# Favorite aftermarket finish



## DennyCrane (May 11, 2006)

Pick one :-D


----------



## Hal8000 (May 8, 2006)

The top Gun, a Sig P226 has Walter Birdsong's Black T finish on it. It was done around 12 years ago... It's a wet looking black finish and has some lubricating qualities to it... The 226 has some holster wear on the sharp corners but over all is wearing much better than the factory finish... I like it!

The bottom gun is my Sig P220 with Dura-Coat finish. It's done in the flat black finish. It was done just a few months ago, so I can't judge it yet like I can the Black T... So far it's doing well, but I think I prefer the BlackT... It's just too soon to tell...


----------



## DennyCrane (May 11, 2006)

I like hard chrome the best.


----------



## DennyCrane (May 11, 2006)

Bumpo


----------



## Bob Wright (May 10, 2006)

You didn't mention Doug Turnbull's beautiful color case hardened finish!

Bob Wright


----------



## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Bob Wright said:


> You didn't mention Doug Turnbull's beautiful color case hardened finish!
> 
> Bob Wright


Never heard of it before...


----------



## chromedome1954 (May 8, 2006)

Tripp Research Cobra Coat would be my choice......but it is not on the list.........


----------



## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

chromedome1954 said:


> Tripp Research Cobra Coat would be my choice......but it is not on the list.........


Man, I had a terrible experience with that stuff on a TRP I had him do (hard chrome frame, cobra coated slide). I couldn't recommend that stuff to anyone. Sent it back a second time and it came back even worse.


----------



## Hal8000 (May 8, 2006)

Holy bad apple sauce Batman! :smt085 
I hate to hear that, but it's important to know! :smt045


----------



## chromedome1954 (May 8, 2006)

Sorry to hear that....
I have a Sig P228 that has the Cobra Coat on it and it is absolutely great.
Can't imagine what went wrong with yours.
They must have a good reputation. I know they are so busy right now that they have stopped their smithing of 1911's to attempt to keep up with the volume of finishing biz they have.

Guess you can get a bad one in anything.


----------



## Bob Wright (May 10, 2006)

Shipwreck,
I don't know if you were putting me on or not, but here are two of my .44s with doug Turnbull's case hardened finish:










Bob Wright


----------



## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Bob Wright said:


> Shipwreck,
> I don't know if you were putting me on or not, but here are two of my .44s with doug Turnbull's case hardened finish:
> 
> 
> ...


No, I was telling the truth - I am not familiar w/ that.

I've always been a semi-auto person, and while I did a lot of research last year into finish durability before I decided on hard chrome, I have never heard of that finish.


----------



## Guest (Jun 30, 2006)

*I'm not big on "painted" pistols...*

....for my money, get a basic stainless steel pistol, and have it fine glass bead blasted to eliminate the glare on the flats; IMHO, SS wears better than cheap parkerizing; and looks better too...I call it "Urban Tactical"; for a parkerized or a piss poor Colt blue job, I recommend Ron's Gun shop Restorations, where a really fine Carbonia finish can be applied to an otherwise "piss poor" factory finish. Just my dos centavos.


----------



## DennyCrane (May 11, 2006)

poll bump


----------



## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

You don't have Line-X listed.

WM


----------



## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Wandering Man said:


> You don't have Line-X listed.
> 
> WM


I researched a ton of aftermarket, professionally applied finishes last year (not the spray on stuff ya do yourself). Never herad of that...


----------



## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

Its the same stuff I have in the bed of my truck. Some people prefer Rhino Liner.

 

WM


----------



## jwkimber45 (May 6, 2006)

What about Wilsons Armor-Tuff???


----------



## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

I've heard that the WIlson stuff isn't that tuff afterall. It's still a polymer based finish.

I looked at everything last year - Hard chrome, NP3 and ceracoat seems to be the 3 toughest *after market* finishes.

Some places will put melonite on guns, but the black outer coating (the visual) part still scratches somewhat easily.

The strongest finish I've seen already put on a gun new is the tennifer coating Glock uses.


----------



## Baldy (Jun 21, 2006)

Boy Bob them sure are a couple of beautys you got there. Me I like the old deep blue of the Colts. I like a lot of whats on the list but would say Colts#1 with me. I know I am an old dinosaur.


----------



## Stachie (Dec 14, 2006)

It depends on the gun, but overall I prefer hard chrome.


----------



## wetidlerjr (Oct 14, 2006)

Hard chrome is considered very good but I like Duracoat for a good cost/wear factor. :mrgreen:


----------



## Ram Rod (Jan 16, 2008)

Tennifer


----------



## milquetoast (Nov 25, 2006)

I haven't tried all of them (who has?) so it's not fair to compare. However, I have a bunch of guns with NP3. I happened to take one to the range last month, a LW Commander that was one of the first pistols Robar ever did in NP3 -- maybe 20 years ago? (Don't remember exactly when they started.) It looks like new; couldn't tell the difference between it and the Springfield LW Compact they did for me last year.


----------



## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

For some reason, my hand sweat is more corrosive than that of most other people. Thus I prefer hard chrome plating.
Nevertheless, my sweat even gets under the hard chrome in some specific places. Those areas get both hard chrome and epoxy paint.
It works for a while.


----------



## JackCrow (Mar 10, 2009)

Baldy said:


> Boy Bob them sure are a couple of beautys you got there. Me I like the old deep blue of the Colts. I like a lot of whats on the list but would say Colts#1 with me. I know I am an old dinosaur.


I'm with you Baldy, that blue on old Colt revolvers was thing of beauty! S&W also used to do a much better blue than they do now.

One of the most beautiful finishes I've seen in a long time was on a Beretta Gold Rush rifle (their version of the old Colt Lightning) WOW, what a nice gun!


----------



## ozzy (Apr 16, 2011)

Bolt Rifles = Blue and Wood, AR-15 = Rattle Can, Pistols = Black and Brushed Slide, I just really like that 2 tone look.


----------



## shouldazagged (Feb 7, 2013)

I have no idea what the finish is on a Smith 10-5 I bought several years ago, but it's a black coating just slightly wetter-looking than a true matte--kind of a semi-gloss minus. The gun was great mechanically and I thought it would be good for knocking around in the woods. Now I can no longer walk the woods due to health problems, but that finish certainly seems durable.


----------



## TAPnRACK (Jan 30, 2013)

I love 7.62's Duracoat finish... too pricey for me right now, but amazing patterns.










Turn off the lights...










Obviously not tactical... but fun and unique nonetheless. Too bad it costs as much as the gun, lol.


----------



## shouldazagged (Feb 7, 2013)

That's kind of like buying a camo knife--if you set it down, you can't find the damn thing again! :mrgreen:


----------



## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

I just love the glow: It makes the camouflage so much easier to see in the dark.

Oh...Wait a minute...

:anim_lol:


----------



## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

I had a 1911 done in "Metalife" a satin chrome finish about 25 years ago, it held up very well and to this day, but I don't know if it is still available, and if so, the same company and finish? Otherwise all stainless is the way to go, I prefer to polish mine to a "mirror like finish" except for the top, this way scratches can be polished out, which stand out like a sore thumb on a bead blasted or factory texture. As far as painted guns go, I bought a used CZ 40 P that had a few deep scratches on the frame, where someone couldn't quite get the slide stop in place. At any rate, I sanded down the flats of the frame to get the scratches out, which was no easy task, the original finish was really on there, and refinished it with black "Duracoat" using an airbrush, the gun now looks like new. The worst finish is on my S&W Model 642 which started to flake off less than a month after I bought it, they must have used nail polish, I don't know why they even bothered to put a finish on it, as I have other S&W semi-auto's, Model 3913 and 669 with aluminum frames and bead blasted textures, that to my knowledge have no protective finish on them clear or otherwise, same for my Beretta 92fs Inox. S&W offered to refinish the gun, but I would probably get the same crappy finish that was on the gun when I bought it, so I will refinish it myself with "Duracoat" which I've already used and am familiar with.


----------



## glockman99 (Jul 4, 2015)

While not "aftermarket", my RIA 1911-A1 Tactical .45 came with a Duracoat finish, and I have found this to be a VERY tough, wear-resistant finish.


----------



## Blackhawkman (Apr 9, 2014)

I had Wilson Combat finish a NM 1911 with Black Teflon and 20 years later it still looks new.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Blackhawkman (Apr 9, 2014)

Wilson's Armour Tuff is the Best! jmho


----------



## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

Cerakote, like this:

This pistol not only has a cool finish, but it is a damn fine shooting gun as well.


----------



## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Oooh: Beautiful!

I like the contrasting black trigger, controls, and grip backstrap.


----------

