Art,
If I received $100 for every time I've heard something like: "A rifle with Ceracote applied by a highly regarded smith had spots worn through it on a short Kodiak bear hunt... just from rubbing on the raft tubes" I'd be able to buy a very nice custom rifle.
Since 2006 Eileen and I have owned five rifles finished in Cerakote. Three were built by what was then Serengeti Rifles in Kalispell, and is now Kilimanjaro Rifles. which out-sourced the application. We still have two of them, my 9.3x62 and Eileen's .308, and there almost no wear on the coating, even though both rifles have been hunted quite a bit in various parts of North America and Africa.
I also had a custom .338 Winchester Magnum Cerakoted by a Cerakote-trained and certified company around that time, and its finish was in similar shape when I sold it a couple years ago.
Sold one of the Serengeti rifles to Reverend Mike a few years ago, a 7x57, and he reports the Cerakote is still in good shape. I have some photos the rifle taken from the first animal I got with it, an Alberta moose in 2006, to a number African animals taken during seven weeks of cull hunting in South Africa in 2007 and 2008--along with a studio shot of the rifle I took for an article in 2014. May post them here later--or in "Ask the Gunwriters"--along with a photo of the ONLY wear on the Cerakote of my 9.3x62, a few tiny dings on the trigger guard.
The most recent rifle is a Weatherby Vanguard First Lite 6.5 Creedmoor I acquired early last year in a package deal. It was Cerakoted by Weatherby, and so far the only difference I can tell in the coating is on the bolt handle--which is slightly less "matte" than when the rifle was new, after firing over 100 rounds for various projects.
Weatherby is NOT the only American firearms company that uses Cerakoting on their products, either as a standard or custom finish. Among the others are Barrett, Colt, Mossberg, Savage and Winchester, and I sincerely doubt that if the finish wore as easily many people have described that they'd still be using Cerakote.
The fact of the matter is that many "gunsmiths," highly regarded or otherwise, don't understand how to install Cerakote, and apparently don't bother to learn. As a result it doesn't stick, in the worst instances not working even as well as Krylon.
Am also going to do a detailed article on the subject soon, simply because there is is so much misinformation about Cerakote, mostly due to incorrect application.
