All these finishes!

R

Romulus

New member
Wilson has Armor-Tuff, then there's Gunkote, Arizonaresponse has Metacol 3, and then Trippsystems, etc...

I seriously doubt these outfits have manufacturing facilities for churning out proprietary epoxy phenolic resins or whatever they are...do they all get the coatings from that guy in Arkansas?

Does any one know who concocts this stuff? And how much better is it really than parkerizing or a good blue job? I've been struggling with the right finish for a couple of implements for a while, but I'd like to know more before even thinking of sending out for a refinish...

Replies would be welcome, especially those that shed light on the chemistry of these coatings (teflon-moly is understandable, but "phenolic resins?")

Thanks
 
Rom: I`ve tried all those finishes you mentioned and then some. Every time a customer wants a black finish like that I tell him the limitations of such a finish. I`ll tell you the same. They are basically a high tech paint job. The metal is degreased, sand blasted , some people will then parkerize and then the finished is sprayed on then it goes into the oven. Thats it. As far as I`m concerned they can call it what they want: Armor tuff, Armor coat, Black T, Black Robar etc...they all wear about the same. While they do offer good resistance to rust their durability has always been in question. I had Armor tuff applied to a customers gun I built him for IDPA and after drawing the gun in an out of the holster in practice the finish immeadietly started showing wear. If its durability your after you can`t beat hard chrome. As a side note I did try buying the chemicals from that guy in Arkansas and applying it myself. The finish came out looking exactly like the finishes you pay 150.00 bucks for. Good luck
David
http://www.santurriltd.com
 
Rom, check out the cult of the P7 over at http://www.parkcitiestactical.com P7 owners, me included are very finicky about their guns and if you do a search with key words metalife, black-t, refinishing, you will find a wealth of info. I was looking for a durable black finish for my P7 and was all set to gunkote it and the guys over there straightned me out...yes, they are mostly paint on finishes except for hard chrome...check out the pics of some of the P7s that were done by Horace Ford and Metalife. Nice work...same price as those spray ons and will outlast you, me and the gun...
 
BTW, you mentioned techplate in a post last month. Do you have any experience with them? They are local so I was thinking of saving the shipping to metalife or Ford and using them but no one has commented on them yet. Have you seen any of their hard chroming? Love to know...
 
Don'tShoot, I only know about Techplate because of all the surfing I've done in the last few months to find out more about gun finishes. All I know is that they are quite willing to entertain questions, they also have a picture gallery of guns they've refinished - look good to me. As far as the other finishes are concerned, I talked to a refinisher, was all set to send my 1911 out until I read something about them being high tech paint...I figured I needed a little more time to investigate, and your replies seem to bear it out.

My thanks to you for your time and professional opinions, gentlemen
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top