TexasCHLforum.com

I was talking to a friend of mine about stainless steel vs blued finish and an interesting question came up. (at least its interesting to me)

Can a stainless weapon get refinished into a darker finish such as the Black "T" and vice versa can a blued weapon get a finish similar to the hard chrome? Is there any draw backs to getting a weapon refinished into a contrasting color?

I was thinking that the only draw back may be that if the finish starts to wear off or gets scratched/damaged the original color may show through.

AFJailor wrote:I was talking to a friend of mine about stainless steel vs blued finish and an interesting question came up. (at least its interesting to me)

Can a stainless weapon get refinished into a darker finish such as the Black "T" and vice versa can a blued weapon get a finish similar to the hard chrome? Is there any draw backs to getting a weapon refinished into a contrasting color?

I was thinking that the only draw back may be that if the finish starts to wear off or gets scratched/damaged the original color may show through.

I think it depends on the finish you want to use. Like Duracoat, it is preferred that you have some parkerizing for the finish to adhere to. Others preferred that the old finish be taken off. I'm thinking of buying a Duracoat kit to refinish a couple of my pistols myself. I'll be interested in hearing other member's opinions on Duracoating in terms of durability, and ease of application.

AFJailor wrote:I was talking to a friend of mine about stainless steel vs blued finish and an interesting question came up. (at least its interesting to me)

Can a stainless weapon get refinished into a darker finish such as the Black "T" and vice versa can a blued weapon get a finish similar to the hard chrome? Is there any draw backs to getting a weapon refinished into a contrasting color?

I was thinking that the only draw back may be that if the finish starts to wear off or gets scratched/damaged the original color may show through.

4140 and 4340 chrome-moly and the other carbon steels used in "blued" guns almost look like stainless when "in the white" or unfinished. You can finish them in hardchrome as I did for one of my 1911's a couple years ago. Years of wear and tear had worn off the original bluing (before) but hardchrome (after) made it look pretty cool. If you prefer darker finishes, you can also coat these steels in Black T or other "spray and bake" finishes like Teflon or Duracoat. To keep the bare steel from corrossion should the final finish chip, flake or be scratched as well as provide better adhesion, many spray and bake finishes start with a parkarized undercoat.

Stainless can be hardchromed just as the carbon steels can. But it cannot be parkerized. So if you go with Black T or some other spray and back finish, the stainless can show through when those finishes wear away. However, stainless is more corrosion resistent than most of the carbon steels and will not typically rust quite as fast. Anyone who tells you stainless can't rust is full of toro caca. Depending on what alloy is used, some stainless steels can actually develope this funny "green" kind of rust.

Other options that can be applied to both carbon and stainless steels are electroless nickel or Robar's NP3 which is a combination of electroless nickel and teflon in a matrix that provides similar self-lubrication properties to those found some of the spray and bake finishes. NP3 has a unique look to it and is not reflective but not dark either. My experience with it is it makes cleaning the gun VERY easy because all that's required is a oily rag to simply wipe away carbon and grime that normally builds up after a short while. It's very slick and does help the gun continue to run even when it's "dry." However, I'd still recommend the quality lubricants you normally use with other finishes. Like the spray and bake finishes, NP3 can be applied over both stainless and carbon steel as well as aluminum. I had a Colt LW Commander coated with NP3 a year ago, inside and out. As far as I'm concerned, NP3 is probably one of the best finishes available for any firearm but especially those with aluminum frames.