Duracoat is crap...it's not durable at all...it's just expensive Sherwin Williams paint.

If you want something durable, you need to get a thermal cured finish...IE Norrell's Moly Resin aka KG Gunkote, or Ceracoat. The last three finishes require you to bake them in an oven for 1 hour.

With the Duracoat, it may take 3-5 weeks to fully cure since it's an air cured product. I heard that Duracoat offers "durabake" now...so that would be a better option.

The best protection for your firearm is to have the item parkerized then use KG, Norrell's, Ceracoat.

Robar's NP3 is also a very tough treatment...but it's pricey since you need to send it off to have the NP3 done.

I haven't used Ceracoat, but I have used KG and Norrell's quite a bit. The big advantage with Duracoat is they offer a ton of colors, since it's just like krylon...but the finish is not durable.

KG in OD on my lower

Norrell's FDE

KG on the action/barrel

 

Duracoat is crap...it's not durable at all...it's just expensive Sherwin Williams paint.

If you want something durable, you need to get a thermal cured finish...IE Norrell's Moly Resin aka KG Gunkote, or Ceracoat. The last three finishes require you to bake them in an oven for 1 hour.

With the Duracoat, it may take 3-5 weeks to fully cure since it's an air cured product. I heard that Duracoat offers "durabake" now...so that would be a better option.

...
I haven't used Ceracoat, but I have used KG and Norrell's quite a bit. The big advantage with Duracoat is they offer a ton of colors, since it's just like krylon...but the finish is not durable.

Your information is not correct. I am an amateur gunsmith and I Duracoat and Cerakote on a daily basis for people from a wide array of geographical locations.

Cerakote is great too, and it takes two hours to cure and is great for firearms with very tight tolerances.

Duracoat is an extremely durable finish. Its an epoxy coating. Once coated, the firearm can be used immediately, but you are correct in that it takes approx 4 weeks to reach its maximum hardness. That doesnt mean that it cant be used or will chip, flake or scratch though, its just at its maximum. Its epoxy, thats what it takes for good epoxy to cure.

Durabake has been offered for quite some time now. Most of the problems I have seen from duracoat jobs done by others is the ratio that the components are mixed incorrectly and this will definitely cause the finish to not adhere. Good duracoat jobs take quite a bit of prep work. I invite anyone to pm me and I will send you the link to the business that I work, call us, view pics or come by. Once you see the work we have done, you will understand the praticality of why duracoat is a good idea for firearms.

 

hijack/thread derail

Would you mind sharing the details on the bolt action rifle? Type of stock, scope, action manufacturer, etc, looks impressive. :thumb:

ETA never mind, I just read the 700 thread.

 

I've used Duracoat a bunch of times. If you do the metal prep properly, it's a very durable coating. The only times I've seen issues with it is when the prep work wasn't done right or they didn't let it cure long enough before hard use. It's one of my favorite coatings because of it's ease of use.

It's also the factory finish for some high end guns such as the DS Arms FALs.

 

more that 70% of all coating failure issues come from surface preparation. If you don't prep a surface for a coating no matter what you use it won't last.

 

The only difference between Duracoat and Paint is marketing hype. It is not impressive from my experience and their colors do not match what they claim to match.

 

Its not hype. Their colors match exactly. I frequently duracoat many AR rifles that have Magpul accessories, such as Magpul flat dark earth. The rifle and accessories match perfectly.

We mix a special gun blue duracoat that I have used many times that is very hard to distinguish from traditional gun blue, unless you are right on top of it.

 

My guns are functional, not pretty. I know I'd screw it up.

 

I have a rifle that was duracoated by a gunsmith.
Stuff is as tough as parkerized finish.
If I want to scratch it, I have to work at it.
I've had no problems.

 

Beleive me when I tell you that Duracoat is not durable. You will see more people using it because it's EASY. You don't need to heat up the parts and you don't need to bake it in your oven. You just prep the parts and spray on the Duracoat.

I do quite a bit of refinishing on my firearms and can tell you that I will never use this stuff.

If you want another durable option...send out your parts and have it hard chromed. Hard chrome is a very tough treatment. It looks like brushed SS...it doesn't have the "bling" look since it's almost a matte SS.

If you want cheap...go to WM and buy some Krylon..it's cheaper than Duracoat, but it won't be as durable compared to Duracoat.

 

Beleive me when I tell you that Duracoat is not durable. You will see more people using it because it's EASY. You don't need to heat up the parts and you don't need to bake it in your oven. You just prep the parts and spray on the Duracoat.

DS Arms and some of the other companies that use it as a finish on their factory guns would beg to differ with you on that.

 

I've done a couple myself and had no issues with it. Use a heat gun when you apply it. It seems to go one and cure better with some heat.

 

They recommend that, actually. You get a more even finish with less chance of runs that way.

 

Powder coating is about as good as any, and readily repaired when you have issues with the finish. Myself, I kinda like the old British way. Parkerize it, then paint over the passivated finish. You rarely see Enfields with bad pitting on the exterior....

Durakote would work pretty well for that approach.

 

I have only seen Robar NP3 done on the service pistols for our local Sheriff's Dept a few years ago, they were on Beretta 96D centurion's and the finish was about the crappiest I have ever seen and was coming off in chunks shortly after they started issuing them.

 

well im a gunsmith and restore firearms for a living. if you acid dip the parts before you duracoat belive me it will last a very long time and look just as good as the product you are pushing .i have done alot of them and never have i had one come back for chips, marks,scratchs, you just need to learn how to apply it and you to can get good results also. once cured just rub down with your favorite oil and it will last a life time and look good.

 

Gunsmith here also. We've done a lot of customers guns in Duracoat and never had a problem. I've also done several of my own. I actually did them first to put some miles on them and test the finish. I'm pleased with it's durability.

 

KG coatings has all the specs, makes fore seals and other special ops

 

my brother out law got the duracote off a Beretta 1201FP shotgun he bought from a bubba in like 10 minutes

of course he had to bead blast it! :

done right that stuff seems purty durn tuff

 

Do you need to oven cure duracoat to get the best results? Or if you leave it for the two weeks is it just as well?

 

You don't have to oven cure it, but heat definately helps. I do most of my Duracoating in the summer and leave the parts in the sun for a few days, which in west Texas is pretty hot. It'll cure just fine in time, but it takes significantly longer than 2 weeks to reach maximum strength, especially in cool weather.

 

I used a heat lamp on the patch I put on the widow lady's bathtub. From what I have seen and done with it, the heat is pretty much a necessity, one way or another. I'm about ready to rig a solar oven for this app this summer....

 

Boys, if you take a 55 gallon drum, paint it black with a matte paint and leave it in the summer sun, you'll get a good cure in a couple of days. If you use a glass pane tent over it, you'll get a full 300 degrees inside the drum. "Try it, you'll like it".

 

My Duracoat experience can be summed up by saying the prepping, which is the boring part, is simultaneously the most important. I used brakeclean 8 times on every part being sprayed. Then I layered on the stuff 6-8 times with 20 minutes in-between each coating.

It works like a wonder. Most people with crappy results and complaints have not done the prepping. Simple as that.

 

You use a mild to mid strength acid to etch the outside of the metal. This cause uniform pitting to show up on the outside of the metal. Nothing that you would mistake for rot, it is pretty smooth for the most part.

This gives a rough surface for the paint to adhere to, much like parkerizing.

 

Is that like the Jasco pannel prep solution I have seen?

 

Not sure on that one in particular however the same acid you use to etch concrete flooring will work. It has to be prepped correctly like everything else.

 

I guess I inadvertently did something right with the heat and the Duracoat. In addition to using the heat gun while applying the product I hung the parts from the attic cross beams with coat hangers to paint. After painting I left them in the attic to cure for several days. The temperature in the attic probably varied from about 80 to 115 degrees over that time.

 

Never used Duracoat but have used Norrell Moly Resin many times and love the stuff. Hard as nails after it is cured and easy to apply. I use electric circuit board cleaner to clean the parts I am going to treat then heat them in the oven to 100 degrees. Spray on a couple of coats of the resin with an airbrush and let it sit for 24 hours. Then I bake it for 1 hour at 300.

http://www.molyresin.com/molyresin_about.asp

 

I guess I'll reserect an older thread. I just did my first Duracoat job and it turned out well. I'm not in a big hurry to finish the build I'm doing so if it takes 3-4 weeks to achieve a full cure so be it.

I was a bit skeptical about the product. You never really know. In that light I wasn't sure how much credit to give the detractors and naysayers. Needless to say, I gave the detractors and naysayer too much credit...I am impressed. No more rattle cans for me.

The Preval spray system worked like a champ. Not to mention I can get propellant refills for 4 bucks, anr the whole thing for 5 bucks, but I don't need the extra jar. I say that because some people are selling the Preval spray system for 11 buck.

Since this was the first time I have done a Duracoat finish, I did spend the 29.99 for the kit. From here on out I feel comfortable with buying the duracoat color at 16.00 and adding a propellant refill for 4 bucks. Twenty bucks to get a professional finish...I'm sold. I'll never look at an old beat up mossberg the same way. Especially if it is mechanically sound...

 

Before you let the naysayers get you down too much, remember that DS Arms chose Duracoat as their factory finish, as well as several other custom builders. With as many finishes as there are on the market, they would have gone with some other product if Duracoat gave them any problems.

 

I took the time and did the research. Thats when the negative comments started to crop up. Yet I knew I didn't want spray paint. Nothing wrong with spray paint mind you, It is a great field expedient. Just not the finish I was looking for. I can't afford the over for the oven cure finishes. So that narrowed the field down considerably.

I had a hunch that most of the problems people experienced with duracoat, had to do with how they went about prepping the piece prior to application. So I paid close attention to that aspect of the process. So much so that the actual application of duracoat seemed to almost be a non event.

Naysayer aside...I can see myself doing this again...

 

Duracoat like any other paint its all about the surface prep and following the directions. You try to paint your car and cut corners it will turn out like crap to. I used it to paint 2 guns recently, they were small enough to fit in the kitchen oven so baking wasn't an issue. It said you can just let it air cure but takes a couple weeks. They both came out fine.

I would prefer something like powder coating, I worked at a shop that did it. But the key again was surface prep. Bead blast, make sure it is free of anything that will prevent bonding and it will last a long time. I did a gun there one day, later went back to do something different and it was murder to get off. But powder coating is specialized and the place I worked did trailers so doubtful they would touch a gun of any kind, well unless it was on the sly like I did. But I have done it at home without the special gun, not as easy to do but will work.