DuraCoat finishes....?

[faawrenchbndr]

Hey all, I recently had to find a new FFL due to my FFL/Dealer having some major medical problems. I searched and found a FFL/Dealer very close to me. I had a rifle shipped to them and stopped by to pick it up. While I was there, I met the partners of Oakridge Custom Finishing. I got the grand tour of their shop and they explained the DuraCoat process. I am very interested in getting a finish on my ArmaLite M15 National Match rifle. One of the partners is a LEO, I saw one of his "Duty" rifles, which was finished in AlumaHide. I thought that was to be a durable product, but it was worn badly.
Any rate,.....does anyone have any experience with the DuraCoat?

[gundoc]

I go through gallons of it every year and several of my own guns wear DuraCoat. I like it alot.

Doc

[timlt]

Gundoc, I'm curious about 2 other finishes I've heard about, and wonder whether you have any specific knowledge that you could compare them to Duracoat.

The coatings are "Black-T" (which I guess is used on a lot of the 1911's purchased for the FBI), and "NP3" by Robar. I've heard so many things about these two finishes, but am not sure how they would compare to Duracoat. Some people are more cynical about finishes and just say, they're all fairly alike, they all come off eventually. But others will say there are pretty major differences between some of them, and it really does matter which one you choose.

[faawrenchbndr]

Hey Doc,

Can a new rifle have "accents" applied then have a complete satin or matte clear coat applied?

[gundoc]

Not all finishes are created equal. Black T and NP3 are pretty specialized applications and I beleive that NP3 is proprietary to Robar. I apply DuraCoat, GunKote and CeraCoat. Depending on the application I recommend which one I believe is best. They all will wear off just like bluing, but the real differences between them in my opinion is the thickness of the material. DuraCoat is one of the only finishes that can be applied heavy wear areas and still cure properly.

Anything new or old can be accented and then clear coated. The clear is very sensitive to humidity during application so it may take longer for a spray day than with the other finishes.

[timlt]

Have you ever put a black coating over a brightly polished finish, like a polished stainless? I'm considering doing that, but Springfield suggested I might not want to do that, as when the black coating starts to show wear, the shiny surface underneath will show through and look bad compared to a surface that was just parkerized or something.

[gundoc]

That's pretty accurate. The more highly polished the surface, the less adhesion of coatings. Although they will stick, blasting or Parkerizing will give optimal results.

[timlt]

What can you do then with a polished stainless finish to prep it for better adhesion of a coating? Can they just bead blast it, to make the stuff stick better, or is it not that simple? I realize that a lot of people want the polished stainless look, and I agree it looks great when it's new, but wow does it accumulate scratches quickly. I'd rather have something that's a little more robust, that doesn't collect scratches so quickly, so you don't have to think about it.

[gundoc]

The areas that you want coated can masked to allow blasting those areas only to be prepped.

Bead blasting generally produces too smooth a surface. Aluminum oxide is prefferred. The finish Ruger uses on SS is a mix of beads and aluminum oxide to give it a dull finish, but scratches will show the shiny undersurface since the blast is not very deep. The surface can also be prepped with an acid based primer from an auto body paint supplier. This makes a nice surface for folks without blast equipment.

[Marlin 45 carbine]

Doc have you any experience with the bake-on finish from John Norrell called Moly-Resin? supposedly is a very thin coating containing moly-d. fairly pricey it seems.

[gundoc]

I don't, but someone on the board asked me that same question about a year ago and I think they had it applied.