Saw an ad....

[Tom W]

For Cerracote. Is it better than Duracoat? I'm thinking of having the slide and barrel done on my LC9s Pro.

 

[contender]

Our member RoninPa does it. He recently did an excellent job on a very rough SA I have. I think it's a good way to go IF you need or want a different finish. I've never bothered with Duracoat.

 

[RoninPA]

Cerakote is far superior to Duracote in my opinion. I did a LOT of research on coatings before I settled on Cerakote for my business and I've been doing it for about 7-8 years now. Cerakote is a two part ceramic based coating and is normally heat cured although the do make an air cured product. The parent company, NIC Industries, is probably the leader in industrial metals coatings. If you see a gun coming from a manufacturer that is something other than blued, there is a 99% chance that it is Cerakote. I do know that Aero Precision, Ruger, FN, and others use Cerakote.

That said, for a slide, it is great, for a barrel inside a semi auto, it will work but it will wear just like a blued barrel. Typically I get calls to Cerakote the frame and slide for semi autos, sometimes even the small parts like the slide release, mag release and exposed screw heads. These can all be done, you just have to prep them correctly. Just like for any paint job, the prep work is the thing you have to get right to have the job come out good.

For a fixed barrel firearm, like a rifle or shotgun, it works great and provides much more protection that bluing or other coatings.

You can also Cerakote polymer frames, You just cure the polymer a bit differently so you don't take the chance of warping it.

If you have any questions about Cerakote or the process, just let me know and I'd be glad to try to answer your questions.

Here is a Glock I did for myself (I was tired of all black guns):


And 22/45 (My client wanted it this color because that is what his little girl wanted. I also did an AR upper and lower in this color):

 

[rkrcpa]

How does Cerakote rate as a finish for an aluminum XR3 grip frame? Can you acheive a gloss finish similar to blue or is it always a matte finish?

 

[awp101]

For a fixed barrel firearm, like a rifle or shotgun, it works great and provides much more protection that bluing or other coatings.

Is there a way to get a gloss or shine like the old mirror blue or royal blue S&W and Colt used to do? I know it won't recreate the old bluing results and the depth of finish won't be there but I'm curious since I think all I've ever seen are flat and a sort of satin finish on Cerakoted and Duracoated firearms.

My client wanted it this color because that is what his little girl wanted.

And what Daddy's girl wants, Daddy's girl gets! :lol:

 

[RoninPA]

With any coating you won't get a true deep gloss like bluing, especially like the old Colt Royal blue or the 60's and 70's Smith and Wesson bluing. You can get a good semi gloss in the colors that are darker (Midnight Blue, Graphite Black, etc.) but you'll not get a true gloss. Now they do make a clear coat but I haven't worked with it yet but it still won't replicate a good bluing job (but it will protect the metal better )

I've found that the typical Cerkote customer is looking to protect or restore a firearm so it looks good and is well protected, but not looking to restore it to it's original condition. I do a lot of work on people's EDC or hunting guns, or guns that may be used harder than normal and they want a good corrosion resistance coating.

That said, you make make an older, not necessarily well maintained gun look pretty darn nice looking.

As for an aluminum grip frame, it works very well and will last a surprisingly long time.

 

[NikA]

I've been wondering specifically about Cerakoting older revolvers, where either the blue or nickel finish is significantly worn off and there is perhaps some lighter surface rust. Is it necessary to blast the nickel finish off to allow the Cerakote to stick the underlying metal? Is there any practical difference in preparing a blued gun versus one that has been nickel or chrome plated? How much more complicated is it in terms of disassembly to Cerakote an older revolver than a pistol? I've looked at local places, and since most of their business is AR-15s and plastic pistols, I'm not at all confident they'll do an acceptable job.

 

[RoninPA]

NikA,
I'm doing this on my iPad right now and for me it's getting late ( I get up early and go to bed early) so in the morning I explain what I do and how it is done. Everyone has their own thoughts and I'll pass on mine to give you as much info as possible.

 

[RoninPA]

Ok, to add some more,

Doing revolvers or pistols, new or old, SA, DA or SA/DA is really not a problem. Personally, I like to have the complete handgun when it comes for Cerakoting. That way, I disassemble it, Cerakote it and I reassemble it, that way I know that it functions correctly before going back to the customer. I have many books that show the breakdown of even old revolvers and pistols and many times I will take pictures to remind myself how the parts go back together. I have never had a gun apart that I couldn't get back together (I learned my lesson early on to make sure I have a good exploded diagram, or a assembly/disassembly book or pictures). Also, if the Cerakote changes any dimensions where pins/screws go, I know that and can fix the situation before returning it.

As for the prep, anything getting Cerakoted needs to have a roughed up surface (and by the way, you can Cerakote anything that it will stick to, including wood). The typical way to roughen the surface is to blast it (etch) with aluminum oxide. I used 120 grit or finer (depending on the firearm). Glass beads will not work because they do not etch the metal. Once it is blasted it is soaked (normally in acetone or another degreaser) to remove all the grease/oil and then heated to make sure no grease/oil remain. You do a final soaking/cleaning and let it air dry. Once completely dried, it is sprayed and air dried for about 10 minutes and then cured in a drying/curing oven for several hours at different heats depending on the material (polymer frames get cured at a lower temperature to insure they don't warp).

Nickel and chrome plated guns will accept Cerakote, they get blasted just the same as any other metal. If the nickel or chrome is flaking off, you need to remove as much as possible before blasting. The blasting should remove any other loose nickel or chrome material as well as any rust. Blasting WILL NOT remove deeper rust pits but it will remove any rust in the pits. The pits will show up after Cerakoting and if they are real bad, they can be filled with something or even welded if extremely bad and deep, then smoothed to the contour needed.

If the nickel or chrome is intact, you blast the parts to be coated and clean them as normal and then coat. The Cerakote will seal the gun so that nothing can get under the nickel or chrome so it shouldn't flake off (I've done two so far and they've been fine).

Here are a few examples of Cerakote. I have done other SA's but that was early on and I was stupid and didn't take pictures. I have Cerakoted older Taurus revolvers and pistols, S&W J frame EDC guns, Colts (no SA's though), Rugers (of course), Rossi's, Old WWI and WWII pistols (not collectibles), European pistols (knock off's of Brownings and Colts), and many others and I have had no complaints so far that the customers were unhappy with the Cerakote.





Here is a before and after, this one was pretty bad and you can see in the after picture that you can see the pits but it still looks pretty good. A customer brought this to me and it became his EDC gun after he got it back.




This Colt was hard to put back together just because of the way they are assembled. It did have to go back to Colt because of some other problems that I just could not get worked out. They did the fix and returned it to me and I sold it; I shouldn't have :




This was my first Glock, I did this because I was tired of all black guns:










I've been doing this long enough now that I completely trust Cerakote to perform as it is advertised as long as I do my part in prepping the guns correctly. Not one of my customers that have had guns Cerakoted have ever complained to me about it and these are long time customers who will let me know if they are not happy with something.

 

[2sheriffs]

I have a Old Model Flat Gate Single Six and a Flat Top 357 that I had the grip frames redone with Cerekote and they turned out really nice. You can't hardly tell them apart from the factory anodized grip frames. I don't know what shade they used. I told them to match the factory finish as close as possible and I wasn't disappointed.
Ron

 

[clintsfolly]

Roninpa I have a LCP that lives in my pants pocket! What would it cost to coat my slide?

 

[RoninPA]

Roninpa I have a LCP that lives in my pants pocket! What would it cost to coat my slide?

I'll send you a PM in the morning outlining my charges and what you get for the money.

Any idea what color you want if other than black?

 

[RoninPA]

Roninpa I have a LCP that lives in my pants pocket! What would it cost to coat my slide?

Sent you a PM hopefully explaining everything.

 

[awp101]

With any coating you won't get a true deep gloss like bluing, especially like the old Colt Royal blue or the 60's and 70's Smith and Wesson bluing. You can get a good semi gloss in the colors that are darker (Midnight Blue, Graphite Black, etc.) but you'll not get a true gloss. Now they do make a clear coat but I haven't worked with it yet but it still won't replicate a good bluing job (but it will protect the metal better )

Thanks, I was curious about that.