Shop Asking Too Much For Cerakoating?

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Dragline45

New member
Am I out of touch or are these cerakote prices way out of line? I was thinking about having my 22/45 and a couple small parts cerakoated and went to the page of a local shop to check out their pricing. For those prices I would rather buy an air compressor and cerakoate it myself.

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Looks like im not charging enough.
Although, i dont do much cerakoting. Ive done it, not a big fan. Mostly do moly resin. But, there isnt much difference, except you can put moly resin everywhere but the bore, and i usually do inside and out, for not that much.
 
The place that butchered my last barrel rechamber job offered to CeraCote the do-over for $150(regular price $250) as a consolation for the mistake.
 
Am I out of touch or are these cerakote prices way out of line?
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No, those are about right. Cerakote material is pretty expensive and has a short shelf life, so it is more expensive to do Cerakote than to do GunKote or Duracoat. Plus, it is on the "too cool" list, so that adds a bit to it.
 
Thanks for the replies. I am just going to spend a bit more and buy an air compressor and a setup to do it myself, will probably only cost me about $50 more to buy everything myself, and now I can stop borrowing my buddies when I want to bead blast.
 
Thanks for the replies. I am just going to spend a bit more and buy an air compressor and a setup to do it myself, will probably only cost me about $50 more to buy everything myself, and now I can stop borrowing my buddies when I want to bead blast.
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Scorch is right- the material is 4x the cost. I primarily use Gun-Kote because of this and the smaller size of my jobs- but material cost is not insignificant with Cerakote.

You need a lot more than an air compressor. Solvent soak tank (to degrease correctly). You need an oven large enough to hang the barreled action- and the range/stove at your house most likely won't cut it. Then you need an airbrush or HVLP setup.

If you're going to DIY, you might just want to go with Duracoat. Not as durable, but you don't need to blast, or bake- and you can do it with a $7 Preval sprayer from your hardware store.

That all said, you didn't specify whether you wanted the only the barreled action painted, or the stock along with it...

The "price sheet" also didn't differentiate between semi's, and bolt guns.

But, I would say those prices are towards the high end.
 
Didn't realize the process for cerakote was so different than duracoat. I will probably just end up getting an air compressor and duracoating it myself, I have been meaning to buy one for a while now anyway. It's a Ruger 22/45, not a terribly expensive gun and it doesn't see much use other than the range, so the difference in durability between duracoat and cerakote isn't a huge concern.

Normally I wouldn't care about refinishing a range toy, but the finish Ruger put on the gun was extremely thin, and some idiots at my range stapled dozens of staples into the surface of all the benches than destroyed the finish. Lesson learned, bring a mat or towel next time to lay the guns on.
 
You can get your guns hard chromed for those prices, and nitride coated for just a little more!
But, those finishes are just ultra durable, and not cool like paint. :rolleyes:
 
I used this shop and he must be losing money with his prices if your guy has normal prices:
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Anything firearm related in MA tends to cost a bit more than other states, mainly because there aren't as many gun owners so they don't rack up nearly as much business. Even so I still find the prices I listed high.
 
I would have left the shop! ;)

Seriously- the gun paints are the modern alternative to rebluing, but there is no real "art" to applying spray paint. It does take practice, but really- you're just painting the gun. It's not nearly as labor-intensive as bluing, plating, or nitriding. It doesn't take heated tanks, caustic chemicals, or major polishing. No rectifiers or cyanide-laced chemicals-or no 200 thousand dollar machine to apply it.
All it requires is a bead blaster, an air compressor, an airbrush, and some crude type of hot box.

Now, someone please tell me why painting a gun costs as much as a far superior coating?
 
Bill DeShivs,

There's only so much customers will pay for a service, and a lot is according to the location. Here, you can't get that kind of money, either.

I'm like you on bluing. It's according to the gun, and whether it will need draw filing or not, on how long it takes to polish. Then, if it is complete refinish, there is sanding, fixing, and finishing the stock/forearm. That can take from one to two days, total. However, I averaged mine, between the better jobs, and was able to refinish, meaning hot caustic bluing, and Tru-oil wood finish, for around $200.00 on long guns, and less on pistols. The chemicals, in hot bluing, once you're set up and running, isn't that costly to keep it going, but you have to pay that start-up off, in order to start turning a profit. It can take about 15 to 20 long guns to do it today, at $200.00 a pop.

I had added anodizing, too, as that is the only way to make a factory refinish complete. Most use paint on trigger guards, and other aluminum parts, but mine was put in a plating bath, and dyed.
 
I dont know why everybody thinks cerakote costs so much. Cost almost the same as moly resin, just over duracoat.

The one big difference ive seen in spray on jobs is that most just spray the outside.
Thats a lot to just spray the outside.
 
150.00 for disassembly /assembly
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Sorry but if any shop tried to charge me $150 for dissassemnly/assembly I am bringing them the gun in pieces, that's a bit ridiculous. I can detail strip any gun in a matter of a few minutes.
 
Those TechPlate prices are ridiculous!
You can find much better pricing for plating.
My point is, regardless of dis/re assembly, that painting a gun is a much inferior process than plating or nitriding. While it is a better finish than bluing, it may not be an appropriate finish for many guns that were originally blued.
If you are trying to replicate an original blued finish, paint is not the way to go.

If you are going to the expense and trouble of refinishing a gun, why not use a superior finish? I understand painting a cheap single shot shotgun, BTW.
 
I agree bluing is much nicer, although not the most durable.
Some of the others, hard chrome, nitriding come to mind are definitely more durable.
Any spray on finish is going to wear eventually, some quicker than others.
Mostly, i spray guns where the customer wants as close to a weatherproof finish as can be reasonably done, and non reflective if not somewhat to blend in, for field use. These are everyday working guns, tools.

I pretty much stick to moly resin. While it goes on like a paint, its not. Its a liquid phenolic that is heat cured. It has molybdenum mixed into it. Therefore, it goes on very thin. I can put it almost anywhere. Yes, alumahyde and duracoat are epoxy paints. Cerakote appears to be a ceramic based epoxy paint. Havent messed with gunkote. These others go on rather thick, as paints. They have a hardener which must be mixed in, except alumahyde.
In our experience wear resistance goes up from alumahyde to duracoat, to moly resin to cerakote.
Yes, hard chrome, nitriding, will be way harder.

No, spray on finishes arent the answer to everything, and i have debated with and talked customers out of doing guns that it would be a disservice to.
Its not necessarily pretty, but utilitarian.
 
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