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Powder coating/painting my 1911

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Looking for a place or guy who is good in powder coating guns/ anodizing, have a 1911 (kimber)  done in a very specific color scheme. Wondering if anyone knew of a place or guy. Sorry if it’s been said I looked for a bit didn’t see much on here about it. Also for a AR project in the future. Cheers

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On 4/23/2018 at 1:12 AM, Lambo2936 said:

Powder coating a firearm? I Didn't know that was a thing. The finishes i've worked with would be too thick to work with a firearm, given the tight tolerances seen in most firearms.

Well limcat does it. It uhh.. requires some breaking in. BUt for something like handguards it might work. Mostly I meant GSD does both processes. They finish way more stuff than firearms. 

On 4/23/2018 at 4:33 PM, Shane45 said:

DLC is excellent (and not a powder coating, its PVD). Powder coating, not good on guns. Anodising is primarily for aluminum and alloys like Ti. Your options are things like Norrells, Cerakote, or DLC.

I've got a DLC finish on my 2011. I wouldn't do it again. It looks nice, doesn't scratch easily, and dimensional change is virtually nil, so you can put it on a tightly fit gun.  But it is expensive and offers zilch in terms of corrosion resistance. 

If I were doing it again, I'd do professionally applied cerakote, QPQ, or just parkerize it. 

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22 hours ago, Shane45 said:

Eh that finish scares me! Too high heat for the application process. If the parts are heat treated before, they might not be after.

What QPQ/melonite? Msot things on guns are not hardened too much, you want the ductility/elasticity/springiness. Whatever you want to call it. The temp on the molten salt bath process is about right for the hardness you want in a firearm. Knife? Total shit. 

What you don't want are parts that are too thin. I believe the shock of the quench after the bath can get them. 

some form of nitrocarburizing has been used by H&K, IMI, S&W, Glock, etc. It's not scary. Jsut don't do the small parts. 

As a note, as much as I'm not a fan of DLC or Ionbond for the whole gun, that stuff is THE SHIT for screws and sights. The screws are just pretty. The sights though stay like new black FOREVER it seems. At least on my gun, the finish is finally starting to wear at the muzzle end of the slide form draws, but the rear sight blade is like new after years of use, the same number of draws and someting in the neighborhood of 50k rounds. Which beats the snot out of the factory finish which usually starts getting shiny in spots in under a year. 

 

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I agree the hardness req isnt that high. But Ive seen a number of 1911 slides busted straight in half just because of the heat treat being off. That Black Nitride is applied at what, like 900 or more degrees? It may not need to be as hard as say rifle receivers but it has to be right. BTW a number of custom rifle receiver makers will not black Nitride their receivers. One in particular shared the results. The proof tested non black nitride receiver bulged a tiny bit. The nitrided receiver grenaded. Obviously higher pressure than most handguns but... Indeed small parts are a problem due to embrittlement. I was actually a pioneer with the DLC coating. We did a run of the very first handguns done with the coating. It was great! But our pistols were prepped right. Later others tried and it was a miserable failure so what was different between ours and theirs had to be looked at so they stopped for a while until it was figured out. Fast forward about 15 years later and it seems they have it sorted out. I actually like Norrells molly resin. I found it to be more durable than cerakote, a little thinner, less prone to chipping and more natural lubricity which Cerakote didnt have at all until recently. New Cerakote will have a lubricating component added. Ill be interested to see the new Cerakote. 

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On 4/25/2018 at 5:37 PM, Shane45 said:

Eh that finish scares me! Too high heat for the application process. If the parts are heat treated before, they might not be after.

All the 1911’s I have had done have been carbon steel in the white and unfinished before the process. I do get your concern about the high heat though. 

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