Powdercoating as surface finish?

[anand]

Greetings all,
Have thought of this for a while now but is Powdercoating any different from such other finishes as duracoat? Would the 'baking' temperature be higher in the case of powder coating and thus possibly be damaging to the firearm(altering its heat treatment and surface hardnening??)

Any one tried this on any firearms or other items that see hard usage?? What if any experiences?
Thanks,

 

[Edward429451]

Dunno about baking temps or Duracoat. I did have my 870 powdercoated and it's fantastically weatherproof now. I like it.

 

[Mac's!]

We've been using powder coat as part of our Tuff-Gun 2 finish for several years and it works well...as long as you only use it for certain areas. We use it for long gun barrels, bolt handles, some mags, etc. and it works well for that. It's extremely durable as far as abrasion and nicks are concerned. However, it's way too thick for use on internal parts and will interfere with close tolerance parts. For internal parts, we stick with our TG-1 finish. The parts must be properly masked to prevent the powder from getting into off limit areas. The big trick to using it is to get it right the first time. Because it's so durable, it's a serious pain to get it off of parts if you messed it up. Keep yer powder dry, Mac.
Tuff-Gun Finishes. The Name Says It All
Mac's Shootin' Irons
http://www.shootoniron.com

 

[Edward429451]

What he says is true. It took awhile to polish out the overspray from inside the receiver and barrel end where it slides into the receiver. No parts, just receiver, barrel, magtube, barrel nut, extra barrel, and trigger housing. Pain in the butt, but overall worth it. It's slick as it used to be now and weatherproof as possible.

Love the color selection for powdercoating. Took almost as long to decide color as it did to polish it up. I setteled on black chrome. They even have clear. It will fill up the lettering somewhat, but the serial number is still cleary legible.