[azmick]

i have an older springfield that has seen it's share of use but no abuse. it's age is showing and i do not want to but an arm and a leg in a refinish. what do you like and why? thanks; ****

 

[Reconvic]

I really like a Ro-Bar finish it last long and looks great. You may want to check them out bro!

 

[AWMP]

I have several that have been hard chromed and just got one back from Robar, both are good. If your wanting to stay with a blue gun you might look into BearCoat and Black T finishes. I will tell you Robar has great customer service.

 

[Barry in IN]

Do you like black or silver?

I like black, and just had a HiPower refinished in Melonite QPQ by Drakes Gun Works. http://drakesgunworks.com/

It runs around $200 for most guns.

Melonite is about as close as we can get to Glock's Tenifer finish (best part of a Glock, IMO) in the USA due to the nasty chemicals used to do Tenifer. Melonite is basically a heat treatment that colors the metal. It actually surface hardens it to a few ten thousandths. Here is some info on the process:
http://www.burlingtoneng.com/melonite.html
http://www.trutecind.com/heat/melon.htm

Here are some pics of my gun after the treatment:

I think it looks "blacker" than in the pictures.
It's odd in a way, since it's a nearly smooth texture, but still non-reflective.

Drake did a good job prepping it, as he noticed such things as the thumb safety's extension was silver soldered (I had not even realized that). The Melonite process gets to some pretty high temps, although not quite to silver solder temps. But to be safe, he chose not to treat that part. He black oxided then Telflon coated it instead, which matched perfectly.

One nice thing about Melonite is that, supposedly, even if the black coloring wears off, the metal is protected against rust since the treatment goes INTO the steel a few ten thousandths. Again, think about Glocks- you see the black worn, but no rust.

I only have 500 rounds on mine since getting it back, but there is zero finish wear on anything like the slide rails or even the lug in the frame which the barrel cams on- things that wear first. There is a little shine here and there on those places, but no wear.

 

[Chief-7700]

I had my M-1911 Colt done at www.spradlins.net in a flat black mat finish
Tef-Cote. Might want to give them a call 719.275.7105 It took about two weeks.
Chief

 

[Bud White]

All depends what you want but Robar is hard to beat so is Hardchrome from Tripp

 

[Reconvic]

Hard chrome really looks nice and does not scratch like stainless doess. Yet for a Blued gun I love Ro Bar not only because I live near them but I seen the process and they are good.

 

[Cap]

i do not want to but an arm and a leg in a refinish.

what do you consider an "arm and a leg"??

I don't know how durable Lauer's Duracoat is yet, as I just did my gun in it.
But it was pretty idiot proof to get a decent DIY job.

I'm sure it's not nearly as good as Berry's suggestion, but it's 1/4 the cost


..L.T.A.

 

[El Pistolero]

I had a colt hard chromed by mahovsky's before. I absolutely loved it and his work was flawless. He also has very competitive prices at 130.00 for for a complete semi auto hangun:

http://www.mahovskysmetalife.com/PriceSheet Page 5.htm

Just make sure you tell him if there are parts you don't want hard chromed as he will do everthing exept the springs and that includes one mag.

 

[El Pistolero]

Barry, melonite IS the same as tenifer. From what I understand they used to use the "nasty chemical" process but changed it before going world wide and they are the same thing. The black coating on tennfer used to be added separate, but now it's part of the process as is melonite and tuffride. This is from their website:

To meet the growing needs with regard to wear and corrosion resistance, as well as the enhancement of the fatigue strength, great efforts were devoted to the development and launching of the TENIFER® process, which is also known worldwide under the trade names of TUFFTRIDE® and MELONITE®. This nitrocarburizing process has undergone continuous development with regard to its regenerability and ecology, and from year-to-year the number of applications is increasing on all 5 continents.

http://www.durferrit.de/en/unternehmen/firmengeschichte.htm

Melonite is about as close as we can get to Glock's Tenifer finish (best part of a Glock, IMO) in the USA due to the nasty chemicals used to do Tenifer. Melonite is basically a heat treatment that colors the metal. It actually surface hardens it to a few ten thousandths. Here is some info on the process:

http://www.burlingtoneng.com/melonite.html
http://www.trutecind.com/heat/melon.htm

 

[Ping Ping]

The best ever, Black-T.