Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Gun coating suggestions?

Looking for some suggestions for a good permanent re-finish. Not really interested in cerakote as I've seen a lot of chips and other wear with it.

I think I recall some talk of a titanium nitride finish? I'm also looking into DLC which I know is commonly used on 1911s but I don't believe I've seen it on a rifle.

Would love suggestions of finishes as well as first hand experiences with whoever you had do the work.

Thanks!

Black-T by Birdsong and associates every day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

Dave

I have one rifle done in Black-T which sure looks nice. Its on a newer rifle so not sure how it will last but the smith that built this rifle speaks highly of the coating. Will probably do it on the next one.

I was traveling in the area and stopped in to Birdsong’s with a rifle I thought I might leave with them. Got a tour and a serious demonstration of their product. I was impressed and left the rifle. The results look great. Hard to say for sure how it will hold up, but based on what I saw them do in demonstration, I expect the best.

Blue it.

Seriously. All the coatings out there are an attempt to substitute bluing at a lower cost—but they are not as good as a quality bluing job.

Thirty years ago I had a friend whose hobby and passion was rebluing fine shotguns. He deigned to blue two customized 700’s of mine. One of them has spent a total of 32 days in Alaska, and although I don’t hunt with it much anymore, both rifles look great.

Krylon probably isn't the answer you're looking for. A good parkerizing job is hard to beat.

The only rust spots on a gun around here are on a barrel Faxon advertised as having a nitride finish. Somebody must have skipped a step when they made that one.

Hard chrome has proven very durable. I've had 3 rifles done and I'm very satisfied. It isn't indestructible, but it's close.

Birdsong for internals, for sure. It gets slicker, the more it gets worn. There are harder finishes, if you’re gonna throw your gun on gravel every day, but birdsong holds up VERY well on externals, too. IIRC, birdsong is applied over parkerizing? For stuff you don’t care about color on, hard chrome is…well, hard as hell. Bluing is great for looks and some weather resistance, but it doesn’t protect the metal from wear…..it IS the metal, surface at least. Cerakote done right, is very durable. Heck, duracoat holds up good if applied correctly.

All depends on what you want.

This ^^^^^^^^^

The gun in question is parkerized currently and it seems to oxidize every time I use it. After hunting with it I always wipe it down with an oiled rag and the rag always ends up being brown afterwards.

This works:

Norrell Moly Resin

No one has mentioned paint. Lots of years back my then new Remington with its mirror like RKW finish, put a nice buck into launch mode when he caught the glint off that thing. Another time a guy walked by with a blued rifle slung over his shoulder and when the sun hit that barrel it looked like a flashbulb went off. Paint is cheap, easy to touch up, never needs oiling, protects well, doesn’t shine and doesn’t smell. My serious hunting rifles are camo painted over stainless or bead blasted hard chrome.

I have a bunch of them.

Cerakote - I have more of these than any other. I have them done by several different folks. I think the application makes a huge difference. I've had one that flaked. Most others have been really good. It will scratch and wear. My biggest dislike with cerakote is it's kind of thick and will be noticable on bolts. I like it on barrels but again, it will scratch and wear.

Durakote - much like cerakote except not a tough and seems a little thicker. I don't use it on anything but stocks now.

Alumahyde - a lot like durakote. I like it for stocks, barrels. Easy to apply and fairly tough but I don't use it on anything that has close tolerances. It seems to wear quicker than cerakote to me....seems a lot like durakote.

Black Ice Teflon - http://blackicecoatings.com/coating/ - I've had one gun done by them several years ago. Looks great, very thin and works well on close tolerance areas of action, wears very little on the bolt/edges, no scratches...really like it. Feels fairly slick, where the previous 3 will cause some resistance, this is thin and slick so it doesn't. Has a touch of "shine" on firearm but really it's very little. Good stuff.

Black Nitride - have one action that was coated by H&M direct from Defiance before I received it. Very nice. Slick, flat color, supposed to harden the surface. Seems like great stuff. I called to check into having an action I had in hand coated and the cost was really high...and the guy was very curt. The cost was a lot higher than Defiance was charging so I decided to give Birdsong a try. No complaints on the coating though and if I order another action from Defiance I'd definitely have it coated before being sent to me. The cost quoted to me as an individual was way higher than any other I've seen so I know I'd never send them one myself at that cost.

Birdsong Black T - Don't have a lot of use on this one yet but it looks great, very thin, close tolerances, bolt internals, everything is coated, action is very slick. Very nice folks to deal with, turn around was about 4 weeks. So far I like it but again, I don't have a lot of use on it yet.


Overall I like Cerakote, Durakote, and Alumahyde fine for barrels and love them for stocks. They will scratch and wear. If prepped/applied right they are good but kinda thick. I'll never use one of them on an action again.

So far Black Ice, Black Nitride, and Black T all seem like good fits for actions. I have the most time with Black Ice and I think highly of it. The other two I'm hopeful for.

@JCMCUBIC - how is the birdsong coating working for you? How does it compare to the nitrided action from Defiance? I also called H&M and was shocked what they quoted me for a Defiance action. They must have increased their prices at some point last year.

Pass the paint and hold The Fluff. Bores matter more than anything...but 32 whole days in Alaska,is some AMAZING stuff! Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!...............

Do you eat the paint off the window sill or huff it straight from the can?

twathorn,

The only thing you might scratch from your Couchbound Kchunt,is your ass. Hint.

Fortunately for you,Imagination and Pretend are free,so even you can "afford" to "contribute". Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!..............

I pretend to imagine you must have eat your weight in 70's era window sill paint but Krylon is a little easier to snort today

Held up really well. I used it over about 2.5 months, much of it in rain, and I can't tell it from new....stock got scratched up, scope body got scratched up, sling swivels showing rust, ring screws showing rust....action looks like new. It's really slick. Nice flat color if asthetics matter to you. Right now I think it's the best option for an action. I didn't use the nitride action enough to say....I shuffled a lot of rifles through the season and the .280AI....or any other long action....just didn't make the cut. At the price they quoted me I wouldn't send one for nitride....the +$100 from Defiance isn't bad though.

Season ended last week and as soon as I catch up on work a bit I'll be burning a lot of powder. It's really not as good of a test of the finish as getting beat on while hunting but it still tells a tale....so I'll learn a little more over the next several months.