Gun Re-Finishing in Texas

RubenZ · Post by **RubenZ** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:24 pm

I have a Colt 1991A1 and it's Blued. This is gun is going to be my main Carry piece and down here in South Texas the gun and holster will be seeing a LOT and I mean a LOT of sweat! This is not a plus of the Blueing that this gun has. I'd like to get it Hard Chromed or some other Strong Finish that will resist salt, moisture, humidity, sweat and all the other crap you find down here in South Texas LOL. Any places in Texas that do this? Any recommendations?

T3hK1w1 · Post by **T3hK1w1** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:35 pm

From my experience living in Houston, the only thing that will absolutely prevent rust is have the gun made entirely of non-ferrous metals

Or ceramic wouldn't rust

flintknapper · Post by **flintknapper** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:43 pm

Best guy I know of.

Real nice fella.

http://www.gunsmith.fuselier.com/

WarHawk-AVG · Post by **WarHawk-AVG** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:44 pm

The Colt 1991A1 should be powder coated

And believe it or not DuraCoat would be easy to apply and offers VERY good rust protection

My 1991A1 Govt is powder coated so it doest rust as bad..but I have to clean it alot anyway

http://www.houtsenterprises.net/dur_faq.html

shipwreck · Post by **shipwreck** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:22 pm

Tripp Research does hard chrome - he is in Alpine, Texas.

He has done 5 guns for me. 4 came out pretty well. 1 didn't come out so great. But, he seems to be very popular.

http://www.trippresearch.com

ELB · Post by **ELB** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:39 pm

RubenZ

I too live in south Texas and know what you meanabout sweat! I have a Hi Power that I had refinished in Gun Kote at Ten-Ring Precision (Alex Hamilton) in San Antonio last November or so. I carry the Hi Power everyday in a Kydex holster, and I do everything while carrying it. Gardening, working with horses, shredding on the tractor, etc. I have also, used in in a couple training courses. The finish has held up reasonably well. It has worn off on some high points - edges of the muzzle end of the slide, highest point on the slide release, front right edge of the trigger guard. Otherwise it still looks like new.

I do not know if Gun Kote is better than Black-T, hard chrome, and all the rest, since I have not tried them, but it is definitely better than blueing!

Good luck.

elb

p.s. Forgot to mention, you can put Gun Kote on yourself, Ten-Ring sells it and has instructions for how to apply it on the website. I paid Alex to do mine, I think it was $135 or so.

elb

G.C.Montgomery · Post by **G.C.Montgomery** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:51 pm

shipwreck wrote:Tripp Research does hard chrome - he is in Alpine, Texas.

He has done 5 guns for me. 4 came out pretty well. 1 didn't come out so great. But, he seems to be very popular.

http://www.trippresearch.com

That's actually the first time I've heard anyone say they had something not turn out well with Tripp. Did you contact them to see if they'd refinish the gun?

I had my old 5-inch Kimber hardchromed by APW-Cogan Custom and I'm pretty happy with it. The gun doesn't look like it's got anywhere near 100,000 rounds on it...But it does. Unfortunately, APW's shop isn't in Texas. They moved to Alabama from Florida in late 2005.

FWIW, the Kimber went from this...

To this...

shipwreck · Post by **shipwreck** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:46 pm

It is rather a long story, and I've posted it several times on other forums - but yea, I sent it back a second time. Instead of 2 weeks (the usual turnaround time) - they kept it 6, and it still came back with problems.

Anyway, I don't really wanna type all of it out again - just giving a heads up.

RubenZ · Post by **RubenZ** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:23 am

I'm also thinking about the Melanite QPC or whatever I've been reading about over at the 1911forum. I still kind of want a black finish. It will conceal a little better imo as I wear dark clothes.

jst0024 · Post by **jst0024** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:50 am

I had my Kimber done by Vanden Berg Custom at:

http://www.vandenbergcustom.com/

I had him use the ceramic finish and it has worked very well. No more rust issues and it looks great too.

WarHawk-AVG · Post by **WarHawk-AVG** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:47 am

jst0024 wrote:I had my Kimber done by Vanden Berg Custom at:

http://www.vandenbergcustom.com/

I had him use the ceramic finish and it has worked very well. No more rust issues and it looks great too.

I have heard NOTHING but rave reviews about this guy!

hoss4570 · Post by **hoss4570** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:14 pm

G.C.Montgomery wrote:
shipwreck wrote:Tripp Research does hard chrome - he is in Alpine, Texas.

He has done 5 guns for me. 4 came out pretty well. 1 didn't come out so great. But, he seems to be very popular.

http://www.trippresearch.com
That's actually the first time I've heard anyone say they had something not turn out well with Tripp. Did you contact them to see if they'd refinish the gun?

I had my old 5-inch Kimber hardchromed by APW-Cogan Custom and I'm pretty happy with it. The gun doesn't look like it's got anywhere near 100,000 rounds on it...But it does. Unfortunately, APW's shop isn't in Texas. They moved to Alabama from Florida in late 2005.

FWIW, the Kimber went from this...

To this...

What does it cost to get this done???

nemesis · Post by **nemesis** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:39 am

I don't know where South Texas starts or ends but, if you're in or near the valley, Eric Kruger does absolutely incredible blueing and refinishing at good prices. He's an artist. His work looks like the gun is oiled but it's just the blue.

G.C.Montgomery · Post by **G.C.Montgomery** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:11 pm

hoss4570 wrote:What does it cost to get this done???

Depends on the vendor and what prep work is needed for your gun. They had to strip my gun and do some resurfacing because of years of getting banged around in a holster and a few excursions across concrete. The bill came up to roughly $275.

RubenZ · Post by **RubenZ** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:50 pm

nemesis wrote:I don't know where South Texas starts or ends but, if you're in or near the valley, Eric Kruger does absolutely incredible blueing and refinishing at good prices. He's an artist. His work looks like the gun is oiled but it's just the blue.

Hey Brent that you?

I just took the CHL class with you guys last week :) You were showing me the Hard Chrome on your Colt which got me interested. I'm Ruben. I need to take my 1911 to Hole In the Wall to get some stuff done to it.