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?

What paperwork did you fill out (if any) with this business? Sounds like they had no idea how to handle the firearm, let alone an MCX.

Cerakoting is pretty cut and dry. This sounds like a shady company and I don't think you'd be out of line to put their name here and on blast for others to see.... Also if you can post pictures that'd be helpful for references.

Yeah, that sounds like some fuckery.

Who  in the world did you leave that gun with?

I know you just spent a bunch of money, but if it’s cerakote or Duracoat on it you probably want to get it blasted and redone. Media blasting shouldn’t hurt your engraving

It was Wright Armory.  I'm not sure if they have their Cerakote outsourced.  They're a general gunsmithing shop I believe which several people recommended so I can't comment on their other work.  They may have a lot of happy customers and I'm just the unlucky one, I get it happens but it sucks when your number is finally called.  I took a backseat being out of town and preoccupied with other matters, that's why I had some reluctancy to post the shop, but at this point I'm just taking it as a bad experience and I'll move on.  I don't think I'm one to nitpick every detail and I try to be understanding of mistakes, but this just felt like one of those projects that seemed cursed.

I know it's hard to make any judgements without pics so I'll try to get those posted here as soon as I get it back.  Thanks for your feedback!

sounds like the suck at cerakote (if they are listed as a cerakote dealer... may also contact Cerakote w/ pics)
&
they prolly also stripped out that screw b/c they had no idea how to work on your weapon

:(

they definitely took you to the cleaners on all the extra fees

If it was glossy the shop jacked up the ratio (trained applicator, taught by Cerakote Certified applicator). It happens, but it should have been caught by the person doing it within the flash.

There is a very specific sequence to properly apply Cerakote. 10 to 1 this dude watched a YT video and thought “I can do that.”

I hear you OP. I'm a pretty understanding guy myself and shit happens some times, but If I make a mistake working on someone else's stuff for money I'm going to own it and make it right. not tack on extra fees lol.

I've never seen a 10:1 ratio.  I used 12:1 for H-series.  As others said they didn't know what they were doing.  If they did the complete disassemble/re-assemble and coating for $300 that's scary cheap.

Once I read your original post, I even thought..it has to be Wright Armory.  Sorry this happened to you OP.  I went there for 2 different things years ago (nfa engravings and gun work), which both things they fucked pretty good.  Funny thing is alot of poeple on the local board say they do good work.  If so, ive never seen  it.  Needless to say, id trust drunk reject monkeys that even Century wouldn't hire over anyone at Wright Armory.