DURACOATING NEEDED!

[Guest JWAY79]

Does anyone know anyone that knows how to Duracoat small firearms in the Antioch/Lavernge area? I have a Keltec PF-9 that I ruined the finish on. Tried re-bluing it and made it even worse! Ive been trying to fix the finish on this thing for about two months now and Im getting quite sick of it. Can anyone help! I have cash!

[Dolomite_supafly]

Sure the metal isn't stainless steel?

If it is you may not need to worry about finishing it as long as you don;t mind how it looks. Or you couyld disassemble the slide and media blast it for a dull gray finish.

Dolomite

[Guest GunTroll]

Ah, pass on the dura and find you some cerakote. Got to be someone near you that will chime in.

[TNWNGR]

OK, obviously DuraKote or CeraKote are longer lasting options for painting the slide of your PF-9 with, but the pretty much require an air compressor and air brush. Try this instead to save you some money and also make your slide look a lot better. Brownells AlumaHyde II http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1117/Product/ALUMA-HYDE-reg-II

Field strip your pistol and dissemble the slide, use paint remover to take off any paint and ATF or Naval Jelly to remove any bluing that’s left. Ideally you would want the slide media blasted for a matt texture but you don’t have to do this. You can use fine grit sand paper with small pieces of wood to clean up any really bad spots (it’s easy, just go slow).

Now, you want to really clean the slide and it’s pieces with a good degreasing solvent, use rubber gloves while cleaning and afterwards while handling. If you’ve got an air compressor use it now, if not use some canned air. Set the parts out to dry overnight where they won’t get touched. Now, using rubber gloves with your spray paint do a couple of practice sprays on cardboard to check the coverage then do your first spray coat. Hang the parts from a wire and let dry, then repeat if needed, follow directions to bake in the oven.

It helps if you plug small holes in the slide with toot picks and q-tips and the inside rail coverage doesn’t need to be too heavy but a small, thing, flat file cleans up things. All of this is just fiddley work, not hard, just not fun either. I’ve done an old .22LR rifle and a single shot shotgun with this method using spray paint.

[Dolomite_supafly]

If you want just as durable finish without the wait of Alumahyde use Brownell's Gunkote in an aerosol can. It is just as easy as any other coating and once baked makes for a very tough finish.

The success is in the prep. I will try to find my previous how to on how I do it. I have used Gunkote a lot and never had an issue.

Dolomite

[Dolomite_supafly]

I have used it dozens of times and has turned out great. The wear is good as well as one gun I did was carried everyday for about 6 months without any signs of problems.

Use gloves for everything. To keep your skin oils off the parts and to keep potentially harmfull stuff off of you.

Here is what I do:

Disassemble the parts to be coated as completely as you can

Clean and degrease all the parts to be coated the best you can

Media blast all the parts to be coated (I used medium aluminum oxide from Northern Tool)

Bring a pot of 1/2 gallon water and 1/2 gallon Simple Green to near boil

As the bubbles start to form remove from heat and let it sit for a minute or two to allow the temp to equalize

Place the parts to be coated in the Simple Green solution and let it sit for about 15 minutes

***Do not breath the steam***

Stir the parts occasionally to help break any oils loose

At the same time start boiling some distilled water and turn you oven on its lowest setting

When it starts to boil remove from heat and let it sit for a minute or two to allow the temp to equalize

Remove the parts from the Simple Green solution and place in the distilled water for another 15 minutes

***Do not breath the steam***

Remove the parts from the water and place them in the oven long enough for all the water to evaporate

Remove the parts

one

at a time, not all at the same time, and coat them according to the instructions

**If you remove them all at the same time and the first ones will be warmer than the last ones causing them to look different**

Make sure you spray outside though because it is some pretty nast stuff, both smelling and bad for you.

After all parts are coated with Gunkote place them back in the oven at the recommended temp for the recommended time. I normally put the parts in then set the temp to the 300 degree temp it requires. Once it gets to temp I time off and hour then turn off the oven and let the parts cool slowly in the oven over the course of a few hours.

Because the finish is already dry when you begin the baking process it doesn't emit any nasty smells in the oven.

This is the down and dirty way I have done it for the last few years and works great. I have only done handguns and small parts but I have went thru at least 4 cans of Gunkote so far. If you have any quesitons feel free to ask.

Dolomite