At some point, I want to have some minor mods done to my frame of my SA 1911. Currently, it has their black "Army Kote".

I have read that it is a similar, bake-on style finish that is similar to Cerakote or Duracoat.

My question though, is how does it compare? Should I have my frame mods done at a local place, and have it cerakoted? Or send it to SA and have them do the mods and re-army kote?

On a side note, I was thinking about a subtle 2-tone, doing the frame in a dark grey (like Sniper Grey) and leaving the slide black.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Armory Coat is really good stuff, if it's a carbon steel gun Springfield will parkerize it first and it's tough.

I'm pretty sure Armory Coat is KG Gunkote.  Some say it's better than Ceracoat, I think they're pretty close.

I've seen some heavily used guns with armory kote with minimal wear. Looks way better than cerakote.

Cerakote is harder and will hold up longer than Armory Kote.

However AK is slicker and provides a certain amount of self-lubrication.

Cerakote has a lot more colors available.  Other than that, I'm not sure there's enough of a meaningful difference to get worked up about.