What is the very best finish to put on a gun?

[DeepSouth]

Beretta claims "100% corrosion resistance" by using a combination of stainless steel, plated nickel, Bruniton, and chrome on their shotguns. At least some of them anyway.

 

[Orion8472]

I will just take it back to the gunsmith who did the Cerakote and have him refinish it. He won't charge me.

Off topic: Also, the incandescent Maglite is what I call "horror film video" grade. You have a rather sickly orange beam with the dimmest of spills [that might as well not even be there],. . . . so you can't see the monster until the beam is right on it. The Maglite I have has a module with 32 LEDs in it that put out a nice flood of light. Nice for indoors.

I have a few flashlights that I use only outdoors. My brightest is nearly 1,000 lumens, but I have a filter on it which will light up a large area of land in a glow of light!

 

[Uncle Nubbs]

I tend to be very nearly over-zealous in the cleaning and care of my firearms so I don't necessarily think about the best protective finish. As for the most attractive, I'm in love with the classic look of a color case-hardened finish. Turnbull has some great examples of their color case-hardening work on their website. Down the road, I'd like to add the gear to do this in my workshop and I just know I'll end up color case-hardening a lot of things in my home beyond firearm frames because I think it looks so darned nice. Could you color case-harden a Maglight? Because that's look awesome.

 

[Jackal]

Bah, I say let'em rust up until they no longer work. That way you can buy a new one. Buying a new gun is fun.

 

[bersaguy]

+1 for ceracote. May not be as hard as a chrome finish but for corrosion resistance it's fantastic. I've got some strage body chemistry that allows my sweat to eat steel pretty badly. I've heard some machinists refer to it as "piss finger" In any event since I ceracoted my previously blued 1911 copy i've carried out in the woods on damp rainy days, run 100's of rounds through it, no chips, no dings and no rusty fingerprints

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Industrial Hard Chrome. Love it!

 

[Jim Watson]

People need to get away from the idea that Tenifer/Melonite is a finish. It is not. It is a surface hardening treatment. It does not alter the steel's appearance.

And yet, when I asked, I was told that the vendor Mr Hamilton deals with could not or would not provide Melonite that was not black. And it doesn't rub off.

To wit, from Burlington:

Melonite Processing:
Melonite Q
•Improved Wear Resistance
•Improved Running Properties
•Increased Fatigue and Rolling Fatigue Strengths
•Heat Resistance
•Black Color

Melonite QP
•lncludes the properties of Melonite Q...

Melonite QPQ
•lncludes the properties of Melonite Q and QP...

 

[WardenWolf]

+1 on hard chrome being the strongest. Keep in mind that a lot of chrome finishes are cheap, however, and use a copper base. Some peoples' sweat interacts with this and destroys it (you'll see it blackening). True hard chrome doesn't have this problem.

After hard chrome, there's always the tried and true Parkerizing. It also has the advantage of being very cheap. There's other finishes ostensibly more durable than Parkerizing, but these tend to be brittle or paint-like and not stand the test of time.

Of course, as someone already said, if you go stainless you don't have any of these problems. There is a black stainless option if you don't like the glare.

 

[CraigC]

And yet, when I asked, I was told that the vendor Mr Hamilton deals with could not or would not provide Melonite that was not black. And it doesn't rub off.

Whatever it is that makes it black is not the Melonite treatment. Melonite is like case hardening without the color of bone charcoal or cyanide.

 

[Jim Watson]

So why does Burlington list black color as a characteristic of the process?
Please show pictures of colorless Melonite.

 

[Hokkmike]

Another vote for stainless.

Stuff does happen. But the only significant scratch I ever got on a gun was on the butt of a Marlin lever action from a barbed wire fence. (that will not happen again)

Properly handled, most ALL modern finishes are GREAT!

 

[Carolinakid]

Just got a Sig P226 back from Mahovsky's Metalife hard chrome. It had been sent in by former owner and came back to him with a few inconsistant areas. Sent it back and they fixed it with less than two weeks turnaround time.

 

[johnpfaff]

Hardhat. Look it up.

 

[gearhead]

So why does Burlington list black color as a characteristic of the process?
Please show pictures of colorless Melonite.

What you want is salt bath nitrocarburizing without the oxide layer on top that creates the black finish. There are many proprietary nitrocarburizing processes under a variety of names, most of the ones that don't include the oxide layer are for internal components for automotive engines and gearboxes where they don't need the corrosion protection the oxide layer provides. One that I've used in the past is Tufftride, it will leave a surface that just looks like heat treated steel.

Of course, if you want the corrosion protection as well as the surface hardness you will still need the oxide finish.

 

[AZ Desertrat]

I have had the best luck with my guns that have a Robar NP3 finish. Like Teflon, scratchproof, etc.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

So why does Burlington list black color as a characteristic of the process?
Please show pictures of colorless Melonite.

XD and XDm "stainless" slide guns are melonited. Is that what you mean by colorless melonite?

 

[Longhorn 76]

I have been very happy with the BlackT coating on my carry gun. Totally impervious to salt and sweat, and, I run without oil, so no dust and dirt sticking to the action.

 

[MK2Willy]

Robar NP3+