Best gun finish

I used to apply industrial coatings to aircraft parts for a living. Hard chrome is a very different thing from the coating you see on cheap guns. Hard chrome is the substance you see on the inside of hydraulic cylinders, chrome lined rifle barrels, high speed industrial tooling etc. It is very durable and rust resistant. The coating you see on cheap guns is like the chrome they used to put on car bumpers back in the day. Not very durable or rust resistant.
 
gun kote is good

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[/IMG]i have been using the product for a long time and love it here is my walther p99
 
I've got a Kahr K40 that has a Black-T finish. Frankly, I'm not impressed. It wears very quickly at the corners and high points of the slide. It is far, far softer than Tenifer.
 
This weapon was industrial hard chromed about 15 years ago. It has seen a lot of use/abuse in those years. If done right, it won't flake, and its incredibly hard. zombie666 is right.
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Ditto industrial hard chrome and its proprietary derivatives like Armaloy, Tanfoglio's "Wonderfinish", etc.

csmsss, with all due respect I believe that what you've seen is not what you think it is. The differences in adhesion and durability between what Sturmgewehre, Shorthair and I are talking about and the conventional "decorative" electroplating, nickel or chromium, I believe you're talking about are profound.

With traditional decorative electroplating the bonding principle is essentially mechanical, much as it is with paint. It is usually applied over a substrate "primer", frequently copper, and basically the only thing holding those in place is the way that they conform to the surface over which they're applied.

With industrial hard chroming and other "electroless" processes, heat and chemistry create a bonding which is actually on a molecular level. The 'plating' becomes an integral part of the base material. It can't chip off or peel unless it takes a chunk of the base metal with it.

There are finishes offering more absolute resistance to the effects of corrosive substances than hard chrome but few, if any, that I know of matching or surpassing it for protection from the effects of contact wear and abrasion.
 
Claddagh
All electroplating is done the same way-including hard chrome. The difference is in surface preparation, hardness of the plated material, and depth of plating. Hard chrome plating uses no great amount of heat.
 
I prefer no finish applied. Just Stainless Steel. Easy to maintain. You can make it glossy or a brushed finish with simple abrasives.
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I second that. With the new non-glare stainless finishes available, I see little reason for carbon steel guns anymore, except maybe for competition shooters (carbon steel bores are supposedly slightly more accurate.)
 
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Actually, I think Bill DeShivs is right on this, my gun had a base (I think he called it a "flash") of copper laid down before the chrome. I knew the plater, he did a few guns for me when I was building .45s about 10 years ago. Never had one chip, or flake. I've dropped mine, dunked it, left it out over night in the rain, generally beat the snot out of it and its as good as it was when I got it back from plating.
I always prepped any gun before I gave it to him, so the surface prep (sandblasting, polishing, etc) before the actual plating process was always my responsibility. You just have to make sure you are absolutely done modding the gun before you plate it, for example, I would mount a Novak low mount rear sight if I didn't have to cut into the slide to do so. Can't do that now....
 
csmss, all those guns you have seen sitting in gun shops with chips and rust underneath are almost certainly nickel, not chrome. My votes are chrome and Birdsong black T
 
All things considered, hard chrome is the most durable finish I've ever seen/used. You don't have it get it shiny, you can get brushed chrome that looks more like stainless. But chrome is nearly impossible to scratch and it doesn't show any signs of holster wear - ever.
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Agreed.... if you dont think hard chroming is tough and resistant, just look at any piece of old worn out construction equipment sitting around.
The rods on the hydraulic cylinders are hard chromed and hardly ever will you see one where its starting to rust. Ive seen cylinders sit unused for 15+ yrs and never rust. Its some tough stuff.
 
Stainless is prone to certain problems. It is softer than carbon steel, so therefore not as durable in hard use. Also, stainless on stainless creates a gauling potential, requiring more care with lubrication. I prefer carbon steel guns, particularly pistols where friction is significant. My favorite finish is Armortuff, which is much harder than some of the others. I haven't had some of the others so I don't know about them, but Armortuff is better than the blued, black oxide, baercoat, or gencoat finishes I've had.
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I'm going to have to disagree with the statement that Stainless is softer than Carbon Steel. The Hardness of either carbon or stainless is due to how it is tempered. Some Carbon Steel is softer than Stainless and the other way around due to the tempering process. Personally I prefer Stainless due to the rust resistance. The Chromium contents of Stainless determine how resistant it is to rust.
 
Ceracoat, Duracoat, sports coat, winter coat, etc. are all painted finishes. The reason they are popular is that they are easier to apply. While these painted finishes are reasonably durable, they are not nearly as durable as plating or nitriding.
 
Stone Cold said:
Stainless is prone to certain problems. It is softer than carbon steel, so therefore not as durable in hard use. Also, stainless on stainless creates a gauling potential, requiring more care with lubrication.
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You know, I've heard the same thing over and over, but I've fired thousands of rounds (maybe even hundreds of thousands of rounds; I haven't kept count) out of stainless steel handguns, both revolvers and autos, and I've never experienced galling or any lack of durability from a stainless steel gun. I fought rust and holster wear on blued guns, but I can carry a stainless gun in all kinds of weather without having to worry about damaging the finish. IMHO, bluing is about the worst finish you can put on a working handgun. Lots of folks think holster wear and scratches add character to a gun, but I don't. These days, I wouldn't carry anything other than a stainless steel handgun.
 
We're very interested in Cerakote, but we can't seem to find a color chart for the firearms finishes. Yes, you can get a few at a time, but there's no summary chart that would allow picking a color in the manner one selects a color at Lowe's to paint a room.

Is there such a chart on the web site? If so, could you give us the URL? If not, is there such a chart in print form one might order?l Thanks for any assistance you may be able to give.

Regards,

Walt
 
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