Parkerizing or Bluing?

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Sam Thompson

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A couple months ago I purchased myself a Norinco M-14 and have decided that I really dislike the light grey Zinc parkerizing job done to it. What I would really like, is to have the metal a really dark grey to black. I talked to one shop that does gun refinishing and he tells me nobody does parkerizing anymore, even the military is switching back to bluing.

Whether this is true or not I really have no idea. To get to the point though, would bluing hold up/look alright on an M14 or is there a place that uses the the Iron or Manganese phosphating methods in parkerizing to give me that nice black color?
 
I haven't heard of a park job that will get metal truly a black colour, only different shades of grey-green.

I think there's more to the situation than simple preference in the military and most manufacturers going back to blueing their guns. It's probably either faster, cheaper or easier, cause it's definitely not as durable or good at keeping rust off a gun.

If you're looking for a nice black finish and you want to save some money and time, you should consider a matte black cover of duracoat. IMHO, paint is the best thing you can use on metal to prevent rust. Plus, Duracoat can really look great!
 
Most military finishes use manganese phosphate (Black Parkerizing). Some then enamel over that. Others use some form of Tenifer-type coating. None use blue that I know of. It is a pain to apply, and wears easily, providing little corrosion resistance.
 
Options could be to blast it and apply a coating in the colour of your choice, or blast it and blue it. This would produce a dark matte finish.
 
ya i got a duracoat kit for one of my guns. Turned out really nice. I'm picky about my rifles though. I'm not a fan of painted metal. I'm an open sights walnut stock when it comes to the M14.
 
Here's a Nork 1911 that I parked myself. Came out a nice dark almost black colour. The pics a bit blurry. I got the park solution from here...
http://www.pjsproducts.com/
DSCF0087.jpg


Forgot to add, Valley Gunsmithing does parking.
 
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"...nobody does parkerizing anymore...even the military is..." He's confused. Bluing isn't a very durable finish. Lots of places that work on milsurps, especially American made firearms, do Parkerizing. Shops that don't do many milsurps won't do Parkerizing. Mind you, Parkerizing is an old finish now.
"...would really like..." Have it black phosphated. Same sort of thing as Parkerizing, but done with different chemicals. Take out all the springs and send only the parts you want re-finished. Tap a cast .30 cal bullet into the muzzle and an empty case with a spent primer in the chamber.
There is a debate about what colour M1 rifles originally were. Some say black. Some shades of grey. Parkerizing gives a different shade according to the metal it goes on. They were definitely not grey with a greenish tinge. That comes from long term storage in cosmoline. Rifles that didn't spend a long time in cosmoline are blackish due to years of being repeatedly oiled. Parkerizing holds oil extremely well. That being the purpose of using it in the first place.
 
Well I know how to parkerize it myself from the M14 clinics, i just don't have the tools to take off the barrel, let alone parkerize the friggin thing. I'm no gunsmith, I rather spend the money and get someone who knows what he is doing to do it.

Also, yes I know its different chemicals hence wanting to have someone parkerize it with the manganese which gives it a black complexion. I'm pretty sure the chinese use the zinc phosphate method which gives a light grey color cause no amount of oil has darkened it.

Guess I'll have to cruise the phone book and call every gunsmith to see if anyone parkerizes anymore.

I think I would rather buy a SA when I get another. Basically a finished rifle when you get it. Can't go wrong there.
 
Valley Guns are very familiar with your Norc, if they do parkerizing (as quoted above)they would be my bet, you could have anything else you might want to have done there too.
 
"...don't have the tools to take off the barrel..." No need. You'll likely want to take off the flash hider, just to be able to tap in the cast bullet, but you don't need to remove the barrel. Mind you, getting the flash hider off can be a chore all by itself.
Most smithies send metal re-finishing work out. Takes a fair bit of space most of 'em don't have. It used to be that that you could go to any metal finisher in the Yellow Pages. However, the new and stupid rule that requires anybody who handles a firearm to have a PAL put an end to that.
 
"...What rule?..." Anybody handling firearms at any business must have a PAL to do so. This is aside from the business being licenced to handle firearms. It's like requiring the guy on the parts counter at a car dealer to have a mechanic's licence.
 
sunray said:
"...nobody does parkerizing anymore...even the military is..." He's confused. Bluing isn't a very durable finish. Lots of places that work on milsurps, especially American made firearms, do Parkerizing. Shops that don't do many milsurps won't do Parkerizing. Mind you, Parkerizing is an old finish now.
"...would really like..." Have it black phosphated. Same sort of thing as Parkerizing, but done with different chemicals. Take out all the springs and send only the parts you want re-finished. Tap a cast .30 cal bullet into the muzzle and an empty case with a spent primer in the chamber.
There is a debate about what colour M1 rifles originally were. Some say black. Some shades of grey. Parkerizing gives a different shade according to the metal it goes on. They were definitely not grey with a greenish tinge. That comes from long term storage in cosmoline. Rifles that didn't spend a long time in cosmoline are blackish due to years of being repeatedly oiled. Parkerizing holds oil extremely well. That being the purpose of using it in the first place.
Click to expand...

i learned a lot from this post.
thanks for telling us all that
 
sunray said:
"...What rule?..." Anybody handling firearms at any business must have a PAL to do so. This is aside from the business being licenced to handle firearms. It's like requiring the guy on the parts counter at a car dealer to have a mechanic's licence.
Click to expand...


Yes, what rule? I know what you're saying, but where is this written down? If you must have a PAL to work on a firearm or part, than logically you'd need a PAL to handle a firearm, which you don't.
 
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