Cerakote: Have You Used It?

S

Single Six

New member
If so, what are your impressions of this aftermarket firearms finish, and more importantly, how has it held up on your gun? I have an outfit in my neck of the woods that applies it to handguns for $65.00, and to magazines for $7.00. Still, I thought I'd ask for some actual user feedback before proceeding. Any and all input appreciated; thanks, guys.
 
Hmm....3 days now and no response. Apparently, those of us who have never used it far outnumber those who have. Oh, well...
 
There are several products like this and I haven't personally tried them but have been thinking about giving it a shot on a couple carry guns.

The guy that ran my local shop was big into rebuilding 870's for local police forces and he used this type of stuff on all of them. He said it worked great as long as you baked it on and he even used it on internal parts. I can't remember now if he was using cerakote of duracote though and he recently passed away so I can't ask either :(
he did say it smelled bad and recommended you not try it in your wifes oven:p


For $65 you can get enough product to do several guns, so if its an old beater gun you're trying to bring back, or just a cheap piece you don't mind experimenting on you may just want to give it a shot yourself.

Wheeler Engineering makes an aerasol product in flat black thats about $30 for a 4oz can. Doesn't say anything about having to be baked on.

Duracote has to be sprayed on and you can get just the product for less than $20, or a kit with a one time spray applicator for about $30. Directions say you don't have to bake it if you don't want to.

I'd like to coat my LCP but haven't made the time to do it yet.
 
Cera Plate

CCR Refinishing Ceraplated a PPS & a G26 for me. Both are daily carry weapons. The Ceraplate II process gives me peace of mind when the pistols are subjected to moisture and other less than desireable conditions. Looks good, too. Less maintenance. I had the slide assemblies & barrels done. 2 week turn-around About $ 100.00 per gun.
 
I just got three gun slides and barrels cerakoted, two that were scratched (G23 Gen4 and XDM 3.8 compact) and one that just had a terrible factory finish (Kel Tec P3AT Gen 2). I just got them yesterday and have yet to test them. What I did notice is that the oil just practically beads up on the surface instead of staying put. The other thing that happened is that initially the guns seemed gritty. Some of the cerakote rubbed off in the rails as would be expected, but unexpectedly hindered the smoothness of racking the slides.

So I lubed each with grease and oil, racked the slides repeatedly and then stripped and cleaned the rails. Quite a bit of black attached itself to the Q-tips. I repeated the above procedures using liberal amounts of lube each time for about 4-5 times per gun. Finally, the grittiness went away and the smoothness returned. The slide rails began to show silver, i.e. removal of the cerakote. That didn't bother me. What did bother me was that the cerakote particals seemed to act like sand, instead of molybdenum (i.e. lubing particals) of duracoat wear. Not good. So it is important to me to get out the loose particals before I shoot these guns. I seem to have done that, but will clean each once again before my first range trip back with them.

I can't tell you how durable cerakote is yet, but I can tell you that as with every aftermarket coating, it isn't perfect. After some time and successive malfunction-free rounds later, I will feel better. Right now, the jury is still out, as it would be no matter what.
 
Just checked my three. They are noticeable smoother as a result of my efforts and the Glock (which has received the most attention thus far) is downright smoother than it was before I sent it off (I believe). The other two still need another cleaning before the range, but they are coming along -- especially the Kel Tec, which was scary gritty and unsmooth, but is now almost ready to go.

I should also mention that the silver color emerging is a dull, i.e. partial removal of the cerakote and not a gall. It is an even wear pattern. Who knows...maybe in the end the guns will behave better than they did before they got coated. I'll keep you posted.
 
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