Ammo For Sale

« « In DC | Home | NFA transfers: 15 months to approval » »

Reader Submission

Reader John: 2 of my Duracoat projects. Springfield 1911 in HK Black/Desert Tan and an Argentinian DGFM-FMAP 1911 in HK Black/Combat Green:

IMG_3946

2 Responses to “Reader Submission”

  1. Rivrdog Says:

    I bought a new 1911A1 (built on Essex frame) which had been Parkerized (an early type of coating). The parkerizing had gotten into the slide-groove areas, and it would prevent the gun from going into battery after the first 25 rounds or so, as it warmed up.

    After being told that Government pistols were not designed for sustained fire (bee ess), I attacked the problem by the careful use of thin diamond hones to remove the parkerizing from the grooves. It was about 12 hours of very exacting hand work, but now the pistol is reliable.

    Word to the wise: do NOT coat any parts which have to bear on other parts.

  2. John Says:

    @Rivrdog

    Prefacing this by saying that I am by no means an expert on refinishing as i’ve only done about 7 Duracoat jobs, the Duracoat process recommends Parkerizing, or at the very least, bead blasting prior to the Duracoat. The DGFM on the left was Parkerized prior to Duracoat. For the Springfield, I skipped the Parkerizing and just blasted with Aluminum Oxide. FWIW, I haven’t found one process to be better. Only that the bead blasting is a heck of a lot easier than trying to parkerize with a crock pot. 🙂

    Since Parkerizing is a chemical bath process, I’m not sure how one would pull off Parkerizing only certain parts of an individual piece. When Duracoating, I usually use 3-4 coats of finish on the outer parts, and blend that with 1-2 coats of duracoat wrapping around to the inner portions. Whichever way you go, I think hand sanding/polishing the contact points is unavoidable. Especially with higher tolerance weapons.

Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.

Uncle Pays the Bills

Find Local
Gun Shops & Shooting Ranges


bisonAd

Categories

Archives