Does Hard Chrome Really Make Your Gun Last Longer

[jrguar]

Yeah, that first pic looks horrible. The other two show us hard chrome as it should look, thankfully.

Yupper....

Crappy cold blue looks like that.....I put off getting it finished till I could decide what I really wanted. The slide and the frame were about as bad as they ever got in the pics.

[Duane Thomas]

Okay, I didn't understand this was Before and After. I thought the first shot was just an example of bad photography.

[Jasonub]

i saw an sti or svi that was tin coated and its was gold. one of the team hk members iirc.

i wonder how much that cost him.

[jrguar]

Okay, I didn't understand this was Before and After. I thought the first shot was just an example of bad photography.

LOL no, not bad photography, just fingerprints I decided not to buff out...

[gino_aki]

Hard chroming or for that matter any exotic (read...you gotta send it off to do it) finish is GREAT for every kind of shooter save one: the inveterate tinkerer. If you are afflicted with this disease (like me) you may as well leave the gun in the white and be religious about oiling it up every time you take it out 'cause we tinkerers all know that just about every time you take it out you're gonna be "fixing" it. Cold blue will help a bit and can look pretty good if you heat up the metal with a hair dryer or heat gun and fully degrease with brake cleaner first. No or minimal finish always makes the drilling and polishing and modifying less painful.

[berkbw]

Hard chroming or for that matter any exotic (read...you gotta send it off to do it) finish is GREAT for every kind of shooter save one: the inveterate tinkerer. If you are afflicted with this disease (like me) you may as well leave the gun in the white and be religious about oiling it up every time you take it out 'cause we tinkerers all know that just about every time you take it out you're gonna be "fixing" it. Cold blue will help a bit and can look pretty good if you heat up the metal with a hair dryer or heat gun and fully degrease with brake cleaner first. No or minimal finish always makes the drilling and polishing and modifying less painful.

+1 on that! Wanna erase some metal? DLC and chrome (and a few others) make it a fortune in tools!

b-

[shadetree]

I'm not much of a tinkerer. Once a gun is set up the way I like it it tends to stay that way. Sometimes it does take a while to get there though.

[Jasonub]

Electro plating processes will introduce atomic hydrogen into the metal. That is why baking a part after plating is necessary - it drives the hydrogen back out of the part.

If the plater does not bake the part, the hydrogen moves to the grain boundaries, and causes a brittle failure. The mechanism is called hydrogen embrittlement. The bubbles are microscopic.

Any plater worth paying money too will do this automatically as part of their process. It has been standard for a long time...

Billski

do you happen to know how long and what temp?

Thanks

[Buzzdraw]

START with the finish you intend to run. Take it from someone who's dealt a number of customer's guns (both initial build-ups as well as refurbish) through a high-end custom gun shop.

The finish you want the manufacturer/pistolmith to apply should be specified when you order the new gun. Different finishes go in in different thicknesses; that is taken into account during the buildup. Boron Carbide goes on just microns thick. Hard Chrome goes on a few ten-thousandths thick. On a custom, close tolerance pistol it DOES make a difference. I've found that when the finish (hard chrome, etc) is the initial one applied that the gun does stay tighter much longer.

To prepare a gun for any of these finishes it has to be carefully abrasive blasted. It's best if your custom manufacturer/pistolsmith does this to his/your gun before sending it to the finisher. At that point all the finisher must do is degrease (rust prevention in transit), fixture up and apply finish. Then the pistol is sent back for careful reassembly. Preparation for finish and reassembly are an art best left to those who do it well. I've seen many a pistol ruined by improper work of those unskilled.

A used gun will benefit from proper hard chrome, since it can be applied in sufficient thickness to build back some tolerances lost. Boron carbide will not fit this bill.

Hard Chrome guns will rust under extreme conditions. The area down in the checkering of the mainspring housing is particularly vulnerable to rust. Electroless nickel is actually more rust resistant, but is softer (Rc low 50's). Hard chrome (Rc 73) is long wearing. A diamond file is necessary to cut it. Boron Carbide (Rc low 90's) likewise is long wearing and is a nearly black color, often confused with ordinary blue by those who don't know. Some think it will chip off impact surfaces such as hammers.

My personal guns are done in both Hard Chrome and Boron Carbide. Both finishes are very satisfactory. Both will exhibit little wear on slide or Kydex holster contact surfaces after tens of thousands of rounds downrange. These finishes are definitely worth the bucks.

[shadetree]

START with the finish you intend to run. Take it from someone who's dealt a number of customer's guns (both initial build-ups as well as refurbish) through a high-end custom gun shop.

The finish you want the manufacturer/pistolmith to apply should be specified when you order the new gun. Different finishes go in in different thicknesses; that is taken into account during the buildup. Boron Carbide goes on just microns thick. Hard Chrome goes on a few ten-thousandths thick. On a custom, close tolerance pistol it DOES make a difference. I've found that when the finish (hard chrome, etc) is the initial one applied that the gun does stay tighter much longer.

To prepare a gun for any of these finishes it has to be carefully abrasive blasted. It's best if your custom manufacturer/pistolsmith does this to his/your gun before sending it to the finisher. At that point all the finisher must do is degrease (rust prevention in transit), fixture up and apply finish. Then the pistol is sent back for careful reassembly. Preparation for finish and reassembly are an art best left to those who do it well. I've seen many a pistol ruined by improper work of those unskilled.

A used gun will benefit from proper hard chrome, since it can be applied in sufficient thickness to build back some tolerances lost. Boron carbide will not fit this bill.

Hard Chrome guns will rust under extreme conditions. The area down in the checkering of the mainspring housing is particularly vulnerable to rust. Electroless nickel is actually more rust resistant, but is softer (Rc low 50's). Hard chrome (Rc 73) is long wearing. A diamond file is necessary to cut it. Boron Carbide (Rc low 90's) likewise is long wearing and is a nearly black color, often confused with ordinary blue by those who don't know. Some think it will chip off impact surfaces such as hammers.

My personal guns are done in both Hard Chrome and Boron Carbide. Both finishes are very satisfactory. Both will exhibit little wear on slide or Kydex holster contact surfaces after tens of thousands of rounds downrange. These finishes are definitely worth the bucks.

Thank you that was a very helpful reply.

[Jasonub]

I have a slide that was tig welded when a crack occured. would it show if i have it chromed? thanks

[Buzzdraw]

Hard Chrome will most likely show the weld. The chrome surface will take on the prepped material finish below it. If you want a mirror finish on the side of a slide, the slide must be skillfully polished. If you want it matte, then the metal below needs to be matte. Due to the light color of hard chrome, it shows every minor imperfection from a poor prep job. Choose your prepper and chromer carefully.

[wide45]

I have a slide that was tig welded when a crack occured. would it show if i have it chromed? thanks

I would not put any money into a welded slide unless the weld was in a non-stress area, like a sight cut. No matter how well the job was done, you can't be sure it won't crack again.