Gun finishes

[Urj]

I'm going to be sending my 1911 to Greg Derr for some work soon, one thing I'm having done is fitting and blending of an Ed Brown memory groove beavertail safety.

I know this will require refinishing the frame so before I decide what to do with everything I want to figure out what to do for a finish. I know I can just get it re-blued, that will take a month.

I've heard of other finishes, duracoat, NP3, Rogard etc. I'm curious what the best finish is, what options are good besides bluing. I want the finish as black as possible, and tough.

The ultimate goal is for this gun to look similar in color scheme to a Kimber CDP series, black frame, stainless parts, stainless slide.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Hanwei]

I can't offer any suggestions... but I can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[Cross-X]

I think you should ask Greg Derr - he's had many guns refinished for his good customers.

 

[M1911]

Most of the black finishes aren't very tough. Traditional bluing is pretty, but scratches easily and is not very corrosion resistant. Low temperature paint-like finishes, e.g., NP3, duracoat, Black-T, etc. are corrosion resistant but are relatively soft and will show holster wear relatively quickly on the high spots. Hard chrome is perhaps the hardest finish, but isn't black.

There were some folks working on ceramic finishes (e.g., boron carbide), but they had issues and I don't know the current status. You might try here:

http://pistolsmith.com/viewforum.php?f=34&sid=2525447fcf47636b05908197167f36a3

 

[Arioch]

I had an officers model 1911 armorcoated. I love the finish. But I don't know if they're still around. Sorry, I think it was Armaloy.

 

[Hanwei]

Actually... can you have someone put the same tenifer finish/process on a 1911 (or any other gun) that Glock uses?

Because if I could put a 1911 through Glock's tenifer process... and have it be as rust resistant as a Glock... I'd do that in a heartbeat.

 

[Bugs100]

This guy is fantastic.. You might get some ideas here.

www.fordsguns.com

 

[Urj]

I think you should ask Greg Derr - he's had many guns refinished for his good customers.

Duh... Why didn't I think of that? As excited as I am about this project, I hate talking to people about this because I feel like asking lots of questions like this is a waste of their time. haha

 

[Scrivener]

Go here:

http://www.richterprecision.com/PVD_CVD_coating_technical_data.htm

Check out the Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) C-10 finish.

 

[M1911]

Actually... can you have someone put the same tenifer finish/process on a 1911 (or any other gun) that Glock uses?

Because if I could put a 1911 through Glock's tenifer process... and have it be as rust resistant as a Glock... I'd do that in a heartbeat.

Tenifer is Glock's tradename for a carbon nitriding finish, over which they put a black parkerized finish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenifer

Apparently there are similar finishes available in the US, e.g., Melonite:

http://coalcreekarmory.com/custom_finishing.html

I don't have any direct experience with Melonite or that company.

 

[Hanwei]

Tenifer is Glock's tradename for a carbon nitriding finish, over which they put a black parkerized finish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenifer

Apparently there are similar finishes available in the US, e.g., Melonite:

http://coalcreekarmory.com/custom_finishing.html

I don't have any direct experience with Melonite or that company.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting. Thanks for the link! I might just have to consider this later on.

 

[vellnueve]

Melonite is used on the M&P.

 

[strangenh]

Low temperature paint-like finishes, e.g., NP3, duracoat, Black-T, etc. are corrosion resistant but are relatively soft and will show holster wear relatively quickly on the high spots.

A quibble - NP3 is electroless nickel + Teflon. It's not painted/baked on. It is an impressive finish, function-wise, and looks really cool, too.

Go here:

http://www.richterprecision.com/PVD_CVD_coating_technical_data.htm

Check out the Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) C-10 finish.

Very cool! Only a few companies are set up to do PVD on small batches at anything resembling a decent price. If they can do it at a decent price in a decent time frame, that rocks. Sig's "Nitron" is the result of a PVD process, as are the latest Beretta sand-resistant mags and Remington all-weather long guns.