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Dura coat a 1911 frame

I have a CZ SP01 Shadow that was painted by the factory; the Euros are big on painting their guns. The paint is already wearing and chipping; it sucks. I prefer good old blueing or parkerizing which are much more durable. For my favorite guns I resort to plating; industrial hard chrome is my favorite. This plating is extremely durable and bears a close resemblance to SS. I have guns plated with this coating go over 100,000 rounds with very little wear.
 
Unless you go with a Serverns HARD hat coating, ion bond or dlc coating, you will see holster wear fairly quickly. I had a pistol cerakoted earlier this year, and it shows holster wear. I had a different 1911 HARD Hat coated, no holster wear.
 
zbomb said:
Can you touch on what was said above about holster wear with regards to cerakote ?
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Toughest spray on finish on the market.. Only thing that is more durable would be IonBond , Hard Chrome or maybe another chemical applied finish. Everthing will wear but Cerakote holds up VERY well. Far superior to Duracoat or Gunkote.
 
Business End Customs said:
NO... Google is your friend [wink]
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Yeah, I googled. It seems like whichever finish the poster in question used is "best" and all other suck. (Typical internet. [rofl])

Lots of good and bad reviews about ALL of them, though Cerakote and Cera-Hide both seem to get better reviews in general than Duracoat. I guess it comes down to the quality of the prep work?
 
Cerakote will not adhere to itself though. So if you do develop wear spots over time and want to repair - you need to sand blast all the existing Cerakote off and start again. Duracote will adhere to itself. So future touch ups are possible without having to refinish the entire firearm again.

Duracoat also lends itself to home applications a bit better I think. No need to have a sand blaster or an industrial oven or an industrial degreasing soaking basin.. But it does take 3 weeks to fully cure... I find 3 coats of duracoat holds up very well. My surface prep consists of 330 grit sandpaper, 400 grit sand paper, and non chlorinated brake cleaner. I bought a 50 dollar air brush, hooked it up to my pancake compressor and found myself in business very quickly.

At first I was in the Cerakote camp. Wanted to refinish a AR lower. But some folks here turned me onto Duracoat. I'm glad they did. The fumes are nasty though, so do it in a very well ventilated area.

If you choose Cerakote I would have it professionally done. Myself.... I'm all set with investing in the kind of infrastructure it takes to apply that stuff. Not for what Business End Customs has for advertised pricing on their site... Just send it off to them.
 
Most of the issues we see with Cerakote come from improper application. Everything must be done right, I am a big fan of the H Cerakote (Oven Bake) I think most issues people have are a result of application and maybe using the C series.
Have you considered re bluing it? A 1911 can be made look very very classy with a high finish bluing job.
 
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Business End Customs said:
Toughest spray on finish on the market.. Only thing that is more durable would be IonBond , Hard Chrome or maybe another chemical applied finish. Everthing will wear but Cerakote holds up VERY well. Far superior to Duracoat or Gunkote.
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As stated, it is still a spray n coating. If you don't like holster wear, you will end up getting it done several times. The ion bond or HARD Hat coating is a coating that becomes part of the metal, not a spray and bake. The ion bond or hard hat coating will cost you twice what the ceracoat is, but will not have to be redone.
 
duracoat = epoxy spray paint

cerakote = epoxy spray with little sovlent + thermoset ceramic filler

totally different. Now, if your magic cerakote is applied by an ass clown, it's as good or worse than a duracoat (epoxy spray paint) finish applied by me, drunk, naked, and in a basement.

Cerakote also introduces a significant material thickness to the parts of a firearm.

Something also to be weary of: the whole "Cerakote self lubricates." It does. But it does so by breaking down . It's marketing speak for "friction will eventually wear it down."
 
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One thing to keep in mind is that holster wear is inevitable in any working gun. Take a Glock which has a nitrided finish. That physically changes the hardness of the steel around 20microns deep. Yet the muzzle of mine shows wear on it from the holster. Any firearm you carry will exhibit wear.

I would use Cerakote over Duracote, That is the result of having finished firearms in both and seeing the longevity and results displayed. I would probably lean towards bluing on a 1911 unless I was doing a more tactical build, For purely asethic reasons. I do know IonBond can wear just like anything else, We used to use it extensively. Hate to tell you but there is no magic bullet! If there was I would be selling it!

If you really want a hardcore finish I would look into getting it nitrided, That will be similar to a glock finish. Very tough.
If you really want a beautiful finish I would blue it and accept no less than 1000grit on the slide.
If you really want a cool tactical style gun I would cerakote it, Maybe two tone.
If you want something that does a bit of toughness with a bit of style I would get it Ionbonded, But be aware that it is not magic stuff!
 
Ive used duracoat and was not impressed at all. I used GunKote (the bake kind) and the results were better, but so so. Surface prep is paramount in all cases - and not applying layers too thick. Apply a thin coat, be sure to let the solvent flash off before applying the next coat. Applying heat helps overall.

I want to try cerakote for my next finish.
 
I would go with a color case harden finish if I didn't have to deal with shipping my gun off and find a place that can do the slide and frame. I only found one place and they'll only do the frame.
But then I'd be so worried about wrecking it would become safe queen, and I don't buy stuff to look at.


I wish I didn't place my order before posting this . When I was on 1911 forum they used to rave about it. You guys pointed out some great points that I didn't know .the only complaints u read where you had to let it cure for so long. I'm still mulling over my options at this point.

Buying a black oxide kit to touch it up vs sending it out and doing a custom finish on . Heck if it comes out bad after I try to touch it up I still can send it out.
 
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After my brief experience with spray on and painted finishes I would't go near them again. Blueing and plating may be more expensive but they are worth it. I have hard chrome plated pistols that have endured many years of hard use with little or no wear.

My painted CZ 75 Shadow is being prepped for a trip to the platers as is a Para P 16 Long Slide that is still in the white. Hard chrome for both of them, more expensive, but worth it.
 

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