You may remember the post I put up regarding the different firearm coatings, and how the only one I had an experience with was Moly Resin™. Shortly after this was written a representative from Cerakote actually contacted me and asked me to send them a gun. So I did, and I can objectively say I’m extremely impressed.
Photo by Weapon Outfitters
I can’t actually speak for the durability of the product, yet. I’ve only had it for a few weeks and have only put around 1,000 rounds down range during that time. If you look at their testing results it’s no surprise that a few weeks in my possession hasn’t actually managed to harm the coating yet, I’ll be impressed in about a year. However, reading through their testing results bodes well for the product. I know over time it will wear but it just doesn’t seem like it’s going to wear very fast. I know that it’s been tested for corrosion and durability, let’s see how it stands up to a year of me.
There were a couple things that absolutely amazed me about Cerakote’s work. The first was how thorough they were in the coating process. If you look at the photo of the field stripped gun that Weapon Outfitters posted you can see that the entire firearm has been coated, inside and out, the trigger group and even the coil pin, locking block and headed pin. The one frustration this has caused me is that the magazine sits a little too tightly inside the gun, and I had to do a number of reloads to work my gun back to where it will easily drop free. That being done, the gun functions perfectly and is protected from the elements very well according to all of Cerakote’s testing.
Photo by Weapon Outfitters
The second thing that really impressed me about it was how good it ended up looking. When they first offered to do snakeskin I was a little worried that it would end up looking really cheesy, but I went for it anyway. I love how it turned out, it’s unique and very well done! Caleb hates how it looks, but browsing through Cerakote’s gallery there is everything from dual-tone to burnt bronze spider webs to pink flowers to shimmer gold, I’m sure we could get some race-red accents on his Glock 21.
I use Sur-Tacgear for all of the Cerakote business for my store. I had him do my daughters AR in pink and few other guns for me personally. I love Cerakote, it looks great and it holds up to wear. Great stuff.
Thats awesome. It would look wonderful on an AR
I love pink ARs! Actually, I’ve found the coatings to be really popular among women, because as I’ve said before we like having unique and personalized things and Cerakote really gives us that option. We had one lady last week who insisted she needed a pink FN 5.7. Personally, I think everyone needs a pink FN 5.7.
BAD. A$$.
Now you’ve got me daydreaming about the things I could do to my “extra” 1911-A1! Hmmmm…..
That is a great looking pattern! Thanks for sharing.
That finish looks awesome! It’ll be really interesting to see how it holds up over time.
Anyone here locally (say, within 100 miles) that does Cerakote that you would recommend, Shelley?
I thought the finish was ATACS camouflage until I saw the bigger picture when I clicked on the link.
Looks good, unfortunately the gallery link doesn’t work at my workdesk. I’ll have to remember to look at home.
I have it on my Sig, and so far (a few months) it is holding up well to my abuse. I expect it to wear, that is ok. It can still look good while doing it :D
This has given me some inspiration to branch out a bit.. my 870, my boys 870.. a CZ..
-Mark
I have some light scratches — errant scuffs from a roll pin punch — on my CZ. Given the ultra-thin nature of this coating, I’m wondering what kind of prep work I should do beforehand so they don’t show through. Anyone have any advice?
Boscodog the shop that has done all of mine does total metal prep. Sand blast and clean before hand. On deep stuff they polish it out.