gun finishes?

[Ga45fan]

I'm looking to refinish a stainless steel gun to a black or dark grey finish. I'm searching for a highly corrosion resistant finish that will easily take some abuse, salt or brackess water, sweat, probably no "real" chemical exposure. I'll probably "do" the entire gun except replaceable springs. It'd be great if it would also take a normal amount of abuse from a plastic holser and firing wear, malfunction clearing etc. So basically a very thin durable coating that is suitable for stainless steel that gives a black or very dark grey finish.

Does anyone have any experience with an aftermarket finish that you've found to meet those demands?

many thanks.

[pofboom]

Get it Duracoated or CeraKoted by a competent gunsmith because I have a friend who did that with his AR and he did it a year ago and the paint still has not worn out. The only problem is that you will not be able to you use your gun for about 4 weeks to allow proper settling.

[varoadking]

Melonite...

[bkb0000]

the stainless steel is already highly corrosion resistant.. unless you paint on something that isn't, that isn't going to change.

a good finisher can blacken the steel with a hot sodium dichromate bath or sulphuric acid/potassium dichromate treatment. these are not things you can do in your garage, however. AFAIK, the only thing you can "do it yourself" to stainless is paint. i'd suggest getting it blasted first, if it's anything but matte.

[opmike]

Coal Creek Armory offers their ferritic nitrocarburizing/Melonite under the name "Isonite QPQ" . They will apply it to stainless. I've not dealt with the company personally, so I have no idea how their customer service is.

http://www.coalcreekarmory.com/custom_finishing.html

[Lucky Strike]

I've got a slide that was cerakoted sniper grey....looks cool but after about 5 months of regular IPSC and Steel Challenge matches, a defensive pistol course and just general range shooting it is starting to show some slide wear from my kydex holster.

If you want something really durable you could go with Ionbond coating....Springer Precision does it. After a while I'll likely send my slide back in to Springer (they did the cerakoting) to get the Ionbond coating. Only downside to ionbond is it only comes in one color (black) but since that's a color you're looking for it shouldn't be an issue.

I've got my BCG in my AR ionbonded and it's definitely a cool coating....makes the thing super easy to clean.

[1911pro]

I rust everything that I put my hands on except Black T and Melonite. Each finish will wear off with time, but will not rust at the worn spots.

[Mjolnir]

W DLC is what I'd recommend. It's the coating Sig uses on it's blackened pistol slides.

Ionbond is the company that applies it.

[13F3OL7]

He would have to go through a company like Springer Precision, who was mentioned earlier, for the Ionbond coating. Ionbond only takes in work from FFL holders. Unless that's changed from what I read a while ago.

[Lucky Strike]

W DLC is what I'd recommend. It's the coating Sig uses on it's blackened pistol slides.

Ionbond is the company that applies it.


Yeah i keep mixing up the company name and actual coating name.

The DLC coating is sweet.

[noops]

I've had one gun done by CCR Refinishing (Sig 228) and it was pretty good. Another 228 and a P7 done by GrayGuns in their custom SuperBlack (some slightly modified Melonite) and that was great also. I probably prefer the Grayguns, but both have been nicely resistent to living at the foot of the temperate rain forest where absolutely everything rusts overnight.