Newb powder coat / Cerakote questions

[yenniedn]

Hey AGN,

I've bought & tried most every rifle of interest so now I want to look into customizing the ones that I want to keep for the longer term. I want to get parts on my Impact powder coated and want to know the basics before going down that road. So here are some of the questions I have:

• What's the difference between powder coat and cerakote?
  • What are the advantages of one or the other for airgun purposes?
• If I'm looking to coat a few parts like the shroud, cheek rest, scope rail, cocking lever, trigger guard and side plates (as shown in photo below) - how much should it typically cost?

• What's the typical turn-around time to get this done?
• A quick Google search brings up some local businesses that do general refinishing versus gun shops that also offer custom services - should I go to the specialized gun shop or can the general refinisher do just as good a job?
• Any other general advice / caveats I should know about that I haven't thought of?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[10.26.2020 Edit: I just picked up the cerakoted parts from the shop and posted the finished product below. The results were amazing . . . scroll down for the pics!]

 

[Glem.Chally]

Duracoat is a great option also and more DIY friendly, no oven cure, no sandblasting. Very durable theres some comparisons on YouTube between ceracoat and duracoat after some years and you can decide yourself. Like in a mag well in an ar-15 for example with lots of wear even ceracoat will wear off but on an airgun there arent really any metal on metal things a person would coat anyways.

Goes onto and bonds with anodized coatings well

 

[yenniedn]

Duracoat is a great option also and more DIY friendly, no oven cure, no sandblasting. Very durable theres some comparisons on YouTube between ceracoat and duracoat after some years and you can decide yourself. Like in a mag well in an ar-15 for example with lots of wear even ceracoat will wear off but on an airgun there arent really any metal on metal things a person would coat anyways.

Goes onto and bonds with anodized coatings well

Oh that's sick! I now remember coming across your thread about this project on your Impact . . . I'm going to re-read it now for more detail. That's awesome that you could do this at home - I'd totally be up for that! Where did you get the Duracoat from and how much will I need? At this point, I'm just going to do the basic parts listed above and nothing that would seemingly interfere with the functionality/performance of the rifle. Thanks!

 

[Glem.Chally]

Just google it, they have a website you can order from. One aerosol "kit" with the clearcoat should do it. Just go in light coats! It really blasts it out so give it a dusting then go lightly on successive coats. So many colors to choose from. 

 

[stoti]

Glem is right, I just had a little I wanted to add...I too have used Duracoat on a couple of my AR-15’s. It’s not quite as durable as Cerakote because the heating process used with Cerakote opens the pores so the coating can adhere in the pores on a molecular level. Now, with that being said, the difference in durability is negligible, you aren’t normally going to be able to tell the difference except in high wear areas like Nathan pointed out! If you really wanted the extra durability(you shouldn’t need it), Duracoat does make a bake on finish and even a parkerized finish.

The advantages to Duracoat are that it’s very convenient, easy to apply, there are so many colors available, it’s much cheaper and the aerosol kits make it convenient to try different colors. There are hundreds and they can be mixed and matched to make your own unique colors. You can add various amounts of clear coat to your color for different levels of sheen which changes the appearance a lot.

Make sure you do the proper prep work before you start laying down the final finish! Clean well with soap & water, then acetone where it wont do damage. Also be sure to use protective gloves to keep the oils from your hands from getting on the metal parts. You can find all of the application directions and helpful application tips on line. 

Please let us see some pictures when you’re done. Nathan’s gun should be your motivation! His Impact turned out sick. He had the balls to do it, picked cool colors and did a great job! One of the best looking Impacts out there!

Stoti

 

[yenniedn]

Thanks for the info, Glem & Stoti! I called the refinishing shop down the road from me and the guy said that for the few small pieces I'm looking to do, it shouldn't cost more than $50-$100 so I'm going to bring the rifle/parts to him tomorrow to check it out. They have good reviews on Yelp and are cerakote certified so this would appear to be a pretty straightforward job for them. So for $100, I'd just let them do it on a virtually brand new $2000 rifle.

If the quote comes back a lot higher - or maybe for a future, less expensive rifle, I might explore the DIY Duracoat route

 

[Glem.Chally]

Thanks for the info, Glem & Stoti! I called the refinishing shop down the road from me and the guy said that for the few small pieces I'm looking to do, it shouldn't cost more than $50-$100 so I'm going to bring the rifle/parts to him tomorrow to check it out. They have good reviews on Yelp and are cerakote certified so this would appear to be a pretty straightforward job for them. So for $100, I'd just let them do it on a virtually brand new $2000 rifle.

If the quote comes back a lot higher - or maybe for a future, less expensive rifle, I might explore the DIY Duracoat route

Yeah for that price I'd give the guy a chance haha. Let us know how it goes. 

 

[yenniedn]

So I just dropped off the parts to RC Refinishing just down the road from my house and am super excited to see how it turns out. Robert, the owner, owns a FWB that he uses to dispatch the many squirrels on his property and was very interested in seeing the Impact. We spent a good half hour talking about air rifles and he's a super nice guy. It's a family run business that they've had since the 1960's and, luckily, business has actually picked up for him since COVID hit (great to hear since so many other businesses are struggling so badly).

I'm cerakoting the rear plates, scope rail, 500mm shroud and K&L extended rail w/ dust cap and picatinny rail attachment and it barely met the minimum order cost . . . which is just a few dollars more than ordering a Duracoat kit and trying to do it myself. No doubt the results will be way more professional than I could ever hope to get if done myself.

I'll post the results once I get them back in a week or two.

 

[Odoyle]

Duracoat is a great option also and more DIY friendly, no oven cure, no sandblasting. Very durable theres some comparisons on YouTube between ceracoat and duracoat after some years and you can decide yourself. Like in a mag well in an ar-15 for example with lots of wear even ceracoat will wear off but on an airgun there arent really any metal on metal things a person would coat anyways.

Goes onto and bonds with anodized coatings well

THAT looks KILLER!

 

[Moog]

Yenniedn,

You made a good choice with the cerakote. I had a shot gun receiver cerakoted about a year ago. This gun sees a lot of use and the finnish is holding up very well. My local gunsmith did the work and he charged me only 50 bucks. The duracote kit would of cost more and probably would not have come out as well since I would have done the work myself.

 

[yenniedn]

Yenniedn,

You made a good choice with the cerakote. I had a shot gun receiver cerakoted about a year ago. This gun sees a lot of use and the finnish is holding up very well. My local gunsmith did the work and he charged me only 50 bucks. The duracote kit would of cost more and probably would not have come out as well since I would have done the work myself.

@Moog - you are absolutely right . . . I just picked up the parts from the shop and I could not be happier! It looks amazing (although, in hindsight, I should've cerakoted the moderator too)! The official Cerakote color we went with was "Magpul Flat Dark Earth" and it matched my Warne FDE mounts exactly. For all the parts shown below, he only charged me $75 but I gave him $100 b/c I would've likely spent that much buying the Duracoat kit to do it myself . . . and there's ZERO chance that I would've done as nice a job! It looks so nice that I'm going to do my other Impact in Sniper Grey next week!

The only gotcha on this first trial is that the resin cheek rest got fairly warped during the heating process and I had to break out the heat gun to slowly massage it back into shape so that it would fit back on the guide plate again! Here are the results (the gold K&L buttstock is new to me and will need to be cerakoted in FDE as well):

 

[Houli]

Wow yen nice job! Perfect match. Is Cerakote a bake on process? Look forward to your next Cerakote project.

Cheers

 

[yenniedn]

Wow yen nice job! Perfect match. Is Cerakote a bake on process? Look forward to your next Cerakote project.

Cheers

Thanks Houli...from what I understand, they sand blast it before applying the cerakote. Then it's heat cured so that the cerakote binds with the material, which is what makes it so durable. It was the heating process that warped the resin cheek rest piece pretty noticeably. It was so visibly curved that I didn't think I could straighten it out enough for the screw holes to line back up with the top guide plate but luckily it worked out with a heat gun and some patience.

 

[Moog]

yenniedn,

I'm glad it worked out for you and that gun looks great!

 

[yenniedn]

yenniedn,

I'm glad it worked out for you and that gun looks great!

Thanks, Moog . . . when I drop off the next batch of items, I'm going to have to get one of my moderators (most likely the DonnyFL Koi) and the gold parts of the K&L buttstock cerakoted in FDE as well. I wasn't sure I wanted to cerakote one of my mods because I tend to switch them out a lot but an FDE mod would look a lot better. I also just got the gold K&L buttstock last week and was hoping it would go OK with the FDE but it clearly does not IMO. Getting those last remaining pieces in FDE will finish out the look I think.

I'm excited to do the sniper grey Impact next!

 

[madmunki]

I am NOT a fan of Ceracoat, Duracoat, Spray Paint, etc. 99.9% of the jobs look like Bubba spray painted it in his backyard. These don’t hold up very well, and look like just after a few months. I’ll pass. 


powder coating on the other hand looks much better to me, to me it’s like a professional coating vs Bubba with spray paint. I would get two similar items and send one off for *coat and the other powder coating and see what you like best. 

 

[Moog]

If the cerakote is applied PROPERLY it comes out just fine and will hold up. This applies to any type of finnish. The key here is to find someone that knows how to do it properly. I'm very fortunate to have a highly competent gunsmith near by.

 

[DARKHORSE1967]

I am NOT a fan of Ceracoat, Duracoat, Spray Paint, etc. 99.9% of the jobs look like Bubba spray painted it in his backyard. These don’t hold up very well, and look like just after a few months. I’ll pass. 


powder coating on the other hand looks much better to me, to me it’s like a professional coating vs Bubba with spray paint. I would get two similar items and send one off for *coat and the other powder coating and see what you like best.

I would partially agree with your statement.

Cerakote looks good, but I have parts that have been Cerakoted from the factory and the durability is quite subpar--they are easily scuffed.

On the other hand, powdercoat is really tough, albeit on the thick side.

 

[yenniedn]

I am NOT a fan of Ceracoat, Duracoat, Spray Paint, etc. 99.9% of the jobs look like Bubba spray painted it in his backyard. These don’t hold up very well, and look like just after a few months. I’ll pass. 


powder coating on the other hand looks much better to me, to me it’s like a professional coating vs Bubba with spray paint. I would get two similar items and send one off for *coat and the other powder coating and see what you like best.

The shop I went to is Cerakote certified and the work was top notch. Of course it's only been 1 day but the finish looks like it should be pretty durable although only time will tell. I would be very surprised (and disappointed) if it wears badly in just a couple of months.