Melonite finish on my PT1911!

[jeremy155rr]

Got my Taurus back today from CCA and I love the finish with a few tiny exceptions (because i'm so anal). If anybody has the money to spare and needs a good finish the melonite is great, i've heard its a trade name for tennifer which is what glock uses? anyway here is one pic, theres a few more in the show and tell area.

[Guest bkelm18]

That looks real nice. I'm starting to get a jonesin' for another 1911.

[Smith]

Actually Tennifer is a trade name for melonite. Good stuff and it looks good on your gun. I'm glad they are finally doing post production meloniting.

[Guest truthsayer]

That's how taurus should have sold the gun in the first place.... Mind if I ask you what that finish set you back?

[jeremy155rr]

they charge 200, with which they will melonite everything if you want them too, i.e, sights, barrel etc... I opted out of those. They did tell a friend of mine they would do his slide on his pf-9 for 80$ since there is obviously not much metal on em. coal creeks website has all of their finish options on it with prices listed. most of the finishes are in the 150-175 range but the melonite is 200.

[Smith]

Just curious how they do post production melonite. My understanding is the salt nitride bath had to be done prior to heat treating. If that is the case is there a difference between normal melonite and melonite refinishing?

[krunchnik]

Kinda wondering also considering my XD45 has the melonite coating,does it ever wear off or is it actually impregnated into the metal.

[mousegunner]

Tennifer is not what you SEE when you look at a GLOCK. The tennifer treatment affects the metal of the slide, and makes it extremely hard. When you scratch the surface color off a GLOCK, you have not made a scratch in the tennifer, which is under the colored surface, and is the actual surface of the metal. It is almost as hard as a diamond. Tennifer is not a coating, like paint. You can't scratch it off. I don't know about Melonite.

[Guest FiddleDog]

That looks awesome. I may have to have that done...

[Smith]

Tennifer is not what you SEE when you look at a GLOCK. The tennifer treatment affects the metal of the slide, and makes it extremely hard. When you scratch the surface color off a GLOCK, you have not made a scratch in the tennifer, which is under the colored surface, and is the actual surface of the metal. It is almost as hard as a diamond. Tennifer is not a coating, like paint. You can't scratch it off. I don't know about Melonite.

Tennifer is a trade name for the melonite process.

[jeremy155rr]

Just curious how they do post production melonite. My understanding is the salt nitride bath had to be done prior to heat treating. If that is the case is there a difference between normal melonite and melonite refinishing?

I'm no metals expert, they do explain it on their site and its pretty much how you say... molten bath of special salts, nitrogen, carbon, and small amounts of oxygen are diffused into the surface of the steel. its does not say anything about heat treating after the fact... in other words I don't believe there is any 'baking' involved in the process. they just aluminum oxide blast the finish off and have at it. There are some finishes they can't do I imagine but i'm not sure what they are.

Mousegunner, everywhere i've read says that the tennifer and melonite are the one in the same, earlier generation glocks used a slightly different process (with something poisionous/toxic?) but now their all done in the same fashion. My gun has no applicated color or anything else applied to it except for the melonite/tennifer process, and thats the only color that comes out of it, which looks alot like my glock finish. I don't know what they (glock) do after the fact but they do look alike, mine just looks a little smoother probably because of the blasting process.

[tellicomoto]

The wife & I have to go to Knoxville on business this week, so I'll stop by Coal Creek Armory to talk to one of their gunsmiths. I want my H&K P7 PSP refinished in ISONITE QPQâ„¢ / Melonite. This is my daily carry side arm & the factory bluing is getting a little thin.

Will give a complete report (with pics) when it's done.

Mike

[tellicomoto]

I picked it up yesterday evening & got back from Knoxville late. It took 39 days if my math is right. They quoted 6 to 8 weeks. So they actually were done sooner than they quoted.

At work now & haven't had a chance to field strip it. Took a few pictures though. Coal Creek Armory was about empty & Scott got me in and out in a couple of minutes. Great service last night. That's good because the wife & I had a long list of errands to run in the big city.

The pistol has a uniform matte black finish; the purple tint of the slide is gone. All parts that were refinished, are completely finished inside & out. So the inside of the slide & the frame look just like the outside. The barrel is still silver as I asked. (They will treat the barrel if you wish.) The large logo on the left side of the slide is fine. The serial numbers and stamps on the right side of the slide are some what fainter. So, if you're worried about that, you may not want this done.

Looks like the weapon was just bead blasted, no buffing took place. The tool marks I had near the front sight, on top of the slide, are slightly less pronounced. The holes in the sites were refilled with white paint.

Personally, if this were a NIB P7 safe queen with collector value, I wouldn't have it done.

For a used police trade in PSP that's going to be on my body 10 hours a day, it's perfect! I am extremely pleased with Coal Creek Armory's work and their customer service.

For $200.00, you get a rock hard, rust proof, matte black finish. It's not a coating, so there's no chance of chipping. IMHO it's a bargain. I'm going to have a S&W 539 done next. Then maybe a G3K. Heck, maybe I'll have my SAM5 done too. Arsenal's paint isn't exactly very durable.

Sorry for my poor photography.

mike

[Smith]

Very nice. Do keep in mind that the black IS a finish and will wear, but the melonite treatment will not ... unless you take a really deep chunk of metal out.

[hipower]

Great looking P7. I really like the looks of it. I've got o few water-damaged pistols that I'm considering having refinished, so thanks for posting the information and pictures.

[Guest CK1]

I picked it up yesterday evening & got back from Knoxville late. It took 39 days if my math is right. They quoted 6 to 8 weeks. So they actually were done sooner than they quoted.

At work now & haven't had a chance to field strip it. Took a few pictures though. Coal Creek Armory was about empty & Scott got me in and out in a couple of minutes. Great service last night. That's good because the wife & I had a long list of errands to run in the big city.

The pistol has a uniform matte black finish; the purple tint of the slide is gone. All parts that were refinished, are completely finished inside & out. So the inside of the slide & the frame look just like the outside. The barrel is still silver as I asked. (They will treat the barrel if you wish.) The large logo on the left side of the slide is fine. The serial numbers and stamps on the right side of the slide are some what fainter. So, if you're worried about that, you may not want this done.

Looks like the weapon was just bead blasted, no buffing took place. The tool marks I had near the front sight, on top of the slide, are slightly less pronounced. The holes in the sites were refilled with white paint.

Personally, if this were a NIB P7 safe queen with collector value, I wouldn't have it done.

For a used police trade in PSP that's going to be on my body 10 hours a day, it's perfect! I am extremely pleased with Coal Creek Armory's work and their customer service.

For $200.00, you get a rock hard, rust proof, matte black finish. It's not a coating, so there's no chance of chipping. IMHO it's a bargain. I'm going to have a S&W 539 done next. Then maybe a G3K. Heck, maybe I'll have my SAM5 done too. Arsenal's paint isn't exactly very durable.

Sorry for my poor photography.

mike

That is a badass gun you've got there, please give me a shout if you ever decide to part with it. I'd even consider trading a Wilber NightBat Kustom for one like that...