I have a stainless Lilja barrel, threaded and chambered and ready to go when I get the stock done. This is going to be yet another deer rifle, and I'd like to darken the stainless barrel. Will the cerrocoat hold up to screwing the barrel in the action? Normally when I pull a barrel I drill a hole in whatever hardwood is handy, then cut it through with a bandsaw, then coat it with rosin and clamp it tightly in a big vise. I have an action wrench.

I asked the painter and he claims to not know- he normally gets work in, already disassembled, and doesn't deal with reassembly. He did a good job on a recent martini, but painted the barrel and action together. In this case, I want to leave the acti0n blued.

Anybody have any experience with this?

I've done it both ways. I have chipped the cerakote a couple of times when tightening though.
I prefer to cerakote after putting them together just mask off the action when blasting and spraying. No big deal.

Paint them after the barrel is on; Cerokote is tough, but remember it is still paint.

I'll do that; it sounds like it's the simplest solution, I was a bit concerned about the abrasives flying around the action , but a good masking job should take care of that.

Thanks for the comments.

FWIW, I have a cerakoted stainless steel barrel on a hard use AR-15. The finish on the rest of the gun is starting to wear. The barrel still looks great. It does get hot firing with a can, too.

It is a step or two above paint. Lauer's Gun Kote is cheap assed paint. Cerakote is a ceramic matrix that does bond to the metal surface. My last barrel coating job cost me a whole $40.00 for excellent work.

I mainly like it for stainless steel barrels that might go to a wet/salty/Alaskan environment. It is also great on pistols that get their finish worn down from a Kydex holster.

When I lived in Alaska, I would use automotive paste wax on all blued metal surfaces, and a silicon spray on the wood stock. I could have used Cerakote then, by golly.

The formula is simple; if the paint is two part expoxy based then it is tough as epoxy. If not, then it, isn't. Gun Coat is a one part paint.

Cerrocoating a SS barrel is like painting a tin barn...The stainless is tougher than the coating.. I kinda like a bead blasted SS finish I suppose although I don't care for Cerrocoating as it chips and scratches,nor do I care SS and composit stocks so its a non-issue for myself, but I won't recommend any metal finish except real old world rust blue for toughness..but Im a old world guy, incapable of modern tech. find it mostly BS!

Finally, some one else who hates painted guns. But all these young guys think it is the best thing since sliced bread, also over rated.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Finally, some one else who hates painted guns. But all these young guys think it is the best thing since sliced bread, also over rated.

I buy sliced bread, almost exclusively!

I prefer to custom fabricate each slice myself.

It really depends on who does the Cerakote, I guess. I got one that is just fine. Looks good and has withstood the test of time. I got a second one from another outfit that left it more like a thick coat of paint. I had to scrape it off the bolt raceways in order to get the bolt to fit right again.

The one similar product that has always been good for me is Black Ice Teflon coating. It always looks good and has weathered beautifully.

None of that is to say I don't like rust blue, because I do, but I have used all acceptably.