Armacoat is 5x as hard as the original black oxide on the Desert Eagle but the real plus of Arma-coat is the ease of how easy it is to touch up a scratch or worn area at a later time and make it look perfect. The area you're referring to at the safety, is usually already scratched to bare metal on a brand new DE. Even the gun in the pic used on their website is already scratched to bare metal. The safety really grinds against the slide. Arma-coat is just as hard as cerakote and harder than duracoat. PS: This finish is baked.