Proper care for a Mossberg 590A1 Parkerized Barrel Question.
- Thread starter Bush Hunter
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
What things have you owned that were competently Parkerized? What advantage have you gained with Cerakote and paint over the original Parkerizing? An oil impregnated zinc-phosphate coating protects steel from rust even in extremely wet environments, and should the surface rub against a rock or sharp metal object, a light rub covers the mark. I suppose if you don't like the color or texture of Parkerizing, the bake on finishes will provide a hard resilient finish, and the wide selection of colors might appeal to your senses, but although I own a few guns with bake on finishes, I question whether or not they actually provide any greater degree of protection. That said I don't want to be limited to Parkerized guns only.
Dexter Morgan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Both shotgun barrels. One is a Mossberg. The other an off-brand.
If they weren't greased up, they would rust just as easily as bare steel.
That meant keeping them greased up when stored, just like you would with anything bare steel.
The Mossberg barrel I sent for black Cerakote. It looks awesome. And it doesn't rust.
The cheaper barrel I just spray painted with high-temp paint from Canadian Tire.
It's normally used for painting exhaust manifolds and brake calipers, so heat is no problem.
The trick with spray paint is to use VERY light coats. Just spay for a couple of seconds. Then come back tomorrow and spray for a couple of seconds.
Do this for several days, until it has a thick enough layer of paint on it. Patience is a must.
It doesn't rust. And it doesn't need to be greased up.
They did, the phosphated bolt carrier, but I have to question how credible a Cerakote advertisement is?
And, even if its as good as advertised, how well does it protect when its chipped or worn through?
I know my grease saturated Parked guns won't rust even in spots where the finish is gone, and I live in a very rust friendly environment.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
I've had my 590 since 2001, have carried it for hundreds of miles in warm humid conditions, exposed it to salt water spray on windy days, and brought it inside to warm temperatures after being out all day in extreme cold, and there is no rust on the Parkerized surfaces of this gun. There's no rust, because rust cannot form in the presence of an oil film suspended in the finish. Now if your Parkerized finish has not absorbed any, or enough oil, to create a barrier between moisture and steel, I can understand that rusting problems would arise.
I've spray painted guns with mixed results; typically the paint doesn't stand up to bug dope very well, and around here in the summer, bug dope is essential.
On my hard use guns that are not Parkerized, the finish I use is KG GunKote. I got a good deal from a fellow who was getting out of the business, so I had quite a bit of it, although some of the colors are a little obscure. As with any coating, the magic lies in the attention to detail in the prep work from blasting with aluminum oxide at 30 psi,, to degassing and degreasing, to preheating, the attention paid to applying the product, and the temperature its cured at, all affect the end quality of the product. I haven't tried Parkerizing myself, but I imagine the same attention to detail applies.
Cerakote has become the industry standard for gun coatings, which when done correctly produced a resilient, hard finish, even standing up on the cartridge deflector on an AR. But Cerakote is not as easy to apply as either Parkerizing or KG-Gunkote, and fewer people are offering the service, because it almost requires a down draft paint booth to achieve the promised result.
Lol. Wish granted. Phosphate = parkerized. Stands up similar to many popular coatings. I geuss if you leave your gun in a salt test chamber for 2 days you're screwed. Or are too lazy to ever take care of it. I have a few parkerized guns that see hard use as bush guns. The 590A1 gets wiped with oil a couple times a year max and sees rain and snow for long periods of time. I don't even wipe it down with oil before or after trips. Just the oil hanging out in the parkerizing. If someone wanted to flip that corrosion test right over they could clean and oil each of the parts every few hours and show what basic maintenance does for your guns. But that would require effort. There's no doubting cerakote but if you think oiled parkerizing is a rust magnet then you've never used it in wet weather with basic maintenance.
