[Cheeseybacon]

What is probably the toughest available finish available for firearms these days?

If I had to guess, I'd probably say GLOCK's tennifer finish is pretty tough, but that's not exactly something that is available to buy by itself, is it?

Whats the best I've got to work with?

[JesseL]

I'd guess that the plated finishes like hard chrome, electroless nickel, and Robar's NP3 are probably the toughest, though I'm not certain which of those comes out on top.

I will say that Norell's Moly-Resin over parkerizing has been very tough in my experience.

[PcMakr]

Armalloy used to be considered very tough. Don't hear much about it anymore. They used to say a file would just polish it. IIRC it was kind of a greenish-grey color. I think they are still around.

[LeonCarr]

Hard Chrome, and the Tenifer treatment used on Glocks, have a Rockwell hardness of 72-78, and I believe the only thing harder than that is a diamond.

I have seen Hard Chromed handguns dropped on gravel and concrete during matches, and they weren't even scratched.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

[mrmeval]

I like hard chrome. Tennifer is carbonitriding and can be done to about any carbon steel. There are places that have the setup to do it but I don't have a list handy. BTW Tennifer is just a trademark.

[mrmeval]

Armoloy sounds interesting but the company itself is only licensing the
technology. I wonder who would make or offer that coating for firearms?

Their newest offering has what they claim is a nano-diamond additive and boosts the hardness to 78RC and has exceptional lubricity.

http://www.armoloycorp.com/are.html