Nickle vs Chrome vs Anything else

On the other hand there is utility. I want to take my Para P-12 .45 and try and make it more sweat resistant . I'm going utilitarian with this. I will keep the rubber grips but I just don't know the toughest finish and I do not want it to look like it fell off the back of a pimp wagon.

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AFAIK, Nickle finishes are pretty much for looks. They do prevent rust but they are relativly soft and can be damaged fairly easily.

Before the widespread acceptance of stainless steel in handguns, hard chrome plating was farily popular as an aftermarket finish. Note this is different than the sort of chrome plating used for car bumpers, its much more durable and tend to have a matt finish.

There are some modern dark or black aftermarket finishes these days, similar to the Tenifer(R) finish used on Glock slides. I'm afraid I don't know too much about them, though, so perhaps someone else will jump in with more info?

BTW I really want some real carved ivory grips for my Colt. Real Ivory not the stuff they pawn off as ivory now. Do I need to go on safari for that?

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Real ivory is hard to come by these days, due to international restrictions on the sale of the stuff driven by concerns about poaching. I think(?) its actually illegal to sell ivory in the US unless you can prove it predates the ivory treaties. This has created a booming market for fossil ivory from mamoths, mastadons, and other prehistoric animals. I've seen quite a bit of it on high end custom knives. There are some people selling grip panels of fossil ivory (check Custom Grip and Knife for one exaple) but note that fossil ivory is often not the clean, white color you may want.

Nickel is softer but actually more corrosion resistant. It also applies more evenly. The color is a warm bronze hue. I disagree that it "damages easily". Hard chrome has a harder surface hardness than steel but it does not settle on the surface quite as evenly. Due to its hardness it wears very well and has a whiter, bluish hue. Either finish can be applied over any level of polish, from matte to bright polishes.

Even if you go to Africa on an elephant hunt, you still cannot import the ivory into the US. Which doesn't make much sense to me. If it's a legal hunt, it should be legal to import. Ivory is expensive but not very difficult to get. I'm planning on some one piece ivory for my latest USFA and it will come from Nutmeg Sports. That said, TruIvory is a very good substitute that is nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.

Nickel on the left, hard chrome on the right.

mdauben said:

AFAIK, Nickle finishes are pretty much for looks.

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That is not correct.

Nickel is a much superior coating than hard chrome. While not quite as "hard" it has corrosion resistance that hard chrome simply does not have. We see hard chrome all the time with rust blooming right through the chrome. If the OP is concerned about a tough, rust resistant coating hard chrome is NOT the finish for him.
For a really tough finish check out Robar's NP3 - an electroless nickel with teflon that they guarantee for life against chipping, peeling AND CORROSION!

That surprises me. I carried a factory hard chromed P-32 everyday for 10 years and Richmond's humidity is a bear. I can't even begin to figure how many times it got really wet in my front pocket - washing the car, fishing, walking to work in the rain, etc. It looked like new when I sold it.



"There are some modern dark or black aftermarket finishes these days, similar to the Tenifer(R) finish used on Glock slides."

What you see on the Glock isn't Tenifer, it's a coating. The tenifer finish is applied to the metal first. Look up ferritic nitrocarburizing and Melonite for more about the process.

John

I used to have the "blue" mentality till I got my first stainless gun. After that it didn't last to long. Hard chrome is a great finish too as well as nickel.

If you've ever owned S&W blue revolvers you know why I prefer anything else.

Nickel is a much superior coating than hard chrome. While not quite as "hard" it has corrosion resistance that hard chrome simply does not have. We see hard chrome all the time with rust blooming right through the chrome.

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Like I said before, nickel is slightly more corrosion resistant but this does not mean that hard chrome is not corrosion resistant. For it is more corrosion resistant than stainless steel and does a fine job. I've had the hard chrome sixgun above for 12yrs and it shows little sign of wear and absolutely zero rust. If you're encountering hard chrome guns that are rusted, something is wrong with them. Which I find to be particularly odd since you're hailing from Arizona.

Hard chrome has a higher surface hardness and wears better/longer than nickel. NP3 is nickel and teflon and neither is as long wearing as hard chrome.

CraigC said:

If you're encountering hard chrome guns that are rusted, something is wrong with them.

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No, nothing wrong with them... just the fact that hard chrome has little corrosion resistance.

CraigC said:

Which I find to be particularly odd since you're hailing from Arizona.

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I have seen rusted hard chrome guns from all over the US... from many different platers.

Hard Chrome is very hard, typically 70-74 Rockwell C scale. NP3 is 48-51 Rockwell C scale. However, Hard Chrome plates unevenly and typically builds on radiuses. Hard Chrome also has an adhesion of 12 to 15 thousand psi and little corrosion resistance. NP3 plates very evenly, is extremely corrosion resistant and has an adhesion of 30-60,000 psi!.

...just the fact that hard chrome has little corrosion resistance.

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I'm sorry but this is just plain untrue. Period.

CraigC said:

I'm sorry but this is just plain untrue. Period.

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Just my experience from seeing hundreds of guns with problem finishes... you may have had good results with your personal guns.

No, nothing wrong with them... just the fact that hard chrome has little corrosion resistance.

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You really believe that most military weapon barrels are chrome-lined so they'll corrode easier?

No, nothing wrong with them... just the fact that hard chrome has little corrosion resistance.

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Chromium is a corrosion resistant metal. I believe that when used in plating, it exists in the third oxidation state. This means that there are no valance electrons that can form bonds with other substances.

HC will have corrosion problems long before NP3 ever would.

I have a number of firearms in both finishes and if I do not keep the HC cleaned and oiled they start to have problems.

I'd look into some American Holly for grip material.

Smooth stag grip panels are very nice also.

I have never had any issues with rust or corrosion with any of my guns which have been hard chrome plated. These are all working guns, either in the field or for CCW. I can't speak as to the chemistry iinvolved with this finish, but I do know what works extremely well and never shows any wear and tear and that's a hard chrome finish.

Good chrome is intended to protect steel in a decorative fashion....Think about all the old cars from yesteryear. They were well adorned with chrome, sat out in the weather and got road salt on them. It took years, if not decades for rust to pop thru the chrome...Of course that was then. Now, thanks to the EPA chrome plating won't hardly protect anything....Just ask any late model Harley owner how many orange bolt heads he has after his bike sits out in the rain a time or two.

Decorative chrome plating and industrial hard chrome are not the same thing.

Most the bolts on a new Harley are galvanized, not chrome plated. That said, mine is almost 7yrs old, has been wet plenty of times and has no rust anywhere but the black ceramic coated aftermarket exhaust.

True, most of the bolts on a stock Harley are not chrome. I believe they are cadmium plated. At least they are on my 1977 Harley. I also have a Twin Cam and think the stock finish is still cadmium. Mine was 13 years old yesterday and has seen plenty of rain also. I have SOS'ed the rust off it's bolt heads for years...Regardless of what the stock bolts are. Harley will gladly sell you piles and piles of chrome bolts in their accessory isle that will rust quickly.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with industrial hard chrome firearms' finishes.

Correct....and neither did the second paragraph of the reply to my post you made.

Hard chrome is an excellent all around finish there several firms that will do good job on a refinish. I like the O/P REALLY LIKE the classic blued finish with wood or stag grips.

Fuzzy Bunny I'm in NC and it can get humid here in the summer, so I really clean my revolvers, lightly lube, then apply two light coats of wax to my revolvers, and I see no reason that this should not work well on an autoloader. With a carry gun you may need to wax once a month or so, but you will still have your classic blue finish.

Merry Christmas all.

Correct....and neither did the second paragraph of the reply to my post you made.

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Post misinformation and I will correct it, on topic or not. Most of those aftermarket bolts are made in China, upon which the EPA has no bearing. Cheap plating is cheap plating, no matter where it comes from. Anything else we need to discuss or can we get back to industrial hard chrome firearms finishes???

You could try Cerakote.