Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cerakote inside barrel and chamber?

My SIL bought my 12 year old Grandson a Rem 700 270 and had it Ceroakoted by a local gunsmith. They couldn't find any ammo so I told my SIL that I have a lot of 270 brass and bullets and would load some ammo for it. I picked it up today and was checking it out. The scope isn't level (don't know who mounted it yet) and and it was very hard to open the bolt and pull it back. It appears that this gunsmith put Cerakote on everything including the chamber and the inside of the barrel (all machined surfaces).Is this correct??? Surely not and especially not on the rifling. I'm afraid to shoot it.

No that is not correct. Should not be in chamber or the bolt lugs or race way

The ones i have had done coat the exterior and the inside of the receiver (raceways) but not the chamber or inside the barrel

I would be leery of taking it back to that gun smith, sounds like an idiot. It will need a vigorous polishing to remove and if over done could screw up head space or other issues. I would wrap a cleaning jag or brush with 0000 steel wool and put some JB bore cleaner on it and run this on an electric drill in the chamber and bu hand in the bore. Be very careful of the bolt lugs maybe try 800 grit wet or dry paper with a level backing block. Or have a gunsmith face off the bolt and lugs and set the barrel back if needed.

Tubbs final finish would get most of it out of the barrel with just a few rounds. If you try this load them down to a starting load just to be on the safe side.

Good grief.

Cerakote is decent as an exterior finish. But... NO! Not in the chamber or barrel... Dang...

The good news might be that if the gunsmith is that incompetent, he also might not have installed it correctly--and it would be pretty easy to get out.

There are a BUNCH of "gunsmiths" who have no clue about using Cerakote. Many apparently believe you simply spray it on, and that's it, but doing right requires considerable prep, and then heating it correctly.

I'm curious how you'd even spray the chamber and bore.....

He apparently didn't plug the barrel or chamber when he sprayed.

"Or have a gunsmith face off the bolt and lugs and set the barrel back if needed."

I got it off the bolts lugs with the wire wheel on my grinder in just a few minutes. It came off real easy too so I'm not sure it's even Cerakote. It made a huge difference the bolt opens/closes easily and the bolts slides in/out easily. I asked my SIL what kind of stock it was and he said it was a custom stock that the gunsmith makes. It's actually a Bell and Carlson stock (I have 2 just like it), the gunsmith just removed material in the barrel channel to float the barrel.

You have to plug the chamber and muzzle of you can over spray into the chamber & bore.

That's how Cerakote acts when it's not installed correctly.

When it is installed correctly, it's pretty tough. Have several Cerakoted rifles I've hunted with a LOT that show hardly any wear at the corners of the muzzle crown.

You might try the wire wheel on an outside area of the barreled action. If the coating comes off as easily as off the bolt lugs, then it's either incorrectly installed Cerakote, or something else.

I wouldn't be taking anything back to that guy - ever. From poor prep work to lying about the stock, he may get a phone call but it wouldn't be for a re-work. IMO, the prep work for cerakoting is extremely important. Where are you located in Texas? I've mailed a few out for cerakoting and gotten great results

If the Cerakote was sprayed on it would be extremely difficult to spray the chamber and virtually impossible to spray the bore. My guess is he sprayed the bolt and feed rails causing the stickiness.

It wouldn't be all that hard to spray the visible part of the bore from the muzzle, and at least the rear of the chamber.

This ^^^

Anyone that has ever used a rattle can of spray paint should know about over spray. Even when being careful the paint mist goes everywhere. A poorly prepped rifle and a paint gun can be a mess in no time.

I've coated quite a few rifles using properly baked Cerakote and KG GunKote. I could write a small book to explain all the equipment, tricks and procedures to apply these coatings successfully. Having a background in heavy equipment and fleet refinishing using many different coatings and paints helps alot.

Done right, both baked coatings are pretty durable. The bolt face, locking lug surfaces, chamber and inner barrel should not be coated ever. The bolt should be coated except the jeweling. Flutes can be coated, it really looks cool.

Proper degreasing, and using only clean uncontaminated blast media (alum oxide) is key. Also proper cleaning/washing of the metal surfaces before and after blasting with pure acetone is important, the blasted metal surfaces tend to hold alot of blast media (alum oxide).

The coating should be spot checked and confirmed for proper heat temperature while baking with an infrared temp gun and not just guessed.

I remember one guy on here long ago who claimed KG GunKote was junk because it wouldn't stick. I suspect his work had contamination or he wasn't using the correct blast media. Handling blasted gun parts with your bare fingers will contaminate your work in short order.

IF it’s in the chamber you can take a finish reamer, and lightly hand turn it to remove the cerakote, but be darn careful doing it. It’s best to do it on a lathe, but many people buy the t-handle extension for a reamer and stick it right through the receiver.

After that lightly polishing the sides with 220 (lightly) is a OK TO good thing, but with any luck you won’t need that.
DO NOT use 320 or higher grit in the chamber or it could make the sides too slick.

On the muzzle end, you could use abrasive but I’d start with a wire brush (copper first ) to see how it behaves.

The guys are right - if you sand blast, and soak in acetone like you are supposed to it’s a bugger to get off - but in the muzzle, and chamber it should NOT have been blasted so with any luck it won’t stick like it does on the exterior.

When you say the bolt is hard to open and pull back - can you see wear marks in the cerakote on the bolt yet ?

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You missed the post where he already solved that problem--which was one of the indications to me that it was installed incorrectly.

I would contact the Smith or person who did the work, find out which coating was used then go from there.

Here is the training link to the Cerakote process:

Cerakote Training and Application

Most of these coatings are fairly thin and can be removed if done carefully.

I coat small screws with KG GunKote including the threaded portion and never an issue with binding or galling if it's applied correctly. In fact KG Gun coating actually improves lubricity (the moly version).