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

Yep, I missed it ( I thought that was you telling him to hit it with a wire wheel) ...

Glad you got that resolved...

Match chamber in a can. "Tighten up sloppy chamber dimensions in only five minutes."



I'm gonna make hundreds!

That chit bird Ryan Kelsey with Diablo custom custom rifles did that to one of mine. The cerekote inside the chamber was damn difficult to remove. The stuff he put on the outside of the gun however, came off on it’s own.

It's really simple to keep both the blast media and coating out of the barrel.

Plug the muzzle with a wood dowel tapped in gently. Remove the wood dowel with a cleaning rod afterwards, usually just before baking.

Place an empty brass case in the chamber, stuff some compressed cotton in there, then cut a round piece of plumbers tape and stick it to the empty case head. Done right, no blast media or overspray will ever reach the chamber, or its surroundings.

I have probably heard about more incompetent installations of Cerakote than any other 21st-century product applied to rifles. Many (if not not most) have involved Cerakote that wasn't any tougher than Krylon--though those were only applied to the correct surfaces. Had previsouly not heard about nitwits applying it INSIDE the action or barrel.

That's sad to hear since both Cerakote and KG GunKote are great products if installed correctly. It's mostly proper preparation, clean blasted surfaces (free of contaminates) and proper baking at the correct temperature and duration. Building jigs to hold small parts while spraying and baking helps alot too.

My Rem 700 Titanium right after I finished it with KG GunKote moly about 10-11yrs ago. The bolt is slick unlike some of the complaints one hears of some bare titanium actions. This pic was taken before I swapped out the coated DD scope mounts for LW Talleys:



Muzzle and crown of a coated custom Lilja SS barrel:


Having been an auto painter early on I was taught in college there is no substitute for proper preparation and one should have or develop an eye for detail.

68 Camaro I restored/painted when I was about 20yrs old:

Are you taking commissions?

Lols, no. Strictly a hobbyist.

The story continues and gets worse. I was unable to load any ammo for this rifle because even after I cleaned it up as best as couldn't get the drilled case of my Stoney Point Bullet Comparator to go into the chamber to find the base to bullet ogive distance. I gave up trying to push it in, put the case in chamber and forced it in by closing the bolt. The case got stuck of course so I pushed it out with a cleaning rod. The case was really scratched at the start of the shoulder probably from Cerakote and the force damaged the case. I don't have a bore scope so I can't see what's going on in the chamber. I ordered one last week and it's supposed to arrive today. I also ordered a No-Go gauge because I don't trust this gunsmith. I called my SIL and told him that I wouldn't be able to load any ammo until this rifle gets fixed but I can load some for his Rem 700 .270 while my Grandson's is being looked at by the gunsmith.

I got my No-Go gauge and my SIL's .270 last Friday. I had decided to FL resize their brass and use the same bullets so they would shoot in either rifle. When this all first started I measured the headspace on some fired cases from my Sako .270, my SIL's .270 and my Grandson's .270 to see what their backspace was. I tried to repair my drilled case by partially resizing it and still had a hard time getting in the chamber of my SIL's .270 and couldn't get 2 readings alike. I went all over town trying to find a drilled case but nobody has anything related to shooting in stock so I decided to load some ammo for my Sako since I had all the info I needed for it.

When I checked my notes I had forgotten that the headspace measurement of my SIL's .270 was 2.080". My Grandson's was 2.042" and my Sake was 2.041". I put No-Go gauge in my SIL's .270 and the bolt easily closed! The bolts in my Sako .270. my Browning 30.06 or my Vanguard 30,06 would not close on the No-Go gauge. I haven't told my SIL yet because I want to check it out with a borescope first.

The gunsmith that worked on my SIL's .270 is the same one that just replaced the barrel, installed a Bell and Carlson stock, mounted a scope and Cerakoted my Grandson's .270. I want to look at the barrel and action before I tell him about the excessive headspace. I my SIL an email with a description of and pictures of the problems I was having with my Grandson's .270. He forwarded it to the gunsmith but he couldn't understand the problem descriptions or see what the pictures were showing. He told my SIL that I should stick to loading/reloading and leave the rifle building to him since he's been a gunsmith for over 40 years. Apparently not a good gunsmith.

When I tell him about the headspace problem I'm going to suggest getting my Grandson's .270 back from this gunsmith and take both to another gunsmith. I know of a real good gunsmith in Cedar Park where I live but I don't know if he's still gunsmithing. I know of a good gunsmith in Georgetown but can't remember his name yet.

The gunsmithing and Cerakote was done by Tumbleweeds Custom Rifles. I suspect a trainee is responsible for the excessive headspace (not that it makes any difference) in my SIL's rifle. They are supposed to have a Cerakote certified person doing their Cerakote applications but Tumbleweeds isn't listed on the Cerokote website list of certified applicators. I forgot to mention that the safety is very hard to operate on my SIL's rifle.

I have done a lot of cerakote over the last 6-8 years. Applying it correctly is time consuming and labor intensive. Applied correctly it is a good finish, but like others I have seen some pretty horrible examples of incorrectly applied Cerakote.

So here is my 2 cents. I see several potential problems here depending on exactly what he did or didn't do.

First off, the question is did he degrease all the parts good, and did he sandblast it correctly before he started? If he did then you may have a real problem. That problem being, if he did not plug the chamber and muzzle before he sprayed cerakote, then I doubt he would have plugged them before he sandblasted. If he didn't now you have a sandblasted chamber and at least 1/2" to 1" of the bore inside of the muzzle. The chamber you might could clean up with a finish reamer, but it would be very easy to take it out of spec. Depends where it was to begin with, on the large or small side. The muzzle though, IF he sandblasted it hard, the damage could extend several inches down the bore. Maybe, if he halfway did the blasting, you might could chop a couple inches off and re-crown. Odds are though you have sandblasted bore and there is a pretty good chance that barrel is toast (at least it would be for me). The real potential problem is not the cerakote, but a sandblasted bore.

Now if he did not blast it, or blasted it so-so, then maybe you have some options.

There are also two kinds of cerakote, air cure and thermal cure. Air cure (also called high temp, I know, it is counter-intuitive), is not baked on and is used for things like optics and other items that can't be baked, and also for suppressors that see high temperatures. It is the less durable of the two types. Thermal cure is baked on at 275 degrees for 2 hours (there is an alternate cure for polymer framed pistols and some rifle stocks, 185 for 3 hours). So which type did he use, that is the question.

If he used air cure it can take a while to reach full hardness. Instructions say 24 hours for full cure, but it keeps getting harder for a week or two. If really fresh it may not be quite as difficult to get off. If thermal cure there could be other issues there too. Thermal cure is a two part finish, basically the paint and hardener. Maybe he got the mix ratios right, maybe not. Maybe he degreased good, maybe not. Maybe he baked it to set the finish right, maybe not. How clean was the bore and chamber before he started? Who knows. Lots of different ways that cerakote not be stuck the way it should be.

If he degreased right, blasted right, mixed right, and baked it right, it is going to suck getting it off. Usually you have to sandblast it off. But a failure in some of those other areas might make it not be too awful.

What I am saying is on the outside where he could get it it, maybe the finish is stuck pretty hard, but possible that in the interior places he did not get a good clean, or blast, or maybe there was something underneath it. Interior places may not be stuck near as good. I would start slow with very minimal invasive techniques. Get a good chamber brush, and clean the bore good with a bronze brush. Then proceed from there. Just know that chemicals are not going to touch it at all. They can be used for lubrication on the brush, but once cerakote is set it is pretty much impervious to chemicals.

For the outside of the gun the real answer is, if the finish is not hard and comes off fairly easy, the best bet is to take it to someone competent, let them blast the finish off and redo it.

I got my borescope today and looked at the barrel and chamber.

The barrel and lands looks rough for the whole length and I could see some black stuff between the lands inside the barrel at the muzzle end. If there was any on the lands it got shot off. The barrel was full of copper when I cleaned it last week.

I couldn't see any black stuff in the chamber but the chamber is very rough and it is loaded with copper. That may be why my drilled Hornady case is hard to get in the chamber. I'll try to get the copper out tomorrow. The chambers in my Sako, Browning and Vanguard are very smooth and look polished.

Best I can figure this .270 has .008" headspace. I think the .270 No Go gauge is .006" longer than the Go gauge (don't have one). The bolt closes on the No Go Gauge with no resistance at all so I put a piece of Scotch tape (.002" thick) on the end of the NO Go gauge and it would still close but with a little resistance. I don't think .008" of backspace is dangerous but don't know for sure. I guess the gunsmith used a NO Go gauge instead of a Go gauge when he installed the barrel but I don't know why he would.

I would sue him.

Have only done that four times in my life, three of those in a group suit. But in each instance the [bleep] deserved it, and I/we won.

In the long run I probably broke even, but it prevented other people from getting screwed.

Sounds like to me the barrel is toast if the bore is blasted like that, regardless of chamber issues.

When I started doing cerakote for myself one of the very first things I bought was that plug set that Cerakote sells. About 100-150 plugs (not rubber, but a high temp version of rubber), all different sizes. You can use them to plug bores, chambers, screw holes, whatever. Best money I spent on cerakote stuff. Makes it real easy to not blast or spray down in holes where you don't want it. I clean real good then put in plugs. Then I blast, spray, and bake with them in. Take them out when done. Never an issue.

A wood dowel in the muzzle and a spent case in the chamber work fine too. I pull the wood dowel before baking. Never an issue.

This was a pic I took awhile back to show the difference of a glass bead blasted surface vs polished surface on a SS barrel. I always plug the muzzle to keep it spotless whenever blasting of any kind.

I think the barrel is toast too. My SIL inherited it from his Dad who didn't take care of anything.

I decided to find a different gunsmith to set the barrel backspace with a Go gauge before I load and ammo for this rifle. This idiot set the backspace using a No Go gauge on a bolt face coated with Cerakote. If I load ammo for this rifle it with will have .089" backspace with the resized cases. If I had discovered this before I FL resized the cases I would have either neck sized or bumped the shoulder back .002". If my SIL bought were to buy commercial cartridges with the with smallest chamber allowed by SAMMI ( 2.0456") and it would have .0093" backspace. I'm measuring with a dial gauge so I could be off a little but it's right on when I measure the NO G0 gauge length. I watched many gunsmith videos on barrel installations in the last few days and every gunsmith set the backspace to .015" using a Go gauge. Brownells recommends .0015-.004 backspace for safe operation.

Victoro, sorry to hear about the trouble with your grandson's rifle. If you'd PM me I'd be pleased to make a donation towards the repairs. Lots of people have helped me along the way and this could be a good time to pay it forward. Best wishes. WMR

Thanks but my SIL will pay for it or repay me if I pay for it. It's up to him if he wants to sue, I would.

Understood. I'm glad you're around to help. Nearing 60 now, I've so far avoided being on either end of a lawsuit. Seems that's typically a mess for all concerned. Sometimes the only answer, I guess. Best of luck. WMR