Calling all bead blasting maestros.....

S

Sterling

New member
Im considering bead blasting just the slide on my fs 1911 to my knowledge its a forged steel unit parkerized. Strictly for cosmetic reasons as I plan to mimic the first Ruger SR1911 look a non glaring bead blasted ss gun. I was willing to buy a ss 1911 but in 9mm all were more than 750$ out of my budget. So I went with what was available, parkerized. So my question is after bead blasting aside from a light coat of silicone or gun oil is there any chemical coating or spray to keep it from rusting or turning color. Or should it be fine with just bead blasting. Help me out here.
 
So long as the bead blasted surface is parkerized, blued or painted (cerakote, duracote, name-your-paint), it is protected.

If you leave it bare (bead blasted and that's it), it will rust. Note: You can rub in a coat of RIG gun grease to protect the bead blasted finish. Follow the instructions. If the slide will never be used again, you should use Renaissance Wax (apply as you would RIG).
 
Can it be used with Rig gun grease. What will the surface look like. Btw its a range gun only. As I do not carry with it. When not shooting at the range Its either in a foam box or holster.
 
Certainly it can be used, but the protection won't last with any degree of handling. That's why it's blued or parkerized or painted or plated.

Look up my instructions for Express Bluing. It's a bluing finish that can be done at home and is more durable than hot blue.
 
I did a test years ago to determine rust preventive effectiveness using a piece of cold roll steel. I milled slots in several sections and then surface ground it to remove all traces of oil. After cleaning all sections with alcohol, I then treated each section with a different product. I used car wax, WD40, motor oil, hoppes #9 , 3 in one oil, Boe Shield and Rig.
I then put this test sample in my back yard in South Florida which I consider it to be the rust capital of the world. Most rusted overnight except hoppes , Rig and Boe Shield. In the end Rig and Boe Shield was the best and never rusted. If you are not familiar with Boe Shield, it was developed by Boeing and is a spray that puts a wax like coating on surfaces.....Great for battery terminals.
Not having any Boe Shield now I use Rig on all my guns that I am storing now.
 
So getting a bead blasted look from a once parkerized slide is out of the question. What if I use heat resistant 400° clear coat spray ?
 
Proper hard chrome gives a matt finish. This is because first you reverse plate to give a chemically clean surface then it is plated .Then the plating won't peel off ! If you want shine then you polish it.
 
Spoke to a guy that does duracoat on guns. Gona ask him about duracoat clear on my bead blasted slide. I beleive thats as close to factory looking for my needs.
 
Duracoat and Ceracoat are paints. They do not wear as well as hard chrome- which is a lifetime finish.
It seems the guys who paint guns charge nearly as much as the platers do.
 
Will hard chrome plating make it look shiny. Or is that something the tech can control shiny vs dull ?
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Hard chrome is a transparent finish, like bluing whatever the metal prep looks like is how the finish looks.

Hard chrome is a very good and tough finish, one I certainly prefer over paint, that being said it will rust.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
It seems the guys who paint guns charge nearly as much as the platers do.
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I don't know the amount of time involved in prep work for plating, so I can't comment.

But you make it sound as though those of us that "paint" guns just grab a paint brush, or HVLP and shoot it like any monkey could do.

Trust me, it ain't so :rolleyes:
 
I know properly applying the gun paints is a painstaking process.
It's about the same process that is used for HC plating, but the end result is much inferior.
 
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