Removing duracoat?

[Rugerdiggs]

I am just about finished gathering all the parts for my 338Edge. The barrel i have has been duracoated or cerakoted. I have access to a sand blasting machine and thinking that will do the job but wanted to ask for input first. My thoughts is put an earplug in each end followed with tape to protect threads and go to town. What do yall think?

Next question is since the barrel is stainless and the sandblaster will or should make a dull finish on the barrel should i try to do the same with the action to match them, i just got the action back from having it trued and laped, can tape off the surface of it if yall think it could affect it, please let me know your opinion, dont want to give up accuracy on my action and or barrel just for looks, thanks

 

[Hired Gun]

I wouldn't do anything to any of it till it is all assembled. If your action was just trued I doubt the barrel tennon on that used barrel will fit anyway. I would suggest you let the same smith do the whole build. Taking parts and pieces from different builders is a receipe for dissapointment.

 

[sj-pratt]

Good suggestion, opened up threads whats the headspace to many things to try match up and be safe. Most sandblasters are going to be to coarse of grit for my taste I prefer a nice medium glass bead for barrel finishes. Make sure your action is stainless you would not want a white stell action just blasted, but get it put together first.

Doing it right once is always cheaper than fixing it later.

Good Luck

 

[specweldtom]

I just finished removing ceracoat from a fluted stainless barrel. I wanted to save the black ceracoat in the flutes and just remove it from the spines, the shank, and and the 2" of barrel in front of the flutes. Then I wanted to dust the barrel off in the blast cabinet to dull the sanded surfaces.

What I found was that spinning the barrel in the lathe at 630 rpm, it took over an hour to remove the ceracoat from those surfaces. I started with 80 grit strips, then went to 240 grit. The ceracoat makes very fine dust that fills the grit. Very slow progress.

Based on how hard it was to sand the ceracoat off, I expected to be able to lightly dust the bright surfaces without harming the ceracoat in the flutes.. FAIL.. Even with the nozzle 6" away from the surface and moving fast, it removed enough of the ceracoat to make the flutes blotchy. Ugly.

Ended up having to blast the whole barrel to make it look uniform. I use 70 grit aluminum oxide media in the cabinet. Makes a nice level, dull satin finish, cuts fairly fast, and doesn't fracture and make dust like sugar sand.

If your barrel already has the tenon cut, mask it and the breech face to keep abrasive from getting inside the bore. On the muzzle end, I stick masking tape flat to the end of the barrel, trim it to the O.D. of the barrel, and then tap it lightly with a rubber mallet to make it stick good. If you blast with the muzzle pointing away from you, the masking tape will stay in place and you won't touch the muzzle face or get grit in the bore. Works particularly well on a barrel that is already crowned.

Bottom line, do whatever you have to to keep grit from getting in a chamber, bore, or crown.

Tom

 

[Rugerdiggs]

What about a chemical like paint remover or similar? The blaster is not running that well.

 

[sj-pratt]

Boy I sure don't know of a chemical that will take ceracote off.

 

[Rugerdiggs]

Well i read on another forum about Citristrip working on cerakote but i didnt have any such luck, i pasted a very thick coating on it and left it there for 45mins and nothing, even took my pocket knife and scratched a spot to bare metal, put some more on it and still notta. Lastly got some steel wool and rubbed on it while striper still there still nothing. Got the blasting machine working but then nozzle was pretty big so i tapped off both ends real well and only blasted the barrel, will probably get the hole gun cerakoted in the near future but it dont look to bad for now.