Gary, I voted for other because I would personally have a tough Teflon Moly coating applied. I have Cerakote and am not that impressed, but that is because of the folks that put it on, I'm sure. Fit-4-Duty did it, and it is very uneven and had some rust already without even taking it out of the house.

Gary, I had a rifle cerakote in April, 2005. I have used it in the rain 6 days, & in the snow two days. One day it really got wet. I just take it home, & wipe it off with a paper towel. No problem. I really like it.

Maybe Larry should talk to Doug at fit4duty", I'll bet he would "make it right".

I had the impression that Cerakote was one of the better applied/baked on finishes as I thought it was a bit more durable than Teflon/Moly applied/baked on finishes w/ good corrossion resistance. I didn't think it was as hard or wear resistant as NP3 or Hard Chrome but thought it was said to be superior against corrossion.

I'm confident that Hard Chrome would be more than satisfactory as far as abuse and wear, but I was concerned about its corrossion resistance due to its nature of being micro porous. I wonder if something as simple as an occassional application of wax on hard chrome would solve that problem.

Gary

NP3 is great stuff...expensive, but...the two rifles I have experience with had NP3 outside as well as inside...very dull, flat gray...imagine all the little parts here and there that will no longer need daily care!!! Love it, Arthur

The way you stated your question, it seemed to me you might want to put the coating in the bore as well as on the outside. In that case, I would opt for a hard "black chrome" of the choices given....something akin to the finish the old "Marker Machine Company" used to advertise in the American Rifleman. If you want it on everything except the bore, I'd pick either an electroless nickel finish ("Other") such as Armalloy, or NP-3. I have had better service from Armalloy than from Robar, but that isn't a "rule", it is just my experience. The odds are just as good that your experience may be entirely the opposite.

Who do you recommend to apply Armoloy's plating on a rifle? I see that Armoloy is a franchise company w/ franchisees all over the map. Their company page does indicate that this plating is just as durable if not more so than Hard Chrome but is far superior in corrossion resistance as it does not have micro cracks.

Gary

I'm not sure, but for some reason I think the original applier of that specific process is the one in Houston, TX. Anyway, that's where I send my stuff. They do have a minimum charge, so it costs the same to do a bolt, receiver, etc., as to just do a bolt. Also, you chould disassemble everything before shipping. If not, there will be a disassembly charge...at least there used to be.

I don't believe anything has been proved more durable in high humidity South American jungle use and sea service than electroless nickle. S&W did some tests on that very subject about 10 or 15 years ago.

Alberta Canuck,

The only thing I can find in Texas was "Armoloy of Texas" in Fort Worth. They do indicate they apply the plating to firearms but give no references and post only the generic company info. Is this who you are referring to?

Thanks,
Gary

I am very interested in this too. I have a thread asking about Rogaurd, but I have been warned that it does not look right in a classic style rifle. My rifle will not be a synthetic gun, but rather a classic wood rifle.

What do you suggest?

I have had excellent results with KG Gun-Kote on the 5 rifles that I had it applied on.

do a seach on "black chrome"...

jeffe

GaryVA

I have used hard chrome on rifles that are to be used in harsh wet conditions. All have performed excellent. I tried Armoloy on some competition hand guns and was not satisfied.
After about a year on the grip area it was worn thin and rusting.

You can have the best coating in the world and if it is not applied properly you have nothing.

I do not like the sprayed on coatings. I have tried several. They cannot get into where rust prevention is the most important to me. Like inside the bolt, cocking piece, trigger sear ect. If not for this a simple blue job with a coat of wax is all that is needed 99% of the time.

For Black Chrome,look at http://www.fordsguns.com

James

333_OKH,

The rifle I intend to coat or plate is an m70 safari 416rem. They are pretty plain jane and are not fancy, so I'm not too concerned w/ looks as I am w/ function. It will probably go in a Brown "AK" stock anyway. I do have two RSMs that are very pleasing to the eye and I cannot bring myself to change their appearance. Though they are not safe queens, I cringe everytime they get banged around or soaked.

jeffeosso,

I'll do a search on black chrome. I had thought it was to be a poor choice for internal coating as I had thought it required a plating base coat under it making it thicker than HC or NP.

J Bennett,

Who would you choose to hard chrome a rifle? I'm on the fence w/ the applied/baked finishes as most of the rifles I've had in and out of a synthetic scabbard wear real quick to expose metal. They may resist rust better when intact, but what I've seen rusts real quick once nicked, scratched or rubbed through. BTW, I sprayed the internals on my rifle w/ Boeshield, applied EEZOX to the bore and coated all exterior surfaces w/ Bowling Alley Wax. I spent 3 weeks living out of a backpack during which I could hardly keep my rifle dry. My worst dunking was when I lost my footing and swam two drops of a rain swollen mountain stream. Everything went under. This is one of the reasons I'm looking for something a bit tougher and more corrosion resistant.

Thanks and keep the suggestions coming. Please vote as I intend to use the results to influence my final choice.

Gary

Sounds like anything you come up with will work for my rifle. I try to stay out of those conditions when not working since that requires me to be exposed outdoors too much as it is. I will keep monitoring and see what comes up.

I am very concerned about durability of the finish. I thought that Rogaurd was very durable as was Armololy like from Armoloy of Texas. I know nothing about Cerakote, but it comes in enough shades and colors!

Gary

As you have experienced the applied finishes will chip, flake and wear easily. Some are more durable than others. Every finish has its good and bad points. In your situation, Hard Chrome would be my recommendation. You want rust and abrasion protection. You are not worried about
the lubrication factor of working parts.

As for who I would recommend. I have had three shops do chroming for me in the past. I have got good work back and I have got terrible work back. I am researching two new shops at this time.
One is http://www.apwcogan.com Check there web sight. They give a very good explanation of there finishes.
Two is Fords that I listed above. They have some Remington parts of mine know. This is the first parts that I have sent them. I should know something in a couple of weeks. I chose them above APW simply because they do refinishing only.
Do you live in VA? If so you might want to check out Electro Plate in Dublin VA. I dont think they do Hard Chrome anymore.

James

I cannot comment on the experience of anyone else who has used Armolloy, only my own. I have a Wichita 1.375 BR rifle (for one instance), which was fired an absolute minimum average of 120 rounds per week for 5+ years of competition. My cacluclator tells me that is 31,200 rounds, minimum.

It stil has no visible wear in the
Armoloy anywhere. It shows no rust either. Although West-Central Oregon is not famous for its lack of humidity, it is not as wet (annual precip sverage) as parts of each of Indo-China, the Hawaiian chain, or the Amazon basin.

Still, I would not hesitate to recommend it for protective use, based solely on my own experience.

I will try to check my records to make sure I have not confused the Ft. Worth facility with Houston. If I did, I apologize for that error.
I will not check tomorrow, though, Pacific Power is shutting off all our power for Monday so it can hook up yet another Kalifornia immigrant next door. We will have no lights, electric heat, refrigeration, water, internet access, toilet fwcilities, cooking facilities, or radio other than battery power emergency weather radio, at this site tomorrow.)

Anymore takers? Lots of hits but few votes. I had hoped for more votes.

On one hand NP3 has a small lead over Hard Chrome and Other, on the other hand most votes were for something other than NP3.

Thanks for all the input and please throw in your opinion either good or bad.

Thanks again,
Gary

Sell it, buy a stainless, and never look back.

I had several rifles Armoloyed 25 years ago and they still look like new.