Bake on Cerakote or Duracoat for a barreled action?
Are they equal or is one superior over the other?

If you're having someone do it for you I'd go with ceracoat. It is more expensive but baking on ceracoat is the real advantage. I have done lots of duracoat on stocks and a couple barrels, mainly shotgun barrels. Duracoat looks good on barrels but, IMO, ceracoat will take the heat of a rifle barrel much better as there is a specific duracoat designed for heat (Duraheat). Duracoat bonds with polymer and wood extremely well but also takes a bit of time to fully cure as it's a two part paint and hardener, I usually tell people 3 weeks from spray to fully cured. It can be handled before then but can also be easily scuffed or scratched, especially when bumping against something like a door frame. I don't think you'd go wrong with either but think you'll get better long term wear from the ceracoat.

Thanks for the reply.
You have any experience with BirdSongs Black T finish?

I had Duracoat on a few rifles , it chipped badly on some others not so much but it shows wear even more then Cerakote.

Take a look at Kg Gunkote......if there is a applicator near you id go give them a shout. I know several guys that apply cerakote for their company because its popular, but use KG on their own projects. I have applied it on several guns and am happy with it thus far. I also have a rifle that is duracoated for 4-5 years now and has been hunted hard all of them and it does have a chip or two in it, but it looks great throughout the rest of it. The chip also might have been caused by my own error in no preparing correctly.

Any of the coatings will likely serve the average hunters needs.....but preparation is key on any of them.

+1000000! I had issues when first starting with duracoat. If it isn't CLEAN it just won't stick. Prep is 90+% of the work and spraying doesn't take long at all. I'm going to have to look up KgGunkote now...

I don't have any experience with BirdSongs Black T finish. I started with spray paint and evolved into duracoat.

First in durability in all ways of the sprayed on coatings is Cerakote, It is made of real ceramic glass like beads ground up with tungsten carbide tooling that costs something like $20,000 per tool and they only last about 4 hours. That ground up ceramic is then mixed and suspended in a 2 part epoxy that is mechanically locked into the surface of the product it is applied to. Being a ceramic it doesn't really stick to anything but is laid down and mechanically locked into the roughed up valleys that are optimized by the surface prep Cerakote has specked out in the metal. It just barely covers the peaks of the metal a lot like a sight pressed into a tight fitting dovetail but at the microscopic level. If it is scratched or dented it only takes the peaks off the metal and the Cerakote is still in the valleys. This is why it is so wear resistant.

If the surface is either too rough or too smooth the coating will not perform. Too smooth, it will chip and peel because it is not a paint. I see this a lot by other applicators. The other common problem is from the fact Cerakote will not stick to cured Cerakote. When doing multiple colors it's a fine line between a quick flash to dry the surface and too cured for other colors to melt into the base colors. Typically the other top colors will chip or scratch real easy. If the surface is too rough the peaks will stick out too much and won't be covered properly. Each peak needs the support from surrounding peaks or it will scratch through real easy and rust. Like Ceramic beads no known chemical will hurt Cerakote unless it dissolves the metal under it. It can never be stronger than the underlying material it is applied to. If scratched deep enough to cut or wear the metal under the valleys then the metal is no longer protected by it and then acids can attack the metal and rust will form.

To get the correct surface profile and coating thickness it really should be applied by a certified or well trained applicator. If corners are cut it will not perform as advertised. Cerakote has relaxed some of the protocols in an effort to make it more appealing to the do it yourselfers but the results are not the same as using real virgin Acetone and virgin 120 grit aluminum oxide shot at the right pressure. To get aluminum oxide we have to drive 4 hours each way and pay $2 a pound for 50 pound bags. The Carbide tip in our cabinet is $55 each plus shipping and only good for about 20 guns. You can see the incentive to cut corners is great. Sometimes we have to soak and gas out parts more than 5 times before it is ready for color. When we do a gun you can't get through the finish with a hammer. Even the bolt bodies and locking lugs will not wear off. It works a lot like a dry lube on those parts. We have sample barrels that have been outside in the drainage ditch or buried in the wife's garden that still look like new 10 years later.

Everything else is basically good paint. Some better than others. They don't have the ceramic content and the epoxy is made to stick to good clean surfaces. Lots of products will easily dissolve Duracoat. Birdsong is a couple times better than Duracoat for chemical and abrasion resistance but not anywhere near Cerakote.

Here is a good video on Cerakote strength.

Paint is for cars and Ishapores. I would go with Parkerizing.

Can stainless be Parkerized?

No

So the only alternative is Cerakote?

Or blueing

Duracoat would be my last choice. It may be better than Krylon, but it WILL chip off.

I've never had anything with Cerakote, but its reputation is stellar. I may have something Cerakoted someday, or even look into doing it myself.

A third option is Moly Resin. I have used this myself, and it's pretty tough. No mixing required (I keep mine in the fridge). It can be done at home if you have blasting equipment with the right media, an airbrush, and an oven large enough to bake your project in. It may not be as tough as Cerakote, but it's a better alternative to Duracoat.

I recommend: Cerakote if you are making something fancy, Krylon Fusion if you are just trying to reduce visibility / outline. The Krylon is a bit Bubba but I like it.

I had one gun finished in Duracoat, and it will be removed soon and Parkerized. It is a Remington 870 slug gun. I wasn't happy with the look. The Duracoat really looks like a painted surface, uneven in some places, but generally looks thick on the surface. It also does chip much easier than I thought.

Duracoat even if properly applied is inferior to Cerakote.

And Cerakote is nothing like as good as the hype...