel?

I have not yet heard a satisfactory answer as to what the Nitridox finish is, and whether it is a topical application on the steel, or some sort of molecular bonding, etc...

Who knows and can chime in? In particular, I'd love to hear if anyone has corresponded with Ruger or knows something about metallurgy and finishing and can put in their 2 cents.

Thanks very much
Erik

 

[Tam 212]

Grabbed this from another thread on the .net forum.

"after googling for days for Nitrodox I really couldn't find any info. I decided to send a request to Ruger asking for info and how Nitrodox would compare to Glock's Tenifer treatment. They didn't offer much but here was their response in case anyone is interested:

"This new Nitrodox Pro Black finish is the new salt bath heat treat system. It gives the finish a deeper penetration, and highly rust resistant, which also makes it a more durable. This is not the old system of blued."


Salt bath heat treat system? Has to be similar to Tenifer & Melonite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferritic_nitrocarburizing#Salt_bath_ferritic_nitrocarburizing

As far as which is better. I dunno. Maybe someone needs to subject a Glock, M&P and SR9 to some abrasion and sea water spray torture testing?

 

[Anonymous]

I was concerned that it'd still show wear at some point so I just went with stainless on both guns I have.

 

[ScatterGun4015]

I carry one in a kydex holster and still have yet to put a scratch into it. My buddy's sig on the other hand has some extreme holster wear using the same holster. I am quite pleased with the results

 

[jhearne]

I work in a machine shop and today I sent 103 parts to get Nitrided (Salt Bath Heat Treat). It's a chemical heat treat process that penetrates from .0005-.002" of steel in lighter treatments, it can go deeper if the treatment lasts longer, but that can yield brittle steel. We had a part damaged in the process once from a company we were trying out.

Nitriding is the common commercial equivalent to Ruger's Nitrodox coating. Glock's Tenifer coating is fairly similar if I'm not mistaken.

Over time, the parts can wear, we send lathe spindles (for plywood plants) 5.498" in diameter and they'll come back for repair (needing bushings and such) and the coating is dulled from wear (from heat treated brass bushings). They still measure the same 5.498" diameter, and that's after about 6 months of 24/7 usage at pretty respectable RPMs. If for some reason they don't stay in the field too long and have to come back in a short time under short usage, the finish resembles the Black Ice SR9 models, it's just worn and polished to a right degree. They're also not taken care of by the plants we ship to, or the freight lines for that matter. Nitriding makes surfaces highly resistant to scratches and oxidizing. If ever we screw up and forget to drill a hole, or forget to tap a hole, it's a PITA to fix after treatment.

Safe to say that any of the new pistol's blackened coatings are pretty good, no matter what the manufacturers call them, chemically they're similar enough, just a few things are altered to make it their own proprietary process.

Also, the fact of the SR9 and SR9c blackened models using different steels matters not since they're both treated with the same process. The steel under the coating is different, but the steel that will wear is effectively the same hardness, scratch and rust resistant.

Josh