Gun-Kote

[tk4]

Does anybody know if this is a decent finish? Is it durable or will it wear off of the high wear areas like bluing?

[Matt Cheely]

Wears off way faster than blueing in my expierience.

[tk4]

Wears off way faster than blueing in my expierience.

Thanks.

I don't want to ship my gun off, so I'm trying to find someone in my area that does a decent finish. There is a smith near me that does nickel, but I'll probably have to wait longer than I want to.

[mike cyrwus]

Im very happy with gunkote; Its much more of a protective surface than blueing, and in my experience, lasts much longer than blueing. The wear that does occur is only apparent at the edges, like the front upper corners of slides and dust covers.

The surface absolutely must be prepped properly; media blasting and/or parkerizing prior to spraying gunkote is essential.

[tk4]

Im very happy with gunkote; Its much more of a protective surface than blueing, and in my experience, lasts much longer than blueing. The wear that does occur is only apparent at the edges, like the front upper corners of slides and dust covers.

The surface absolutely must be prepped properly; media blasting and/or parkerizing prior to spraying gunkote is essential.

The guy who does the gun kote in my area parkerizes the gun first. So the finish should hold up well on the slide and frame rails and keep the gun from wearing in these areas? I'm more worried about wear resistance than appearance. It sounds like it may be the way to go.

[Carlos]

Im very happy with gunkote; Its much more of a protective surface than blueing, and in my experience, lasts much longer than blueing. The wear that does occur is only apparent at the edges, like the front upper corners of slides and dust covers.

The surface absolutely must be prepped properly; media blasting and/or parkerizing prior to spraying gunkote is essential.

The guy who does the gun kote in my area parkerizes the gun first. So the finish should hold up well on the slide and frame rails and keep the gun from wearing in these areas? I'm more worried about wear resistance than appearance. It sounds like it may be the way to go.

Parkerizing is an outstanding substrate (surface) on which to apply GunKote. Parkerizing is easy to do and inexpensive. It is far less toxic than blueing. I have posted pics of my work but my ISP seems to have mangled them; I suggest you take a look at Chris Blindhogg's 1911 site: search on "Blindhogg 1911" on google. click finish

[Merlin Orr]

I have a 2011 with Gunkote... I see minor flaking on the slide rails but overall it seems like a nice finish. I like it better than blueing and way way less than actual hardchrome....

[TimWarner]

I bought an open gun from a guy KG sponsors, the gunkote flaked off in pretty big pieces. From the comp, slide rails, and anywhere there was any friction.

Looks nice, doesn't hold up. IMO

[Joe4d]

I'd try to talk guy into using 2 part Duracoat over the parkarizing, It is by far the best home finish I have seen or tried. Much better than the various Brownell shake and bakes.

I think if you are really hard set and know you wont be changing guns or features on the gun I would go ahead and bight the bullet and go for the hardchrome.

[SV_shooter]

I have a 1911 done in KG Guncoat that was applied to a parkerized mil-spec. I try not to shoot it or Holster it too much because the gun is just too pretty and the gun coat feels like polished paint just waiting to chip off. I have seen holster and tiggerguards all chipped up from retention holsters, as well as wear on slides from over hand racking. If you want a color coated finish it seems like the answer is Ionbond. I am waiting for my Infinicoated PVD'ed gun and am very excited to have something harder than hardchrome w pigment!..

Edited November 16, 2007 by SV_shooter

[Paul B]

I've used Gun Kote on several of my guns and prefer it over blue or chrome. Plus I can do it myself. I use the flat black Gun Kote, degrease the parts really well - use a lot of acetone in a pan and handle the parts only with nitril gloves after that. Heat them to about 175-200 degrees and apply the Gun Kote with an air brush. Then bake at 350 for about an hour. The finish I get is hard, doesnt chip and you have to really work to rub it off (sand paper). Don't get it on the rails (mask them off) or you will be shooting thousands of rounds to wear it down or a lot of fine sanding (one way to tighten up a used gun). You can always redo the coating by steel wooling the finish and go through the process again, but it will build up. Lasts much longer than blue and has a great look in flat black. Also with the flat black small scratches can be covered up with instant blue and are invisible - found that out when I changed front sights and had to remove some of the finish.

As for chrome it is obviously more durable, but the flat black actually helps my sight picture an I just like a black gun.

[David Sinko]

I have a friend who makes fixed blade knives and has started using Gun Kote on them. When done right, it is a very tough finish and even the belt sander will not cause it to flake off around the area that has been ground away. When done wrong, it is a nightmare and can be flaked off with just fingernail pressure. Surface preparation is important and temperature and baking time are critical. You can do it at home in the oven but it will be time consuming. And it's a good idea to NOT use the oven in the kitchen. As long as you follow the directions properly you should be OK, but an expensive favorite gun is not the place to start if you want to do it yourself.

Dave Sinko

[mike cyrwus]

gun kote will never flake off if applied properly.

Those guns that have flaking should be returned for a proper refinishing.

Those are defective jobs, period.

If any gun I gunkoted flaked; Theyd be getting a new finish free of charge.

TK4, Gunkote, or any other finish besides stuff like hardchrome, and maybe ionbond and np3, will absolutely wear through

on the rails.

There really is no substitute, imo for hard chrome when youre talking about a competition gun that gets broken in and you want then slide rail/frame specs maintained.

(even though a properly fitted pistol can be ran in the white for k's of rounds without having any increased wear)

edit-guys are talking about two different things here, too. Home/hobby gunkoting with a spray can, and commercial type methods. Its easy to tell the two in the threads above by their opinions of it.

Edited November 16, 2007 by mike cyrwus

[Nemo]

I've had two 1911's finished with GunKote by Rich at Canyon Creek. The one that I still have is my SSD gun and has seen a fair shake of draw-reholster from a kydex rig. The gunkote will wear some in the contact/friction points but it shouldn't peel or chip off. I believe Rich does park the gun before applying the finish. Done well it should last as well or better than bluing and provide way better rust protection.