Firearms finishes: Parkerizing and "matte blue"

[Slater]

Remington uses a "matte blue" (which is basically Blueing over a beadblasted surface) on some of their 870 Express series guns. Mossberg, in the last couple years or so, seem to have have stopped Parkerizing and also gone to matte blue on the HD/tactical versions of their 500/590 guns.

So is this matte blue process cheaper, faster or more environmentally friendly than Parkerizing (or maybe a combination of the three)? It doesn't seem as durable as a Parked finish.

[K.L. Davis]

Parkerizing, or more correctly Zinc Phosphate has been largely replaced with Manganese Phosphate to get away from using Zinc... but still the waste product is a hassle with the DEQ/EPA folks. Heavy metal waste :mad:

[BlueForce]

So is this matte blue process cheaper, faster or more environmentally friendly than Parkerizing (or maybe a combination of the three)? It doesn't seem as durable as a Parked finish.

It is not as corrosion resistant. If done right it looks very similar.