Teflon-based finishes

[smyrna]

Anyone familar with teflon-based finishes? I'm not sure of the trade name, but they are spayed on (pick your color) then baked between 300 and 400 degrees F. I'm thinking of having this done to one of my "beaters" to fix it up a little. How durable is the finish with regard to holster wear, solvents, etc.? Is it true that lubricity is enhanced because of the teflon? What the scoop?

[WarHawk-AVG]

That would be called Gun Kote

I was planning on doing that to my new Ishapore Enfield 2A, but decided to just black manganese parkerize it instead

I have seen several done this way, they were incredible and the finish was very tough..the trick is to ensure that the pistol is degreased and cleaned down to bare metal

[mdek]

Another option I think is the brownells teflon/moly gun finish

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ ... N%20FINISH
and http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ ... N%20FINISH

I have a couple of guns I want to try refinishing and was considering that. I'm probably going to go with duracoat eventually.

[smyrna]

I was talking to a guy that does this the other day and he only described the process and not the specific products used. He said that it is similar to some factory finishes used today such as "KimPro" by Kimber. Anybody have any first hand experience with how these finishes wear compared to other types?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for blued steel and a piece of walnut, but I'm just looking for something a little more durable than that. Also, anybody ever try any of the home parkerize kits?

[G.C.Montgomery]

Personally, I don't care for the spray-n-back finishes. That's not saying its a bad finish, I just prefer other finishes that offer better surface wear. I will say that in my experience, the spray-n-bake finishes that start with a parkerized base have worn best. The downside is aluminum and stainless steel cannot be parkerized. So, you may consider some other finish for aluminum or stainless surfaces. Alternately, you could simply choose to live with the reduced durability of the finish over aluminum and stainless steel if you want to stick with the same finish over the entire gun.

[WarHawk-AVG]

I was talking to a guy that does this the other day and he only described the process and not the specific products used. He said that it is similar to some factory finishes used today such as "KimPro" by Kimber. Anybody have any first hand experience with how these finishes wear compared to other types?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for blued steel and a piece of walnut, but I'm just looking for something a little more durable than that. Also, anybody ever try any of the home parkerize kits?

As a matter of fact I have a gallon of the parkerizing kit inbound..I am currently refinishing a Ishapore Enfield 2A in .308
Correction..I just opened the box with the gallon of parkerizing solution, now all I have to do is get the sandblaster and the air compressor and the aluminum oxide blasting media

Here are the pics I have so far

Original Enfield, encrusted with cosmoline, stock almost black


Parts, stock was run thru the dishwasher w/ about 1/2 cup of industrial purple degreaser, hot water wash setting, heated dry off, I bagged up all the parts so I wouldn't misplace them or loose them


I used some stripper to loosen the gunk and black spraypaint stuff that got on the stock and to remove all the stuff that was on the stock, this was incredibly messy and I put a plastic bag underneath it to help cleanup, I ran the stock thru the washer one last time to ensure I pulled all the cosmoline out of the stock, it was bone dry!


This is the finished stock, my camera isn't the greatest and the color doesn't do the wood justice, I put a healthy coat of walnut wood dye in the wood and let it dry, then I put 3 coats of Minwax polyurethane satin (fast dry in the spraypaint can) to coat it, I'm more of a function over form kinda guy, not interested in collectability, if I buy a gun I plan on using it, and trust me, if they would have had polyurethane back then when they 1st made it thats what they would have used instead of Tung oil, this stuff is tough as nails!

I just opened the box with the Manganese Phosphate Parkerizing Solution
I will soon have this puppy stripped, de-greased and ready to parkerize.

[smyrna]

As a matter of fact I have a gallon of the parkerizing kit inbound..I am currently refinishing a Ishapore Enfield 2A in .308

I love those old milsurps. Let me know how the home park job goes. From what I hear, its the easiest most durable home finish. I might just try that instead.

I had read a little about a "home brew" recipe for bluing salts, but man, that's some nasty stuff. Sodium hydroxide (lye) and ammonium nitrate... What little college chemistry I had tells me that will produce lots of ammonia gas. I suppose a different nitrate could be used, but hey, I decided against it. I don't want the locals thinking I'm trying to cook Meth or something.

[WarHawk-AVG]

Haha yah..gotta be careful of the busybody neighbors

Here is a really good writup on homemade Parkerizing solution that you can do yourself from cheap chemicals you can get at a chemical supply shop

http://www.jouster.com/articles30m1/parkerizing.html