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There's some good coatings available now that seem to work well and are reasonably durable.
Note that none of these are going to last on a pistol as well as on a rifle due to the increased handling and holster wear.
One of the best is Lauer Duracoat.
This is a two part epoxy that has to be mixed and sprayed on. They sell a small inexpensive airbrush set to apply it.
Once sprayed on the gun is put aside and allowed to air harden. It can be handled in about 24 hours and reaches full hardness in 3 weeks.
It's best to not touch it for a week or more for best results.
It comes in many colors and has a excellent reputation.
They also sell a new type in it's own spray can, but I haven't heard any reviews of how well it stands up:
Lauer Custom Weaponry:
Another one with a very good reputation is Brownell's Aluma-Hyde II.
This is also an air cure product that requires no heat.
ALUMA-HYDE® II - Brownells
Gun-Kote has a good rep and it's an oven bake product that can be ready to use in a few hours:
GUN-KOTE™ OVEN CURE, GUN FINISH - Brownells
A finish that's getting some of the best reviews is Cerakote which is a ceramic/epoxy coating that is reported to be extremely durable.
CERAKOTE OVENCURE CERAMIC COATINGS - Brownells
Some tips:
If you can, bead blast the metal to give the coating a "tooth" to bond to. This increases the durability significantly, although most of these will work acceptably on polished metal.
It's usually best to coat only exterior areas. These coatings aren't designed to last on operating parts and will scratch or wear off. You can coat the inside of the frame and side plate, hammer and trigger, etc, but keep it off areas like hammer notches, trigger operating surfaces, bolts, hands, etc.
Figure out how you're going to hold the parts before coating. You can use wire or wood or threaded rods down the bore and cylinder to hold the parts. If you have to bake the coating, figure out how you can hang the parts in the oven prior to coating.
Figure out where and how you can hang the parts for air curing.
The trick of a good coating is to get the metal CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN. Lauer Duracoat sell a special cleaning-prep solvent that does a very good job.
Once you have it clean handle it with CLEAN cotton gloves, or better still use a threaded rod or wood dowel down the bore to use as a handle so you don't have to touch it with anything. You can also use a rod down the cylinder.
These need to be tight enough that there's no chance they'll come loose during coating and fall.
Keep the spray out of the bore and chambers. If you have to bake the coating, use wood plugs driven in. If it's an air cure, you can use soft plastic plugs.
Practice with the airbrush to get the technique down. Start the spray off the work, pass it across, then end the spray off the work.
This prevents splatters on the metal cause by starting or stopping the spray while it's on the gun.
Experiment with model airplane paint to learn how to use the airbrush. Too much or too little pressure, or holding the airbrush too close or too far away can ruin the job.
Keep the airbrush the same distance from the surface. It's normal to sweep your arm in an arc across the surface and this causes uneven application. Make sure to keep the airbrush in a straight line across the surface.
Apply in thin layers instead of trying for one thick coat. Apply a thin coat to all the gun then immediately go back to the first part and apply another thin coat. This helps prevent runs or sags.
If you're using an air cure coating, once the gun is coated, hang it on a rack or whatever you can come up with to hold the parts so they don't touch anything, THEN WALK AWAY AND DON'T TOUCH.
Leave the parts for at least a few days, better a week.
Many jobs get ruined because someone just has to touch it to see if it's hard yet and it isn't, or they get in a hurry and start assembling it while it's still soft enough to scratch.
If you're using an airbrush and don't have an air compressor, there are small cans of propellant that can run an airbrush. These only work so-so for larger objects and often run out of pressure part way through the job.
You can help these along by putting the propellant can in a bowl of hot water.
However, without a compressor, the best source of air is to air up a car or truck tire and use that.
Whatever source of pressure you use, make sure the airbrush has an in-line filter.
Many jobs are ruined when a slug of moisture is sprayed on the work. When air is compressed, moisture in the air is compressed into water which will spray out on the work if no filter is used.
Keep a good amount of solvent handy for whatever coating you're using. If you make a mistake, you can instantly drop the part into a container of the solvent and get it off before it starts to cure.
Originally Posted by Collects
