How durable is Duracoat + Parkerize finish combined?

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PILMAN

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I had a Romy G AK clone built and had it refinished with Parkerize and then a Duracoat finish put over that, how durable is it to protect against rust? I've been told Duracoats pretty much resistant to rust, is this true? It's been sitting in a very humid area for 3 months now and I haven't noticed any rust other than on the kit which was there when I bought the gun but no new rust.
 
Everything I've heard and seen about duracoat has me seriously contemplating getting some to coat my old 870.

Duracoat on top of a parked finish should be tough stuff. You should be fine, but I do not personally own a duracoated firearm. So, I only know what I've seen at the local gun club.
 
Some kind of paint over parkerizing is a pretty durable finish. It is very unlikely to rust except at wear points where the finish will eventually rub through (like under the selector lever). Wipe it down with a little oil like you would any other firearm and it shouldn't ever have a rust problem.

(Now, shoot corrosive ammo and don't clean properly / immediately? Well, that's a different story!)
 
Should be fine. Keep in mind that it's paint, it will scratch with hard use. It's very druable, and the prep is everything in the finish. Clean and degrease the gun, then bake it for 30 minutes at 175 or so--you may actually see the oil bubbling out of it. Then, clean and degrease again, and apply the coat.

I have several done, and have only redone one--the IDPA GLOCK 17. Probably had 100,000 draws on it (dryfire and praxtice) and it was looking pretty bad. Everything else is holding up fine.
 
I do a lot of parkerizing and firearms refinishing. Its the bread and butter of my business. My preference for military and some civilian hunting firearms is parkerizing, but for a coating, I am partial to Cerakote. I also work with KG Gunkote quite a lot, and I think it is much more durable and harder than Duracote.

Parkerizing with a Duracoat topcoat? Probably the best technique to get Duracoat to last, but in my honest opinion, Cerakote is just as good. Magnesium or zinc phosphating is great because there is a molecular bond between the steel and the phosphate. Any other coating/treatment relies on the strength of the coating. KG Gunkote is milspec, so pretty decent, but now Cerakote has been proven to be tougher.

Just my 2 cents. I'm not a flavor-of-the-week kind of guy, but danged if I won't do right by my customers.
 
It is very unlikely to rust except at wear points where the finish will eventually rub through (like under the selector lever).
Click to expand...
And if your AK is rusting there, shoot it more. The rust wont be there long...
 
On a related note, out of all the finishes out there including Duracoat, Cerakote, Gun Kote, Diamondkote, Alumahyde, NP3, NP3+, Roguard, matte blue, glossy blue, parkerizing, barbecue paint, truck bed liner, nickel plating, hard chrome, polished chrome, Brownells Teflon/Moly Gun Finish, rust bluing, etc. ad nauseum, which are the most resilient to... well, everything?

What would be best for internal parts? External parts? Bearing surfaces? Stocks? Grips? Carbon steel? Stainless steel? Alloy frames? Any of the above in a salty/ sandy environment? To a shooter who doesn't clean as much as they should? To an over-cleaner? To someone who uses Simple Green and has never heard the term hydrogen embrittlement, or uses oven cleaner on their whole Glock?

Say, for instance, I want to get a Sig P6 to better-than-new shape, finish-wise, inside and out. What would be the recommended path?

What about an AR?

Or a (what used to be) a blued 1911?

Or Remington 870?

Everyone says theirs is the best, but they can't all be the same.
 
That was a question? :eek:

Counting finishes, questions, modifying conditions, and different firearms listed, I get a possible pool of 3,468 distinct questions in that post. :confused:

Maybe someone will answer them all for you. In a chart or something.

Anyone?


Anyone?


Bueller?
 
:D

Sorry, I guess I was a bit "off my nut" when I posted that. :p

Simplified: What would be the most long-wearing and resilient finish for a Sig P6 slide exterior, cost notwithstanding? A finish that is close color match to the original, but greatly more resistant to holster wear, would be ideal.

Would you recommend a particular finish/process for internal parts? Which one?
Would you recommend a different finish for bearing surfaces than for those that are simply hard-to-get-to and therefore hard-to-clean?

Is a particular finish for one metal not recommended for another, or rather, are particular finishes meant for particular metals? Does Alumahyde work better on an alloy frame than Cerakote, for instance?

Reason I'm asking is that the one experience with Duracoat I've had was, frankly, terrible. It flaked off the slide of my Vektor SP2 like a bad sunburn. :eek: It was professionally applied by a local gunsmith who had done top-notch work with DC before (and who had many fine examples), and it seems to be a popular choice, but given my aforementioned situation I've often wondered if there was a better choice of product I could have made.
 
Well, I certainly don't have a comparison of the relative merits of the different paint coatings, but I've read numerous critiques here from gunsmiths who've used them. That could be informative if you spent a couple of hours reading archived threads. (Admittedly a bit of a hassle.)

My own experiences with Duracoat have been o.k. Not awesome, but ok. It wears off edges pretty quickly, but I haven't had any flaking or peeling. Not sure I'd use it on something that I wanted to be REALLY nice.

The "good" thing about any of the spray finishes is that they are cheap, easy (no shipping and waiting), and you can re-do them when they get looking rough.

If I was in your shoes I think I'd be looking at a hard chrome. But I believe some places also now will apply the Melanite/Tennifer finish that Glocks, M&Ps, etc. come with from the factory and that would look more factory on your SIG.

I don't know about internal parts. If it was hard chrome, that might be fine. But if it's a spray finish, no way. I'd just leave them as-is and make sure they're clean and oiled from time to time.
 
After coating several rifles using zinc parkerizing and Duracoat, I can say without a doubt, that Duracoat is impervious to the elements and much harder to scratch compared to blued steel.
If anyone experiences peeling or flaking of a Duracoat finish on a parked surface, the culprit is contaminated surfaces due to a bad cleaning regimen.
And the longer Duracoat sits, the harder the coating becomes.
I'm not sure if Duracoat will bond as strong on a firearm that isn't parked or surface treated, as I've never tried it.
Internal coating where there are moving parts should be avoided.



NCsmitty
 
I put duracoat on an 870 express. The rough factory finish is ideal for duracoating. No problems so far. I have also had some hard chroming done. It is pretty much indestructable. It is also more expensive.
 
Internal coating?

Black T

External coating?

Black T

DIY over parkerized?
DuraCoat following the instructions to the letter
 
I just want to report that this finish is excellent, it's been sitting in humidity in the trunk and not one spot of rust, I love this finish.
 
I had the receiver (cover) on my Henry 22 powder coated and it has held up very well. I can't tell the difference between mine and one with a factory finish. I have a Marlin 60 that I plan on doing the same way.
 
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