Has anyone seen this used? Reportedly available in greys, blacks, and blue-black, with high hardness and corrosion resistance.

Any know who could do a rifle and how much it would be?

what brand is it sold under, or who does the coatings?

I'm also interested in finding a TiN shop that can be trusted with single parts. It's such a high tech process that I doubt a gunshop could afford the equip. Doug Braker has a place that will TiN (gold) for triggers and internal parts, but no offering of the dark grey colors.

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"The most common methods of TiN thin film creation are physical vapor deposition (PVD, usually reactive sputtering, Cathodic Arc Deposition or electron beam heating) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In both methods, pure titanium is sublimated and reacted with nitrogen in a high-energy, vacuum environment. PVD is preferred for steel parts because the deposition temperatures lie beyond the austenitizing temperature of steel"

I've been told that the vapor deposition process used to apply these coatings requires the parts to be heated to elevated temperatures. That may be a consideration depending on the alloy and function of the parts you wish to have plated. I've seen some bolts done but the action maker was not impressed with performance so the idea was dropped.

OMJ
There are 2 primary "Vapor Deposition" systems, CVD and PVD.
Chemical VD takes place at near atmospheric pressure and some where near 2000^F. It involves flowing the reactive gases over/through the parts, with the reaction being forced by the hot part surfaces.
Physical VD takes place in a high vacuum, and depending on the mass of the parts being coated the temp can range from 450 to 900^F. The reaction takes place in a plasma, with the surface of the part being bombarded, in a line of sight manner, from the metal cathodes (reaction product depends on the plasma gas mix).
IIRC IonBond LLC's Greenbouro, SC plant has been doing some firearm parts for "one of the major manufactures".
Sorry but I can't give a lot of detail on the coating process /chemicals used, as the coating industry is a completive business (I work at one of the IonBond plants).

I'm looking at having a rifle coated. I don't have answers back from folks yet on the details I need, but this one looks promising:

http://molecularmetallurgy.com/Product_Guide.html

Make sure you ask for the right thing or you may wind up as the "Man with the Golden Gun" by accident

I'd be pretty mad if I did that to myself....I can imagine spending hundreds on a coating job to end up buying a can of black spray paint in the end.........

Cheers,

Dan

Thanks all.

I don't have a specific supplier in mind - just checking out feasibility. Seems like it would be very durable and nice looking (not gold!) but also hella expensive.

TG

quote:

IonBond plants

I am looking for a type of coating such as the ones IonBond offers for a rough use wet weather application. I looked at the site, but was hoping to see more of the silver and black coatings.

I believe Mel Forbes from NULA once offered some similar type coating.I think it was about $250 back then (a few yrs ago now).

From my research and correspondence with coating companies, if memory serves me correctly,
TiAlN (post corrected) was the best coating method compared to TiN and others. But it was different if coating a Titanium receiver, cause titanium dont take to some coatings very well.
I also spoke to folk about Cryogenic/TiAlN coating. Ie; coat the action then cryo it, apparently(If memory serves correct)the post coating cryo treatment improves the coating bond due to cryo induced changes in molecular-grain structure of both receiver and coating substance.

http://www.thomasnet.com/products/coatings-metal-surface-15810005-1.html

TiCN would be a interesting coating, however I believe TiAln would be a bit better because it is self lubricating and a touch harder. However it would be more expensive. I remember finding a website about 4 years ago that would do such coatings on firearms at a reasonable price, I'll try to see if I can find that again.
TiN would be alright, however it's a touch soft for my taste as far as abrasion resistance. I neat coating is called Firex from Guhring that uses multiple layers of TiCN and TiAln to produce a 95 HRC. It's nice but it only comes in kind of a light purplish color. Maybe for those who live in San Francisco but not my cup of tea.

check out precisioncoat.com, they got a wide variety of applications suitable for firearms. Also brycoat.com, they'll do most of the coatings you're looking for. I think Precisioncoat would be the best because they use a wider variety of processes to apply the coatings and also can do small run/individual project coatings instead of a batch.

quote:

Originally posted by 333_OKH:

quote:

IonBond plants

I am looking for a type of coating such as the ones IonBond offers for a rough use wet weather application. I looked at the site, but was hoping to see more of the silver and black coatings.

Contact one of the sales types. They would be happy to direct/assist you.
Most of the coatings are designed for wear applications on cutting tools & stamping/forming dies. Wear/lubricitive coatings on some speciality engine parts are also done, but the "consumer" applications in that area are limited. While there are some decorative applications we do (as a company), I'm not familiar with that end of the market.

Thanks for helping on this.

Rifles, Inc. gave the rifle I ordered from them a TiN finish, however, it's probably really a TiCN finish because it's not gold, but a DARK gray. He charged a $350 adder for it in 2003. It is the least reflective finish I've seen. It looks pretty ugly after a hunt, however. Everything that brushes against leaves a mark but they are easily wiped off. It is so abrasive, it picks up everything it comes in contact with.

For some reason, Rifles, Inc. does not mention this finish on their website.

I am very happy with it and would recommend it.