Hardchrome Vendor? Help me decide...

[392heminut]

My STI Limited gun that I've been shooting for over 20 years was hard chromed by APW after it was built and I've never had any issues with it. I wouldn't hesitate to hard chrome any competition gun!

[Cundiff5535]

APW

As far as the work goes.. I did like the work Bob and company did one of my pistols. I have to be honest though... I absolutely hate when people keep on and on with the "I know everything" about every topic out there act/approach. I also hate when you are paying folks to do a specific job and they act as if they are doing you a favor by taking in your work order... or act as if they "dont care" because they have a lot of work coming in.... and this is exactly what I experienced with Bob from APW. I guess its becoming more and more common place in the world though. With fewer and fewer folks out there that are skilled enough to do some types of work, a lot of the good ones start acting as though they dont "need" your work and can come off as jerks.

The example I will use is this: I wanted my pistol chromed and certain parts of my pistol polished and mirrored (it was not a competition gun), it was going to be a very, very, tedious to do. Instead of saying something to the effect of:

"Sir, I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to refinish your pistol! At this time, given the work we are bringing in and the prolonged turnaround times, I would not want to tackle such an in depth project right now. We certainly can do it, and the cost will be X amount.. along with a prolonged wait time of X amount of time"

I got this almost word for word: "Ill tell you, we can do it but, do you realize the kind of time that will take? We are slammed and each place you want polished will take hours... I certainly am not going to go in and polish those. If you would like to try on your own you are more than welcome but, we are certainly not going to be held responsible for any work done by you. Not to mention, the hours of labor we would have to but into this is not worth it for us... and it would cost you a lot of money".

Anyway, I thought it was pretty shitty. After a few conversations, we worked out what APW would do. I sent the pistol in, the check in, and all paper work... The pistol got there, along with a work order... what was planned to be a 2 week turnaround time turned into a call back telling me that they were scared they would round edges of some custom milling I had done to this pistol and they could not do what they told me they could. Once again, the deal was renegotiated and agreed to with a person there (not Bob). Well another week later I had not heard anything... I call them back and asked... they told me they thought the pistol was sent back... meanwhile it was on the floor of the office safe and was overlooked.

2 more weeks the pistol came back to me. I will say, it did look very nice and the job was done to my liking (well almost... no complaints on the finish and parts they polished)! 2 parts that were sent to them were lost and 1 very inexpensive part was broken. I called back in to ask about this... they said, once it leaves them, they are not responsible for anything else? I talked to Bob and he said, "I sure as hell am not replacing them" I was stuck replacing 3 parts out of my own pocket... a whole 10 bucks (no big deal) I can tell you, I had since called back in to get another pistol done (as crappy as I thought the folks that worked there were, I was happy with the product I got back), I was told that they didn't want to take work from me and they were to busy...lol? I guess I left some impression on them.

I guess shame on me for holding a person accountable for work they say they can do, and it turns out they can't. At that time, I was not a expert in metal finishes, refinishing, or anything like that. Shame on me for expecting a so called expert to know what he is explaining he can do. I guess shame on me for them misplacing a pistol I sent to them and I guess, when they break parts or lose them, its not their fault, its the customers.

I will say, on the other hand... the folks at Fords down in Fl. were 100% class and very professional (even in dealing with me, a guy who can be a pain in the ass at times). I would go with Fords... expect to wait 6 months though.

[GigG]

I've had two.38 Super open guns that were done by Metaloy. And this was back when the PF for major was 175. One was a Springfield single stack and the other was a Chip McCormick. Never had a problem with either and they looked great.

[818-DVC]

Small parts that shouldnt be chromed are suspect toHydrogen embrittlement.

I had a link break, and an AFTEC that were both chromed for some reason on guns I bought used. That was the only problem I ever had with HC. I think HC is much more rust resistant than PVD, and very resilient against scratches or pitting. 1st gun I had plated was done by Tripp. Great job. The last was metaloy and it was top notch too.