Loves2Shoot

We do the custom coating for IonBond North America and you would not believe some of the things we get calls about rumors that are spread on the internet. Either overly praising or hypercritical. The DLC (DiamondBLACK) finish is a hard carbon coating that CAN NOT make softer metals super hard and indestructible, most will note that the softer metal parts will wear faster than hard parts. Mix hard parts with soft parts, and one will wear (ie fp stop versus hammer face.) The coating is also oriented a bit. There will be more coating on the outside of a slide than on the inside. If you gouge steel (ie a magwell) you will remove the steel and the coating with it. The same will happen with hard rocks or sand embedded in a Kydex holster. Some people want to DLC coat aluminum, but it is so soft we suggest using Class III hard anodizing. SS is generally softer also, so mag wells WILL gouge if you miss, spring steel against soft steel or aluminum, spring steel wins. How many of you have slides that peen over or have small burrs in the area of the slide stop? If you move the base metal the coating will move also. Hard chrome is super thick it comparison, so though you may still scratch it is is thick so you may not get all the way through it. DLC is about 4-5 microns and so there will be a short time where it is tighter, and if you coat the sear and hammer, you will need to do work to them after coating. You are adding material to a generally mirror type finish if you have a good trigger. All in all we do a lot of coating and if you understand how the coating works your expectations will most likely be met or exceeded. If you think it is "magic" you will not have your expectations met. Coatings are not magic, they are subject to the laws of physics. The machines at IonBond are very busy and most of the time is spent coating for major manufacturers and under many trade names and in many formulations. I have several demo slide that have been through Shot and have been severely abused by anyone who wanted to, I can post if you wish. I also have a slide that we let customers sand with 600 grit sand paper. Can aluminum oxide scratch though thte caoting? Yes, if you have a big enough sharp piece. There is NO WAY CeraKote comes close to out performing DiamondBLACK, or the other PVD coatings with lesser hardness, and we do a fair amount of CeraKote finishing. I'm not knocking the product, but it does not even come close to the durability of the PVD for wear, but I do know the limitations of it's performance and use it when it meet the performance and price requirement of a customer. Knowing proper application and limitations are very important if you want to meet your expectations. 541-480-5546 we can help you understand the applications as we daily get people who want to coat things in a way that is not appropriate to their expectations and we'll do the best to we to give you straight dope. We'll do what you request, but if you want to do something that doesn't make sense to us we will let you know what we think.

Agreed. I don't use the MIG for small precise work, just big quick stuff.

I do.

Awesome! Good luck on the price, but now is a very good time to buy if you can.

Sign shops who have a laser can zap out the patterns super fast also. Once upon a time I made some pouches up, it is amazing how different people solve the sames problems in such similar ways

"Shooting is simple, simple does not mean easy." TGO Sounds like you are on the right track to me. If you keep at it and push through the blood and sweat, eventually you will get it and when you do you will realize that the better you get, the harder it gets. The journey never ends and no GM I know thinks they are as good as you described, they all have areas they want to "polish." That is why they end up at the top of the heap, they don't quit. Good luck and keep at it!

About anything can be done with enough time and money. That said, the advise above would be worth listening to in my opinion.

Rule: F. Hold the magazine within 10 degrees of vertical (80-100° to the ground) position on the belt, no substantial forward or rear cant. Robert Ray's clarification I got to mag pouch angle was rules says straight up no significant cant, BUT they added the max angle to be 10 degrees because of the XD/XDm mag holsters, so those that use adjustable mag pouches and cant them up to 10 degrees also. They could have left off the "no substantial forward or rear cant" as they intend the rule to read, "Hold the magazine within 10 degrees of vertical on the belt." OR (more clearly I think) "Hold the magazine canted no more than 10 degrees to the front or rear from vertical."

There are 3 companies I know of "working on it." I would not suggest buying one from someone who is "new" to making conversions.

I loved the into showing his training half pipe with the HUGE foam pit (with the Red Bull labeled foam blocks.) Nothing like having the right tools, especially when you are flying.

Just got off the phone with Robert Ray, panel cuts where serrations should be are fine (ala the photo I posted.) Panel cuts in areas NOT in the vicinity of typical front cocking serrations are not ok.

Joe, The reason I mentioned "slide lightening" is because that is what the posters in the thread are referring to to make it "illegal" I was using the slide weight to give folks a "reality check" about weights. from the IDPA rulebook index = "Slide, lightening: Removal of portions of the slide to gain a competitive advantage." Per the IDPA rule book for 1911's (ESP and CDP) PERMITTED Modifications (Inclusive list): SSP - 8. Cosmetic checkering/serrating. ESP - 7. Cosmetic checkering/serrating. That is all it is folks, just another common way to do the front serrations, just one cut.

My point was not "oh it's only serrations," per my previous post, there are MANY types of front cuts on 1911 slide, and the one he did (and the picture I posted) is common. Comparing common 1911 slides is not the same as trying to compare two dissimilar products. Since you could not put a XD slide on an M&P but you could take the lighter STI slide and put it one your frame and it would be legal should make the logic more clear. The rules say cuts for "slide lightening" and "competitive advantage" are not legal, not that you can't change your cocking serrations, or remove them. I posted the weights to show CLEARLY, the amount of material is insignificant and should not constitute "lightening" a slide. Using the reasoning you presented, custom gun makers couldn't etch or engrave their logos in the slide either, that removes metal also.

Those cuts on the Caspian side reduce the weight a whopping .3 oz over no front serrations, 13.5 oz. The slide with no front serrations 13.8 oz, a Sig GSR 1911 slide 12.1 oz, a STI Trojan silde is also 12.1 oz. I don't see how a rational person could say a slide that is 1.4 oz heavier than other standard slides is "lightened" and has a "competitive advantage."

Well, since a lot of slides come with no front serrations, you could say putting front serrations in is lightening, but it isn't. I think anyone would be hard pressed to say any of the common configurations of bald (ala SVI) or various semi custom serrations or lack thereof are "slide lightening." If you do the math, the amount of weight removed is minuscule whether you leave tiny lines that make up serrations or make it bald. Guess how much less this weighs than a serrated front cocking serration slide? It weighs between a unique cut slide and a bald slide. Is it an illegally lightened slide? Does it matter than it is a custom gun and was made this way? (I know the mag catch is not IDPA legal.)

The mag release is part of the mag well and the mags have a cut out in them that the spring loaded lever catches with a simple rocking motion.

With young kids (a 20 month old boy and another on the way in May), making it to the range for matches can be difficult. The wife decided that if we got an RV I could get back to the range sooner than we had planned. We cleaned out the safe a bit and this is what we came out with. Hope to some of you all on the range soon!

People do things because they want to, lumping them into groups is very hard to do accurately. I studied martial arts before beginning competitive shooting, not because I needed to learn to fight, I had 3 brothers pretty close in age growing up, so I knew how to fight. I was never afraid of getting beat up, I was a decent athlete and am not a small guy and growing up poor in the country makes you a bit hard. My bio dad is a a drunk, but did teach me how to really fight, that is do ANYTHING you need to win and look at everything around you as a weapon. I'm just the kind of person who likes to push my limits and the martial arts was a great outlet to develop my mind, body and spirit in a safe environment. That is the same way I look at shooting, it is just less demanding physically and I figured I could do it until I was really old. Shooting is NOT a defensive action, it is offensive, that is what cracks me up about some people who are very dogmatic about "defensive shooting." It is a ridiculous concept if you honestly think about it. When you shoot a target, you are attacking it, that is offensive. It doesn't matter if you are backing up, hiding behind a card board prop, pieing around a corner, or retaining an empty magazine because you still have a round in the chamber, those ain't shooting skills, that is the "dance" that some people who want to market their game use to call it "defensive" shooting sport. Diversity is good in my book, and I enjoy all the different games that use handguns and shots as the scoring method. You can sometimes learn more from the differences, so I'm one that embraces the different shooting sports as I did studying different forms in martial arts. In martial arts you have defensive moves, but not so much in shooting. A running away and hiding behind stuff competition would be quite boring. Duane is a good writer and shares his point of view, that is what writers are supposed to do. Readers should keep that in mind when reading, as all writers are limited by their own experiences. Duane also learns and listens, many writers don't do that very much. A good writer will make the reader think and sound to me like he did that on this one.

You can keep it simple buy getting a .100 (or .125 and trim it .005 won't make a real difference) X .285 or .300 and cutting it to height, the FO will be well above the height you are looking for so you will have a solid FS of the right size.

Too busy or sleepers...as i see this things dont happens only in Italy According to the news we watched last night, they could even be surfing porn on the internet I guess it is very hard to fire people who work for the Feds.

I've used blasting media for years and just got my first order from Drillspot.com (drop shipped from Grainger)$20 delivered, got it the next day too. At $20 per 40#'s you can swap it out about as often as you want. I too use nufinish. I generally do 2 tumblings if I want it real shinny, and rotate media out of the process. Dirty/old media to get the dirty stuff semi clean, cleaner media with polishing compound to shine it up.

Yet, you can sell them an "unfixed up gun" and then fix it up at customer request without being a manufacturer, or fix up your "personal" guns an then decide to sell them later. Intent is a very slippery slope. I think it is ONLY about trying to squeeze more taxes/fees out of folks, because it makes no common sense, but then it is the government, but I can't comment further about that in this forum. You have to submit questions in writing by mail, because they apparently don't have folks to answer e-mails or phone calls last time I looked into it. I'm still waiting on a question I submitted 3 months ago.

1. ATF Home 2. Firearms 3. Frequently Asked Questions 4. Gunsmiths Gunsmiths 1. Is a license needed to engage in the business of engraving, customizing, refinishing or repairing firearms? Q: Is a license needed to engage in the business of engraving, customizing, refinishing or repairing firearms? Yes. A person conducting such activities as a business is considered to be a gunsmith within the definition of a dealer. [27 CFR 478.11] A gunsmith by definition alters firearms, and the effects your third hand comment would change ANY gunsmith into a manufacturer and they haven't made that announcement that I'm aware of. The facilities that do our commercial grade coatings (PVD coatings and Anodizing) have their manufacturing licenses because they are part of the manufacturing process and that is a requirement. When I talked to the local ATF about gunsmiths doing their own refinishing, they said were no regulations for gunsmiths who refinished firearms as a course of their repairs, as that is part of the definition of a gunsmith.

Are you that easily impressed, really? It isn't hard, necessary or unsafe, that is just plain ridiculous. Think about what you are really saying, you are going to DQ someone because the don't pull the slide back slowly enough for your liking to remove the loaded round in the chamber because that is how you prefer to do it? If you pull the slide back fast who give a flying flip if the person catches the round or if they let it hit the ground. It has nothing to do with safety if the person does not break any safety rule while doing so. I've seen more folks jam up there guns NOT pulling the slide back far enough and getting the round stuck cockeyed in the chamber, I would much rather see folks just rack the damn slide and eject the round instead of just farting around with it. Your DQ wouldn't stand with a competent Range Master. I don't care enough about losing a few live rounds to feel the need to catch the round during a match, but it is not difficult or "spectacular" if you have a properly tuned pistol. I would never suggest anyone put their hand over the ejection port, as stuff happens and there are many other ways to unload without exposing yourself to danger.

Yes, they will work, since there is no compact .40 I assumed you meant subcompact. You can buy the spacers to put on the standard length mags also that will extend the grip.