Robar NP3, or Hardchrome?

[shark31]

I have heard great and not so great things about this finish. For those of you that have tried it, would you do it again?


I am debating this or hard chrome to refinish a carbon steel 1911. I am looking for two things:

1. Durability: Which will last longer on a firearm without needing to be refinished.
2. (ease of) Maintanence: Which is more corrosion resistant, and which will be easier to clean.

Could some of you 1911 guys help a brother out?

[Dave Berryhill]

Hard chrome is harder but NP3 is more corrosion resistant.

[TOrrock]

I haven't seen anything treated with NP3 wear out....although as stated, hard chrome is a "harder" finish.

[dwenslen]

I had a USP/c treated w/ NP3. The finish was nice, but again, it is a silver finish. I ended up selling the weapon because the finish is slightly "slick/slippery" which made some drills a PITA.
I'd handle one first. If you want toughness and don't mind a silver finish, i think hard chrome is the way to go.
I think i'm about to have another USP refinished in black ceramic.
cheers,
Derek

[rob_s]

I had a pistol in matte hard chrome, and it rusted at about the same rate as matte stainless.

I think that hard chrome is only rust-resistant in it's shinier finishes.

[K.L. Davis]

NP3 is a "doped" nickel plating... Nickel/PTFE

It is a nickle plating with teflon in it, it is far less porous that plain nicklel plating and therefore more corrosion resistant. It is *slippery* it is designed to be... some do not mind, I guess I am not a big fan of it on external surfaces because of the feel; but, for internal parts, it is great stuff.

Hard Chrome is also porous, some methods of HC are made even more porous for the purpose of retaining oil/lube.

But there are trade offs either way... NP3 is a electroless (autocatalytic), there is no concern of HE, but it is not as hard as HC.

Do you care about color or finish appearence at all?

[shark31]

Do you care about color or finish appearence at all?

No, not really at all. My other option was melonite. My goal is to have a coating/treatment that has the following attributes in this order.
1. Corrosion resistance
2. Ease of maintanance

I have a carbon steel colt 1911 that I will use a host for a suppressor, and all the blowback REALLY fowls the factory blue. It's a bitch to clean, and I was just looking for the finish that will let me treat my 1911 more like a glock.

[carshooter]

I have two 1911's done in Black Roguard and NP3, and an HK P7 done in NP3.

I also have an older 1911 done in all hardchrome.

NP3 is a great finish. It's very corrosion resistant, but it does feel kind of slick to the touch, almost like the bottom of a Teflon cooking pan. I carried my P7 almost daily for 3 years before I came to the conclusion that it's manual of arms was too unique. (I finally decided that if I was going to shoot P7's well I was going to have to forsake all other handguns.) It shows no signs of holster wear or wear in general.

Hard Chrome is exactly that, harder. It's worn very well on my 1911. That gun has a much higher round count than my P7, and again, it shows absolutely no finish wear.

If you can stand silver color finishes, Hard Chrome is hard to beat on a 1911.

[davemcdonald]

I have NP3 in the internals on my series 80 and it is great. Cleaning the gun is a snap. Carbon wipes right off. The color is hard to describe. You have to see it and decide for yourself. No rust whatsoever on any of the NP3 parts and the gun has been wearing the finish for 11 years.

I know a two guys that carried a NP3 229 in the Border Patrol. One worked in the San Diego sector with high humidity and salt spray. He claimed that rust was never a problem. The other was stationed in Washington State. The guy in WA, we'll call Frank Cannon, was convinced the NP3 was the best thing you could do to a gun.

Hope this helps

Dave

[K.L. Davis]

No, not really at all. My other option was melonite. My goal is to have a coating/treatment that has the following attributes in this order.
1. Corrosion resistance
2. Ease of maintanance

I have a carbon steel colt 1911 that I will use a host for a suppressor, and all the blowback REALLY fowls the factory blue. It's a bitch to clean, and I was just looking for the finish that will let me treat my 1911 more like a glock.

The first thing that comes to mind for corrosion resistance is high phosphorus eltro nickel (Hi PhEN some call it) -- I am told that is what is on the surface of the disks in computer hard drives... I have worked with small parts plated with it, but never thought of it for a whole finish? Shoot me an IM when you get a chance, I will look into it more.

[Milkman]

Have you ever used Boron Carbide?

[K.L. Davis]

Well... I know that it harder than woodpecker lips, they say Chuck Norris uses Boron Carbide as starch for his underwear?

I have read about people that want to use it, a composite plating... the BC in suspension in EN -- but I have no freakin idea how that would happen -- I am a knuckle dragger, remember :p

What is pretty freaking hard, and I have seen used, is DLC and ADLC coatings.

[Milkman]

...they say Chuck Norris uses Boron Carbide as starch for his underwear?



WOW, that is hard.

Anyone interested here is a quick write up. LINK (http://www.blindhogg.com/boroncarbide.html)

[K.L. Davis]

WOW, that is hard.

Anyone interested here is a quick write up. LINK (http://www.blindhogg.com/boroncarbide.html)

Well... I guess I have seen Boron Carbide, I did not realize that DiamondBlack is BC -- Also, the last time I taked to Darrel Lewis, Diamond Black had become part of Bodycote and Darrel was working there.

[shark31]

I guess I should say that what I'm looking for is not so much a finish that will stay looking good, or start off looking good in the first place. I'm really just looking for a hard, rust resistant coating that would be very easy to clean, emphasis on the easy to clean and rust resistant.

If the ideal treatment would make the pistol look like it was case hardened in a burn shitter, I could care less.:D

[dwenslen]

I'm about to have a HK USP slide refinished in matte black ceramic finish-supposed to be very hard, abrasion resistant and corrosion resistant. getting it done at http://www.ccr-refinishing.com/
NP3 is best described as a dark grey, but not a beadblasted finish.
cheers,
Derek

[Milkman]

never mind.