A bit of a rant and some questions. I just had a Cerakote job (Graphite Black H-146) come back after 7 long months and now $666 poorer for a Sig MCX Virtus. Quick timeline of events:
- Brought my MCX down to AZ where I was staying for a few months in the winter.
- Dropped off at the end of Dec '21 to AZ shop. Told me it would be about a month to complete and $300 for upper and lower. Did not want handguard coated.
- In February was informed the buffer retaining screw was completely stripped out. Would need to remove it and order new one. Additional $105 for extraction and new buffer assembly.
- Still in early Feb lower did not pass QC and needed to be redone.
- Asked for update end of March and told an additional 2 weeks. I was leaving to return to WA in early April.
- Called and emailed for update before I left with no response.
- Fast forward, finally in July I get them to ship it back to me here in WA after $150 overnight shipping, but they would only send it to a FFL. Another $40 transfer and $52 state tax on the work performed.
I just went to do the transfer on this MCX and my FFL said out loud what I was thinking. We both agreed the job looked very poor...very thick, noticeable orange peel, you could see different shades where it looked like it had been masked off, much more glossy than expected (H-146). They coated the handguard which I asked not to do on top of it all. I could have done a better job with some Rustoleum.
Many lessons learned, I had a hands off approach to this project since I thought it was a simple one color job that most shops could perform and it bit me in the end. I'm wanting to have it redone, but I'm worried it'll shallow up all the engravings trying to remove the heavy Cerakote or whatever it is they used. Still can't believe it's Graphite Black H-146 as this has way more sheen than the other guns I've had done in this color. Don't have pics yet since I'm waiting for the proceed. Thoughts?