Is Cerakote Worth It?

[AKMguy912]

I am looking to try it out on one of my WASR-10's; does anyone actually have first-hand experience with it? I plan to take some classes with it, so it would need to hold up

I looked around on the internet, and most of the guns that have it either look like Lego's or conversation pieces.

 

[ski patrol]

I have a couple of guns with cerakote.
If it’s done right it looks good.

 

[AKMguy912]

Have they held up through normal wear of the action/holstering/normal use? I am almost positive part of the prep is taking off the factory coating, so once it's done it has to last. I could be wrong. I admit to being ignorant here, but am trying to gather more. NH has some really, really good cerakote appliers who all charge roughly the same price. I just want to know, if I spend 250 dollars to have it done tan/desert, will it hold up with some more 'hard' use. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Shawnyc]

I have a few firearms with it. The one that gets the most use is the Glock 19. It does wear through on certain areas. It does not chip or scratch but unfortunately it will wear over time. I had a Remington 700 done and that is holding up nicely. If you will be taking classes with your AK I would expect some wear but it should be minimal.

 

[wmass]

My 3 gun AR is cerakoted in OD. It’s been banged around for 2-3 years now is holding up fine. Cerakote adheres fine to the original anodizing. As with every coating surface prep is everything.



You mentioned Fde. Here’s my 9mm in Magpul fde. This has also been used for 3 gun so there is plenty of abuse getting thrown into dump barrels and such.

 

[AKMguy912]

Thank you for your input; I'm going to go ahead and have it done. I will never know until I give it a try.

- - - Updated - - -

I love the free-flloat on your AR; who makes that if you don't mind me asking?

 

[wmass]

The green is a Yankee Hill Machine Todd Jarret

The black on the fde is from Paper City Firearms in Holyoke.

 

[rocket500]

I think it looks fine worn. It's a coating so it will wear. Heck all coatings and treatments wear eventually with hard use- anodizing, nitriding, bluing, parkerization....

 

[Kisspik002]

The coating in general is nice. I bought a rifle that was cerakoted over bare aluminum, there was a chip and with normal training use the chip got worse. Had to use a little clear coat fingernail polish to kind of protect it.

 

[MMArtist]

It sucks as a coating IMO.

Only Pro is its cheap, easy and you can do it yourself if you like. If your going to do it yourself its all about the surface prep.

I go with a case hardening or plating.. if I can't do that I just rattle can it. Cerakote is meh.

 

[jayhitek]

I had a gunsmith cerakote the slide a Beretta 85 and it came out great.

 

[Knob Creek]

My only experience was with a Pre-ban Ruger 10/22 receiver for a build I was doing. I had one scratched up a bit and got a price of $225 to cerakote it. I guess it depends on the gun and your wallet but for that 10/22 it was not worth it to me.

 

[1776]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ez-slide-graphite-based-coating-12-oz-aerosol?cm_vc=-10005

 

[Tacticalsprinkler]

In my experience it also depends on the cerakoter. There is a huge difference between the best ones and the not so good.

 

[mac1911]

I am looking to try it out on one of my WASR-10's; does anyone actually have first-hand experience with it? I plan to take some classes with it, so it would need to hold up

I looked around on the internet, and most of the guns that have it either look like Lego's or conversation pieces.

Take the $250 buy another case of ammo....take your classes. Run that SOB hard and enjoy.

I did a DIY cerakote. It's not hard it's time consuming.

I have to take a dig at you. Your worried about it looking like lego's but you want to go with "tan" on a AK. That's just me. I just think AKs just look wrong with other than worn "black" finish and wood.

I had a CZ 82 that the finish was awful cerakoted by Derr Precision about 8 years ago. It's holding up well.

 

[mac1911]

In my experience it also depends on the cerakoter. There is a huge difference between the best ones and the not so good.

It's really all in the prep. Getting the oil completely out of the pores of the metal can take a few cleanings.
When you go to "gas out" your parts the oil shows its face. You don't need to complete remove the factory finish but you do need to sand blast with 100 grit aluminum oxide to get a even dull "rough" finish to give the polymer something to bite on. Go to corse or uneven and the polymer is to thin to "fill" the craters formed by the blasting.

 

[71montess]

I've used duracoat on an ak, it wears at the safety slide point but elswear seems fine. Spray on with can that mixes hardener and put in oven.

 

[ThePreBanMan]

I've used Duracoat and would recommend that as well. Both are tough finishes but both will wear over time.

 

[mac1911]

Make me proud wear out your rifle first. Then cerakote it.!