How similar or different are these two finishes? I think most Cerokoted finish rifles are baked on ceramic satin and Duracoat finishes are or can be glossy. Does the Duracoat hold up as good as the Cerokote?

"Does Duracoat hold up as well as CeraKote?". No, it does not. Cerakote can be ordered "glossy" from the company. The key is surface prep and cleanliness for any finish, be it any of the bluing processes or any of the spray on finishes.

My LGS applies a Parkerizing finish first then does the Duracoat. I assume this adds to the level of protection.

quote:

Originally posted by Uncle Grinch:
My LGS applies a Parkerizing finish first then does the Duracoat. I assume this adds to the level of protection.

Parkerizing gives the surface "tooth" for the spray-on finish to adhere to. KG Coatings is another bake-on 'paint', as is the Brownells offering. Many (most) blast with aluminum oxide before "painting".

The thing to look for is how they are applied (and I have applied Cerakote, Duracoat, Guncoat, and Alumihyde). And OD green Army Jeep paint (my favorite). Here are the durability levels:
Baked on.
Epoxy two part air dried.
One part air dried.
Parkerizing first does nothing; the surface coat is still what it is. Yes, a rough surface treatment will help, as with any paint,
And remember, these are all paint. If you drop them in the rocks, they will scratch. I do blast before painting, regardless of the type.
I would use the parkerizing and forget the paint. Or vice versa.
A company here charges $300 for Cerakote, and $150 for mil spec phosphatic (Army Certified); it's still paint. All of them protect steel; and if you don't abuse them, they are all the same. If you throw your rifles into truck beds, then you will notice the difference.
Gloss level is mostly determined by what it says on the can.
Come over and I'll show you all methods.

Here is a pig rifle I did last year; Zombie green stock, and blood red metal; It kills pigs and the finish stays on. 450 Bushmaster on a 98.
I used deep red automotive paint made for a Jaguar.

duracoat is a paint, room temp curing (there is duraheat, but that's a different question)

cerokote requires pretty high heat to cure, and the expoy and ceramic mix is "trade secret" on the MSDS

leads me to assume that duracoat is a high pigment solid paint, and cerokote is a high solid heat cured finish

here's The training manual for cerokote
https://images.nicindustries.c...wNTA2ODc1MC4zMC4wLjA.

There's damn little "baking" done at 200 degree's as with cerokote. Thats just warm air dried.
George

Exactly; whilst they do make true high temp Cerakote, that is unsuitable for gun work, for obvious reasons.
I bake them in may gas grill at 200-250 degrees; which is not really that hot.
As I keep saying, it's paint. Ok, warmed paint. It costs $300 and up to apply. It does hold up fairly well, but so does jeep paint. I do it for rich clients who don't know any better.

well let me just throw out 1/2 a lifetime of specialty coating experience. my dad only painted for 60 years, and about 40% of that, I painted nearly everything, including "exotics" and epoxies, and literally battleship paint

what we commonly call "paint" is solids/pigments in a solvent (to grossly over simplify) - this is called "watching paint dry" and the ambident heat "cooks off" the solvent - this heat basically, (there are extreme cases) needs to be about 65 to cook off most solvents, some require slightly higher, and anything above about 100 shortens sq/ft coverage. this is LARGELY a physical reaction- the solvent cooks off, the pigments/solids merge into a continuous coat at AMBIENT heat - too cold, and it eithr won't dry or take forever and will likely sag

then we have the "hardener" paints, which are technically epoxy coatings - this is a straight chemical reaction reaction

cerocoat's msds says it has epoxy and ceramic mix - and requires baking or it won't set - which means that the physical reaction of the solvent cooking off isn't enough, and that there's not enough chemical reaction to dry it properly -

and let's be clear -- 200deg is a FAR higher temp than 70, and I expect it's melting a thermoplastic, but i am likely wrong, as it doesn't seem to remelt under sustained firing/heating/being in the cab of a pickup on july in south texas..

We should establish and enumerate the reasons we want a "coating", (paint) on a firearm in the first place. Especially when hot salt bluing is what most of us want, and use. Successfully.
Water repellant? Rust prevention? 95 different color choices?
I paint rifles for all those reasons. And by paint I mean all the coatings I listed somewhere else. Forgot where.
I also paint Military vehicles, at least one a year, for the reasons above, to include protection from mud, ice, and snow, and that retains efficacy for decades.
I have painted rifles with semi gloss OD too. And that costs $35 a gallon.
I'm not even sure what the point is now. I guess that lots of products can be used on rifles, and they all work.

Ok Tom:

Lets see the project you're working now.

It's of interest to several of us.


George