Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Metal refinishing options

I have a Sako AV that at one time was probably a real looker. However when I bought it the walnut stock had been replaced with a cheap Ramline stock. I was searching for a takeoff AV stock I could replace it with but after a few years gave up on that.

I ended up finding a like new McMillan in flat black I couldn't resist for the price. I don't have the immediate need to do so now but since this has now migrated more towards being a workhorse rifle with the McMillan I was wondering what my options are for metal refinishing. I know cerakote is currently the most popular but I seem to remember reading about some other chemical processes in this forum but I can't remember what it was. Shoulda hit that bookmark. I know parkerizing is an option but it wasn't that it was some sort of finish that like one guy was famous for. Sorry for the vagueness.

I think maybe you’re thinking of Birdsong’s Black T?

Cerakote was big for a while but it’s popularity wore off as quickly as the illusion of its durability did which is to say not long. It scratches and chips.

I have just recently had a rifle finished in Black T and it looks great but hasn’t seen enough use to know whether it’s a big improvement over cerakote. I would like to try Nitride linked in the post above.

One other to keep in mind, particularly if you’d like to roughly imitate the look of brushed SS, is Mahovsky’s Metalife which is a plating rather than a coating so it molecularly bonds to the surface of the steel. I had one rifle so finished but sold it before durability came into play.

I have a friend that has an old 700 AWR with teflon. Not sure if it was done by Birdsong but it looks a lot better then any Cerakote rifle I have seen in a while.

H&M Metal Processing, of Akron Ohio, offers its Black Nitride treatment, discussed previously in:

Because Black Nitride is a surface treatment, rather than a coating, it does not change the dimensions of the steel parts. As I understand, it’s sort of like case hardening, producing a steel surface hardness similar to chrome, with rust resistance superior to chrome.

I’ve had a number of guns treated in Black Nitride by H&M, and have been most pleased. Examples:









I’ve read where Black Nitride treated 5.56 barrels on ARs have shown great resistance to erosion, though I don’t shoot in sufficient volume to test that.

I just had another gun come back from H&M (a CZ-75) and I continue to be impressed with their work.

As Exchipy mentioned, one of the real tangible benefits of nitride is the fact that it does not add dimension-- this means that it does not affect how parts fit together.

Does H&M disassemble and reassemble your firearm? Thanks

Before Ceracoat I had a few teflon jobs done. They sucked badly. One failed at the muzzle (flinging chips of finish) the first time it was fired.

Ceracoat is significantly better, but not worth the money, IMO&E.

Yes that's it it was the Birdsong's Black T thank you!

I like how it blended my SS tube w/ the CM action:



I like the look of it so far!

I don’t believe that they do, I’ve always sent them parts.

The answer of course is it depends.

For hunting rifles I go with Stainless... no coatings required.
Beater rifles / work guns - Cerakote is just fine
Fancy rifles / Heirlooms - Blueing
Nitride and Anodized (AR stuff) coatings are new more hard use oriented in my book, I’m ok with nitride, but don’t like Anodized much at all.

If you want black, go with nitriding.

If you want stainless looking, go with hard chrome by Mahovsky Metalife

I sent a rifle off for Black T. It's been decently durable over the years but does have scratches thanks to alpine hunting for deer and goats. I think of it as a tougher version of ceracoat since it's still a coating. The above two are the toughest things I know of.

I've bought some stuff which was already nitrided and am thinking about sending off a barreled action to be done. H&M says they prefer to have the barrel unscrewed from the receiver but will do it with them attached. Has anyone had them do a less than totally disassembled barreled action? Any issues?

I've had several hard chromed by Metaloy back when it was more cost effective.

Only ones with easy pics to find:

What he said!