Cerakote
 

I am looking for everyone's input on the CERAKOTE on 1911's?

1) How long does it last?
2) Is there anything better?
3) Why did you pick it, instead of some other coating?

Clyde

Great question Clyde, I'm looking forward to seeing the responses also!

Seeing as how Dan Wesson's earlier Duty Coat was in fact Ceracote, anyone with one of those ought to be able to shed some light.

I have Norrell's on my Rock MS Bobtail and it has held up really well.

The gun is almost exclusively my EDC and carry it every day on the weekends and when I am home in Houston during the work week it sit on my hip.

The gun is in and out of my holster 6 to 7 times a day and I do not have any preservable ware on the front slide or dust cover. I do have some ware on the magwell and at the tip of the bearvertail.

I just got back from the range and shooting it and will be cleaning it tomorrow so I will post some close up picks of the critical areas.

Mike

What process is "Norrel's", Mike??

is it a nitrite bath??
(or however they do Glock's tenifer, Sig's Nitron or S&W's Melonite
which are all essentially the same as I understand it
And all very good from my experience

If I refinish one in a non DIY spray 'n bake finish, I plan to go that route

..L.T.A.

Here is a link to Norrell's site Cap.

From the above link the following is a partial description:

A note about the difference between a typical paint and coatings like Moly Resin. A typical paint is a formulation of pigments and other ingredients diluted with a solvent. When the solvent evaporates, the pigments harden and that hard residue is what is referred to as paint. Unfortunately, paint is susceptable and damaged easily and removed by many, if not most chemical solvents, acids, gun cleaners, bore cleaners, etc. A coating like Moly Resin thermally cured or air cure coatings are actual a complex mix of phenolics, polymers, etc. that are highly reactive to each other but kept from reacting by a catalyst mixed into the coating formula. The catalyst is activated by heat at a certain temperature or by oxygen as in the Air Dry Moly product. Once the catalyst is activated, a chemical reaction occurs between the various chemical to form a totally new substance. The new substance formed becomes very hard and resistant to the original solvents used to dissolve the original phenolics and other base resins, etc. This is why Moly Resin is not considered to be a paint.

He also puts molybdenum in the mix which is a lubricant so not only do you get a very resistant coating but a self lubricating coating at that.

You care for it just like you would parkerization -- clean it and oil it.

Im not to keen up on Cerakote. If its the rattle can stuff I dont think its that durable from reviews that I have read. I do know that Duracote is some pretty nice stuff. My cousin does Duracote and as long as you let it cure out it will hold up for a while

Anything spray on like Cerakote will wear with use just like park & bluing. The nitrite baths like Cap mentioned are tough as nails....but you are not likely to ever reverse it, so be sure you like it lol. Im going to give the nitrite treatment called Atranite a try on my build.

Norrell's you have to use an air brush to apply.

Here are some pic's of my ware.

Magwell

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...rellsWare1.jpg

beavertail

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...rellsWare2.jpg

rail left side

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...rellsWare3.jpg

rail right side

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...rellsWare4.jpg

More images

Dust shield

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...rellsWare5.jpg

Right side slide end

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...rellsWare6.jpg

Left side slide end

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...rellsWare7.jpg

Back side

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...ellsWare12.jpg

The worst of it is the gunsmith that did the coating over sandblasted the frame and did not put a heavy enough coat.

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...ellsWare10.jpg

and

http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/s...ellsWare11.jpg

I had a blued Colt New Detective Special I bought back in the early 70's. It was a daily carry for me for a lot of years. I had read about a new process called Armoloy, they were out of Texas I believe. I shipped it and had the process done. After all these years, even though it was dragged through the mud, the blood, the guts and the beer, there is absolutely no wear on the coating. It's easier to clean and basically guaranteed not to rust, bust, buckle or bend. Back then it cost around $50 to have the process done. I don't know what the cost is nowadays, but it would be worth the cost to have it done if anyone is interested. I'll take some photos if anyone wants and post them here.

$2,500 Nighthawk, with Perma Kote same as Creakote per Creakote. Here are pictures after three days of use at Gunsite.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...3/_DSC4786.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...3/_DSC4785.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...3/_DSC4780.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...3/_DSC4775.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...3/_DSC4771.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...3/_DSC4773.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...3/_DSC4778.jpg

For whatever it's worth. Here's the Colt I had done with the Armoloy process back in the early 70's. There's no holster wear, I use both a belt and ankle holster. There's no wear on the cylinder from the pawl. The Colt has seen hard use over the years. I don't know how the process would work on an auto pistol, but I'd be willing to bet the results would be the same.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...rsnest/006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...rsnest/005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...rsnest/001.jpg

Never used Cerakote, but I used Duracoat and I obtained the same results as Mike45 posted. I was very unimpressed. If I were going to spend my money on something other than bluing, I would look into the ion-bond type treatments like Hard Hat.

From all I've read in reports over the years there are two best choices..
Severns custom Hard Hat, or DLC IonBond is what they coat oil well drill bits for drilling through rock.. IonBond is also used on cutter bits for hard metals..
I've never read a report about anyone who wasn't thrilled with Hard Hat or any of Severns work and will be my choice when CBOB gets a little more beat up..

If you want a black coating, Hard Hat is the only way to go. My Fusion has the ion-bond treatment and I'm not all that impressed with it. The Duty Coat on my CCO is 100 times better than the ion-bond and I would imagine that the Hard Hat is at least as good as the duty coat.

So... there ya'go..Glad to hear that. It was the way I was going..

And if youre a poor boy like me or just dont want to dump alot into a beater gun lol....
Freedom gunworks has a nitride bath treatment for 150. He calls it Atranite. I havent used it yet, but i will be giving it a try.

I'm pretty set on IonBond, but Cerakote is right there in the running. I really like the choice of colors in Cerakote, I just don't think it is as tough as IonBond.


I've got a pm out to Dave Severns about his Hard Hat, not quite sure what this on is about yet