Refinishing my XDm w/gun kote

[mikeXd45]

Recently I bought an Xd on the cheap and it works great gotta say I really love shooting it... I'll save that for a glock vs. xd thread. Anyway the drawback is that the finish is worn and has alot of tarnish. I've been searching around and I guess it's this finish called tenefir. Not sure if that's right but the finish doesn't hold up at all and it seems to be a common problem. I want to put gun-kote on it. I've never really done anything like that before but I have all the right equipment.My question is will the gun-kote adhere to the finish and not flake off is there any prep that i should do the gun like sandblast/degrease it?

 

[kenno]

yes you should strip the gun apart then pre the parts with alcohol (for plastics) and Coleman fuel or brake cleaner. I would blast the slide with a very fine media then clean again and paint.

 

[olyeller]

degrease, blast with 80 grit alox, degrease again and spray and bake.

Prep is everything.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

As Olyeller just said, you need to use aluminum oxide or garnet 80-100 grit to etch the surfact of the slide. You can't use glass beads because they aren't aggressive enough. I would also recommend getting some masking tape to tape off the areas of the slide you don't want blasted. A word of caution, don't disassemble the frame unless you want an afternoon of fun reassembling it.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Buy KG's cold phosphate, K-phos, and use it as primer, it what they recommend as a under cote for Gun-Kote, and from what I've seen from my guns I've done, is that is comes out looking great, very durable, I have a blowback that I did, almost 1k ammo though it and the barrel (I taped the chamber and muzzle) shows very little wear.

 

[PendletonCowboy]

pictures! Lets see it!! I have been wanting to get another pistola... and an XDM seems to be up there on my list.

 

[mikeXd45]

Wow thanks for the feedback. I've got alot of aluminum oxide..it's all 120 grit so I guess I'll order some 80 grit. I really don't want to mess this up. I only want to do the slide I never even contemplated doing the frame although it sounds interesting. I'll post some pics when I get everything done thanks for the advice and wish me luck!

 

[possum]

welcome to thr, and congrats on a great handgun, my xd has over 17,000rds through it and was refinished at about 3k with sa's armory kote, and even it has gotten lots of wear.

the finish in the xd that you have if made after 2006 IIRc is not tenifer, but known as melonite.

please post pics when you refinish the gun i am sure that there are many people that would like to see it.

 

[JoeH54]

This is my first post, so take it easy on me. Why not call Springfield and see if they will refinish it. Being a XDM, it should still be under warranty.