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Black Finishes- What's the latest and greatest?


Sarge

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Thinking of putting a new finish on my gun. Hard chrome is nice but I am a fan of black guns. What is the best finish out there right now? I'm looking for black black.

Are the DIY finishes as good as having it done?

Any preferred vendors to do the work?

Thanks.

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Probably not as tough as some finishes, but I had mine done in cerakote and it is black, very black. The nice thing is it's not expensive and although I had it done, I believe you can do it yourself.

As a buddy said, "As cheap as it is you can afford to do it every couple years".

So far it is very durable and I'm very happy with cerakote.

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I had a Taurus 1911 redone in Melonite, by Coal Creek Armory. Came out a very even flat black, and the Melonited parts never rusted at all, and never wore much that I could see, even running in and out of kydex. The one downside was when things needed replacement, which wasn't exactly rare. It was a Taurus, after all. I was generally in too much of a hurry to replace broken things to wait to have each little thing refinished. If I bought blue, it would rust. Thus I generally bought stainless. It worked, but after a while I had a 2 tone gun.

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Have mine done in cerakote and It looks good and works great on a gun that rides in a race holster. For a regular holster gun it will run off on the leading edge of the slide. I had pike at mod1 do it in lexington and the price was great and had a super fast turn around

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Cerakote is a great DIY coating, my Cameroms is isonite finish my barrel is done also and it is still black with only slight wear marks on the hood. But the time it takes to get your gun back from the finisher, DIY and you are back shooting ASAP. IMO.

Ltdmaster great vid. Thanks

Edited by a matt
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Kevin, my EMP built by John Harrison is done in IonBond. If you want to see it, just let me know...I can swing by. The finish is absolutely fantastic, I would highly recommend it. The only problem is, it's expensive, and it can only be done by the company itself, and the fact that you'll have to wait 6-8+ weeks...

The only other finish I'd look at would be Cerakote. Highly regarded as an excellent finish, and used almost exclusively by Chuck Rogers, that says a lot...

Edited by polizei1
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  • 2 weeks later...

After owning hard chrome, melonite, and nickel boron I will never do cerakote again.

Yup I've had those finishes on guns before. They sure are hard. So much in fact the oil just runs right out.

Cerakote isn't end all be all but it does leave you lots of options. It retains oils well. Fills in gaps. And wears well. Plus if you decide you want pink and purple polka dots just blast it off and go for it.

Also I know you can do Cerakote at home BUT there are some steps that need to be done right or you have people coming on here and blaming the finish when it's the prep work to blame.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'd say Melonite/QPQ/Tenifer/etc. is your best bet.

Yes. My gunsmith seems to think Black nitride QPQ as well for what I want.

Knowing who your gunsmith is, I would be inclined to heed his suggestion.

Shay at Akai?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Matt Cheely
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  • 4 weeks later...

I am really interested in a black finish for my open gun as well. I recently had Gary Natale build an open gun for me and it is presently just blued. I am concerned about the wear (especially on an open gun) and want something that will not only protect the finish but also reduce the wear on the rails, breach face, etc. I realize that hard chrome is the best but as I said I really want to keep my gun black, so which, if any, of these black finishes provide better wear protection?

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I'd say Melonite/QPQ/Tenifer/etc. is your best bet.

Yes. My gunsmith seems to think Black nitride QPQ as well for what I want.

Knowing who your gunsmith is, I would be inclined to heed his suggestion.

Shay at Akai?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Matt Cheely

+1, why pay a top professional to work for you and then ignore his advice?

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