CZ 75 Satin Nickel

[DJCharlie]

I recently purchased a CZ 75B in the satin nickel finish. I came back from the range today and while i was cleaning it i notice that the finish was peeling off were the slide and frame meets. I thought that the satin nickel was a more durable finish then the others. I was wondering if anyone else have this problem or is it that i didn't have enough oil on it?

 

[dusty73]

cheap paint???

Send it back and ask for a refund...

 

[PCRCCW]

Cheap paint? LOL Uh HUH......Sorry, Its real Nickel..which is NOT like hard chrome....

The Satin Nickel comes off once in a while...the rails are usually the spot where it gets abraided away. Id call Mike @ CZUSA and see what he recommends.

Sorry your gun is giving you problems...shoot well

 

[Walt Sherrill]

This your first "plated" weapon?

If you mean you can see small spots where the nickel plating has rubbed off of the rails where the slide and rails rub together then, yeah, that's normal. You'll see it on any plated gun in areas subject to heavy wear. (Even hard chrome.) You'll see similar wear abrading the finish on any gun, in that area. There's a lot of force and a lot of abrasion at play in that area, and you're going to see some wear, no matter what.

If you mean larger areas of the finish are peeling off on the outside of the gun, then no, that's not normal, and the base metal probably wasn't prepared properly prior to plating.

If you've gotten Hoppe's #9 (or similar copper solvents) on the slide or rails, you might be making matters worse, too, as many finishes are applied over copper.

(This is true with nickel, and generally true with hard chrome, too, which is applied over nickel, which was first plated over copper -- as neither of those finishes stick to carbon steel without help.)

Hoppe's attacks copper, and if there's any break in the finish (as might be the case with areas of heavy rubbing/wear) then the copper remover will remove the underlayer, causing the finish to go south, too.

 

[DJCharlie]

Cool. Thanks for the responses. Do you recommend anything else besides hoppes then?

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Use Hoppe's #9 when you're cleaning the bore, if you like -- just remove the barrel from the slide to do it.

I use BreakFree CLP, but there are other cleaners and lubricants that are just as good -- and many here will argue for other, "better" materials.

Just keep reading and maybe ask around.

Flitz, by the way, is very good for cleaning the nickel finish -- and it been OK'd by the CZ gunsmith. (S&W says its ok for their nickel finishes, too.)

Flitz apparently cleans primarily by chemical action; there is very little abrasive material in this cleaner/polish.

 

[Berg01]

I use Shooters Choice (FP-10) on my duotone .40S&W, and that seems to work very well.

 

[Mikul]

I have the same gun with somewhere near 25,000 rounds through it. Aside from shiney tracts on the outside from holster wear, all of the finish is intact and I use brake cleaner followed up with Hoppes #9 with every cleaning.

When I'm not using Hoppes, I use MPro-7. The brake cleaner is a must to get the bullet lube out of the internals, however I'm open to new ideas.

 

[DJCharlie]

Mikul so the brake cleaner is ok for the satin nickel finish?

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Brake cleaner won't hurt the finish, and it will clean up the inside pretty nicely, but won't make the exterior look any better than other cleaners. And you'll still have to follow with a cleaner or preservative (such as CLP, etc.)

Brake cleaner strips all solvents and lubes, and you must always follow its use with a good lubricant or CLP-type material.

Be sure to remove the grips before using Brake Clearner, or you'll soon be ordering new grips.