arma coat, duracoat or cerakote...anything better

chola

chola

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Am looking at the above coatings...anyone better than the next, or is there anything else I am missing..must be able to get it here in canada
Any pics of projects you have done...namely in a stainless finish or close to it....I am looking at doing a few projects of my own here shortly and looking for real world experience and opinions
 
I have a 1911 doublestack that I use for IPSC which has been armacoated twice.

The slide does experience quite a bit of wear on the Armacoated finish using a Bladetek DOH holster. The frame has no wear marks at all.

My CZ SPO1 Shadow has what I beleive is called the factory polycoat finish and after 3 years of IPSC competitions and over 20k rounds has very minor wear at the end of the slide from the same make and model holster. It appears to be a much more durable finish.

I have heard that Ceracoat is the more / most durable of these types of finishes but have no first hand experience with it.
 
I did duracoat on an 870

Put camo tape on it from Canadian tire (same as hockey tape) to go turkey hunting.

When I peeled it off, all the duracoat came off with it.
 
I have had 4 rifles Arma-coated. It is very durable. No question that's it's all in the prep work. Arma-coat with parkerizing as a base layer is the best combination.
 
Like BBB said, it's really all in the prep. You really have to have a good plan as to how you're going to hold, rotate, and hang every part.

The other part is to really read the instructions. ALL of them. Dura and Cera have pretty big color pallets but some of the fancy high gloss finishes need base coats first then the finish coat, so costs go up.

I've run KG on 4 guns and some accessories with good results. Just basic black and fde with their park base. So far so good. I'm tempted to try a winter camo but need to practice my airbrushing more. gl
 
There was a guy who did a series of tests on various aftermarket finishes and their ability to inhibit corrosion and their durability. Cerakote won in every test from what I remember.
 
freezer filler said:
A local auto parts store has ceramic high heat paint used for headers. I think he said 12 bucks a can...anybody try this yet?
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I used it on an old shotgun to test it out a year or so ago. Stripped the bluing, Soda blasted the metal. Cleaned with brake clean, then acetone, applied as per directions on the stuff I used: Preheated painted and baked.

One scratch and the finish starts to come off and it did not hold up to solvents.

YMMV but it was a waste of time for me.
 
Markit said:
I used it on an old shotgun to test it out a year or so ago. Stripped the bluing, Soda blasted the metal. Cleaned with brake clean, then acetone, applied as per directions on the stuff I used: Preheated painted and baked.

One scratch and the finish starts to come off and it did not hold up to solvents.

YMMV but it was a waste of time for me.
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Crap! I knew it was too good to be true.
 
I guess you just have to research what every major firearms manufacturer and most custom builders use in their custom coloured firearms. That should tell you something. They don't go with the cheapest product. They go with the best. Personal anecdotes are great but the answer lies with what are the pro's using. Remington, Savage, Benelli, Sig, PGW, Drake, Aero, Daniell Defense, STI, Colt Canada, Etc Etc.
 
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ebruder said:
I did duracoat on an 870

Put camo tape on it from Canadian tire (same as hockey tape) to go turkey hunting.

When I peeled it off, all the duracoat came off with it.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a prep problem to me. If this was a common issue with Duracoat (or any spray on, for that matter) they would be out of business post haste.
 
I've used KG Gunkote, Cerakote (hot and cold), Duracote, and Amra-cote.

If you have an oven, don't even consider the last two, except for scopes, plastic, and other un-bakeables.

A few years ago I sprayed a set of old scope rings, one with KG and one with cerakote and baked. I threw them in the brass tumbler for an hour or two to beat them up a little, then stuck them on my key ring for a week or so in my pocket bouncing around, then left them on the top of a fencepost for another couple weeks in the rain. Not too scientific or ASTM approved testing, but empirical enough for me. Cerakote won as expected, but not by a huge margin.

KG has more lubricity (good for internals), goes on thinner, requires no mixing (and resulting wastage), and flattens as you spray. Fish eyes and uneven spraying tend to fix themselves during the baking giving a very even finish. I like KG for quick smaller projects and also use it on internals. You can spray things as fine as the firing pin stop screw on a model 70 with KG. KG being a non-catalyst coating requires 300F fairly accurately for proper cure.

Cerakote is overall tougher but requires precise mixing and is thicker and more finicky to spray. The finish you have when you put it in the oven is what you get when you take it out. It can also be sticky on moving parts. Cerakote can be baked cooler than KG requires so if you have a marginal baking setup Cerakote is better.

I will continue to use both for where they are best, but overall for a DIY KG is easier to use and get good first time results with 90% the wear resistance of Cerakote.
 
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