Benefit of Cerakote? HELP!

[BigDaddyKane]

OK, I'm trying to find a thorough explanation of why Cerakote-ing your rifle is such a benefit. I understand it aids in corrosion resistance, and offers scratch protection. But outside of that, what true benefits are there? I tried to compare it to headers on a car... when you opt for the ceramic coated exhaust headers you do so because it contains the heat inside the tubes thus preventing the rest of the engine compartment from getting exposed to so much heat. Well if you Cerakote your barrel wouldn't that prevent it from dissipating the heat quickly? Also, does the added strength of the Cerakote add any stiffness to the barrel or action? I'm really contemplating it but I would like all the facts first.

Thanks to all that help!!!

TK

 

[Hired Gun]

Trying to compare it to header coatings is not a valid comparison. Cerakote is considered neither an insulation or heat dissipater. NIC does make coatings for dissipating heat if that is your main concern but it's not as suitable for firearms. They also make powder coatings and they look great but not practical due to how thick it goes on. Stiffen a barrel? It's good stuff but I don't believe it adds much structurally. I doubt coating a cube of butter is going to make it impossible to chop in half with an ax.

Cerakote is thee proven state of the art metal protection designed for firearms. A fair comparison would be to other coatings for firearms. Unprotected your gun will require more care to remain rust free. A film of oil works as long as it doesn't get wiped or washed off in the rain. Traditional bluing helps a very little and it is attractive. I'm drawn to shiny objects so I like it for fair weather firearms. Parkerizing helps a little more but only due to it's ability to hold more oil. Ordinary paint works pretty good but scratches off easy and is susceptible to chemicals dissolving it. All the spray on coatings lie somewhere between rattle can paint and Cerakote.

Cerakote being an advanced wet applied ceramic coating reigns king at the top. Being it goes on wet similar to paint it is often wrongly viewed as just paint. It's base elements are ground up super hard inert ceramic materials. Ceramics are very hard, resistant to wear color fast and immune to most chemicals. Only the very stongest acids will alter it and it takes prolonged exposure to do it. Ceramic coatings are a large part what has made supersonic and space travel possible.

Weather is really defined as exposure to corrosive elements such as acidic water, dirt and ultraviolet radiation. The extreme of this is salt water. In this capacity it has no peer. It is so hard and slick it also aids in cutting friction. Cerakote is available in a few different colors. Not as many as the other coatings out there because the ceramics are only available in certain colors where the other coatings are just tinted like paint using ordinary paint pigments. Cerakote is so good at locking out adverse elements that once cured nothing will stick to it including more Cerakote.

Things to remember about Cerakote. It's only as good as it's foundation. The harder the base material under it given proper surface prep the more durable it is. Over wood, plastic and aluminum or it wears much faster than over tool steel.

 

[BigDaddyKane]

Awesome, that's exactly what I needed.

Thanks for your response!

T

 

[Hired Gun]

Here is a Weatherby bolt before and after.

Titanium is just cool. The gray is Micro Slick

 

[C.O. Shooter]

That's a really good look!

 

[Hornhunter32]

Here is a Weatherby bolt before and after.

Titanium is just cool. The gray is Micro Slick

Who coated this for you? I'm in the process of rebarreling my accumark and I'm going to have the entire barreled action ceracoated.

 

[Hired Gun]

That would be my son. Brady


Before

After

 

[C.O. Shooter]

On another note, I had that same comforter back in college! LOL

 

[sp6x6]

I notice my bolt is not as smooth as plain and light film of oil. I have used light dab of lithium grease, or spray silicon. What do you use as bolt lube?

 

[Hired Gun]

Did you coat your action inside and out and the entire bolt including the lugs? If you did you can run the bolt body dry but a dab of grease on the lugs (We use fully synthetic Mobil 1) never hurt and a drip of Rem Oil surely wouldn't hurt the bolt body either. It should run really smooth. I doubt any lube is going to make it feel better though.

If you used one of the lesser coatings then I have no comment.

 

[sp6x6]

Yes, and it is wearing in also 175 shots down,Thanks SP

 

[highridge1]

I had Jeff at Falcon gunfinishing do his falcon coat extreme which is cerakote on my weatherby accumark action and bottom metal. Turned out excellent. I have had him do several projects. Action is nice and smooth. All I use is rem oil and it works excellent.

 

[Stephan]

I plan on coating only the receiver on a rifle, inside and out, but to leave the bolt body as it is in order not to interfere with the tolerances too much.
Is it advisable to media blast the inside of the action as well, including the rails and lug recess area, for prepping?

 

[Hired Gun]

If this is a production gun it will benefit from being tightened up as much as possible. If it's a custom I would not coat the inside of the action either. To see if it will fit or not set up a dial indicator and check your vertical and horzontal clearances. If the slop is over .005" then you can do both.

I had a request to do a Defiance action recently and had to decline as it only had .001" clearance. Cerakote adds .001" to each surface.