Cerakote vs Nitride - Page 1

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Posted: 2/11/2020 7:12:29 AM EDT

I'm going to be sending a slide out for milling and in general
prefer to go with a Nitride type oe finish but...add 8 weeks for
turnaround, shit, that's a long time.
I dont have a lot of experience with Cerakote, it looks good
but seems to show holster wear kind of quickly.
Input's appreciated

Posted: 2/11/2020 7:31:50 AM EDT

[#1]

nitride will be much much more durable.

Posted: 2/11/2020 7:50:09 AM EDT

[#2]

Quote History

Quoted:
nitride will be much much more durable.

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This. Not even a question.

Posted: 2/11/2020 9:12:25 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
I'm going to be sending a slide out for milling and in general
prefer to go with a Nitride type oe finish but...add 8 weeks for
turnaround, shit, that's a long time.
I dont have a lot of experience with Cerakote, it looks good
but seems to show holster wear kind of quickly.
Input's appreciated

View Quote

Nitride is more durable when it comes to a kydex holster, cerakote is better in moisture. Meet in the middle and get a leather or hybrid holster or let it wear and it will be a testament of use. I don't mind mine wearing at all but understand others want perfection.

Posted: 2/11/2020 11:52:30 AM EDT

[#4]

IMO guns fall into two categories for me, tools or collectors items.

If its a collectors piece you shouldn't be milling it in the first place.

if its not a collector item its likely a cheaper production pistol and is a tool and should treated as such.
If its too nice of a gun to show visible wear buy a cheaper gun and mill/cerakote/carry that one.
The Cerakote will wear some but is still generally pretty durable. Plus they look good when they have some wear IMO

Posted: 2/11/2020 5:09:19 PM EDT

[#5]

Quote History

Quoted:
Nitride is more durable when it comes to a kydex holster, cerakote is better in moisture. Meet in the middle and get a leather or hybrid holster or let it wear and it will be a testament of use. I don't mind mine wearing at all but understand others want perfection.

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I live in South Louisiana, carry a pistol with a slide has an aftermarket nitride coating, have shot multiple classes in the rain, and my guns get very sweaty. I have never had an issue with the nitride slide corroding.

Unlike Cerakote, nitride is a metal treatment. It penetrates into the substrate.

Posted: 2/11/2020 5:14:45 PM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:

I live in South Louisiana, carry a pistol with a slide has an aftermarket nitride coating, have shot multiple classes in the rain, and my guns get very sweaty. I have never had an issue with the nitride slide corroding.

Unlike Cerakote, nitride is a metal treatment. It penetrates into the substrate.

View Quote

Results may vary...I get several on my bench that do rust. I also get hunting rifles back and check where they meet the stock and it is a good tale.

Cerakote vs. Black Nitride. Corrosion Test (ASTM B117)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns8PkpYgHdA

Posted: 2/11/2020 5:24:28 PM EDT

[#7]

Nice cerakote commercial

Posted: 2/11/2020 5:30:26 PM EDT

[#8]

Nitride is going to tolerate wear much better.

Posted: 2/11/2020 5:41:17 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
Results may vary...I get several on my bench that do rust. I also get hunting rifles back and check where they meet the stock and it is a good tale.

View Quote

I can show you a commercial where Chevy says they are better than Ford, and another where Ford says they are better than Chevy.

I've seen cerakote, blued, parkerized, nitride, duracoat, and QPQ parts rust. It's steel...

Holsters typically wear the finish on firearms through friction. Cerakote often gets eaten up. If you want to talk about rifles and shotguns, I might opt for cerakote. Handguns? I'll stick with nitride.

Posted: 2/11/2020 5:57:17 PM EDT

[#10]

I have a glock 19 that’s had 3 cerakote jobs on it. Nitride is much much better. I’d wait to be honest

Posted: 2/11/2020 6:06:08 PM EDT

[#11]

A company named Jerger will Nitrate for around 50 bucks on a Glock slide and it looks and will wear like fact , Ceracoat will wear off quick on a hand gun .

Posted: 2/11/2020 7:26:24 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:

I can show you a commercial where Chevy says they are better than Ford, and another where Ford says they are better than Chevy.

I've seen cerakote, blued, parkerized, nitride, duracoat, and QPQ parts rust. It's steel...

Holsters typically wear the finish on firearms through friction. Cerakote often gets eaten up. If you want to talk about rifles and shotguns, I might opt for cerakote. Handguns? I'll stick with nitride.

http://i.imgbox.com/KD1cDDmW
http://i.imgbox.com/jpXZVL6r

View Quote

I get that and I am not a Nic salesperson either. What I am saying is I do literally hundreds of guns a year and many of those are nitride and I see the corrosion on my bench and when I get the cerakote guns back to service I do not. This is my personal experiences and nothing more. Kydex is cerakotes arch nemesis.

Posted: 2/11/2020 7:40:42 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
I get that and I am not a Nic salesperson either. What I am saying is I do literally hundreds of guns a year and many of those are nitride and I see the corrosion on my bench and when I get the cerakote guns back to service I do not. This is my personal experiences and nothing more. Kydex is cerakotes arch nemesis.

View Quote

What you see is hundreds of guns that were not taken care of. Doesn't matter what the coating is.

You acknowledge that cerakote and kydex don't play well and I'm saying that nitride and kydex get along great. It may not be the best a repelling water, but from normal use in a very humid environment, including extreme cases in thunderstorms, nitride holds up well.

Posted: 2/11/2020 8:00:19 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:

What you see is hundreds of guns that were not taken care of. Doesn't matter what the coating is.

You acknowledge that cerakote and kydex don't play well and I'm saying that nitride and kydex get along great. It may not be the best a repelling water, but from normal use in a very humid environment, including extreme cases in thunderstorms, nitride holds up well.

View Quote

I agree

Posted: 2/12/2020 8:57:09 AM EDT

[#15]

Nitride will be more durable, but If you can live with holster wear, cerakote gets the job done just fine. (Nitride is going to show holster wear eventually too.)

...some holsters just fit like garbage and also cause excess wear. We have customers with cerakoted slides that have almost zero holster wear after years of daily carry.

Posted: 2/12/2020 9:05:06 AM EDT

[#16]

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Quoted:
nitride will be much much more durable.

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And it's not even close.

My M9a3 slide's tan cerakote had more holster wear after 1 year of regular use than my M9 slide's bruniton had after 12 years of regular use. Anybody tells you cerakote has any durability at all, they're probably selling it.

Posted: 2/12/2020 9:51:48 AM EDT

[#17]

Nitride by a mile. I can't add more than what others have.

Fyi, I just had a G17 slude milled, nitrided and shipped back in less right at 4 weeks. One to two weeks faster than quoted lead time.

In other words, look at your options. It wait on your current vendor.

Posted: 2/12/2020 10:33:27 AM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
Results may vary...I get several on my bench that do rust. I also get hunting rifles back and check where they meet the stock and it is a good tale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns8PkpYgHdA

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

I live in South Louisiana, carry a pistol with a slide has an aftermarket nitride coating, have shot multiple classes in the rain, and my guns get very sweaty. I have never had an issue with the nitride slide corroding.

Unlike Cerakote, nitride is a metal treatment. It penetrates into the substrate.

Results may vary...I get several on my bench that do rust. I also get hunting rifles back and check where they meet the stock and it is a good tale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns8PkpYgHdA

Yeah, SCRATCH the barrels and you'll find that Cerakote is just paint with a few extra steps...............

Posted: 2/12/2020 10:48:29 AM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:
Nitride will be more durable, but If you can live with holster wear, cerakote gets the job done just fine. (Nitride is going to show holster wear eventually too.)

...some holsters just fit like garbage and also cause excess wear. We have customers with cerakoted slides that have almost zero holster wear after years of daily carry.

View Quote

Even showing holster wear, it’s the finish, not the nitride. The Nitride is still there.

Posted: 2/12/2020 11:22:45 AM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:

Even showing holster wear, it’s the finish, not the nitride. The Nitride is still there.

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I'm aware. ;)

Posted: 2/12/2020 11:27:21 AM EDT

[#21]

I have been using KG Gunkote quite a bit lately and like it but it also wears in a kydex holster. I have done no scientific tests but it seems more durable than cerakote.

Posted: 2/12/2020 5:43:23 PM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:
nitride will be much much more durable.

View Quote

Yes it will. Cerakote is just a fancy paint.

I recently had my slide milled and nitrided, the wait sucks but its worth it.

Posted: 2/12/2020 8:00:43 PM EDT

[#23]

Why hasn’t anyone suggested get both yet?

Posted: 2/13/2020 10:19:36 AM EDT

[#24]

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Quoted:
Why hasn’t anyone suggested get both yet?

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Because you have to blast parts prior to cerakote. Nitride changes the substrate, but blasting it just to coat it with something we have already concluded is prone to holster wear, isn't something I would recommend.

Posted: 2/14/2020 8:11:15 AM EDT

[#25]

Thanks for the feedback, pretty much what I thought it would be...
I've got a Colt 1911 that SACS did for me a few years ago that is
Cerakoted over parkerize and it's held up pretty well with minimal
holster wear, but that's been carried in a Milt Sparks at 3:30,
now I carry AIWB pretty much 100% in a JMCK 2.0 so I'll see
how the Cerakote holds up, Primary Machine is doing the work,
I'm sure the prep and application will be done properly.
If I'm not happy with it down the road, I'll get it refinished,
I'm kind of anxious to try the 507C.

Posted: 2/14/2020 8:26:41 AM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
Thanks for the feedback, pretty much what I thought it would be...
I've got a Colt 1911 that SACS did for me a few years ago that is
Cerakoted over parkerize and it's held up pretty well with minimal
holster wear, but that's been carried in a Milt Sparks at 3:30,
now I carry AIWB pretty much 100% in a JMCK 2.0 so I'll see
how the Cerakote holds up, Primary Machine is doing the work,
I'm sure the prep and application will be done properly.
If I'm not happy with it down the road, I'll get it refinished,
I'm kind of anxious to try the 507C.

View Quote

I don't think you will have issues either way. Primary Machine does good work.

Posted: 2/14/2020 9:54:57 AM EDT

[#27]

Nitriding is a metal treatment. Cerakote is a polymer finish applied on top of metal.

Nitriding, done properly, puts the metal in a salt bath held at a specific temperature, then it gets put into a polisher of some sort (generally a vibratory polisher filled with ceramic polygonal shapes that do the polishing as well as possibly some other hand-polishing processes), and then it gets put into another salt bath, and then it gets oil dipped. The idea is to form an oxide on the surface...iron oxide...that actually acts as a barrier to stop further corrosion. It also has side benefits of increasing surface hardness and makes the surface smoother/slicker.

Cerakote is a spray-on polymer finish that requires thoroughly degreasing the gun, bead blasting, and then applying it like a paint.

Of the spray-on finishes out there, Cerakote seems to hold up well with some colors performing better than others. I have a Remington 870 that is used heavily for instruction and the Cerakote refinish I had done on the gun has done well. The moving parts show wear, but less than I would have thought over the use the gun has seen.

The nitriding/nitrocarburizing/qpq/whateverlabelyouwant process is superior because it's an actual surface treatment. It also tends to be a little more expensive and vulnerable to errors in the process.

Cerakote is easier for a smaller operation to accomplish and if they do a good prep of the part before spraying it then it should be reasonably durable.

Posted: 2/14/2020 10:01:03 AM EDT

[#28]

I hear ya on the treatment vs coating...
my Dan Wesson Duty Treated guns
seem bullet proof.
And look great.

Posted: 2/14/2020 10:48:20 AM EDT

[#29]

Quote History

Quoted:

Cerakote is a spray-on polymer finish that requires thoroughly degreasing the gun, bead blasting, and then applying it like a paint.

View Quote

It's a ceramic based coating. Hence CERAkote. Not polymer.
Also you never, ever bead blast cerakoted parts. Aluminum Oxide only.

Posted: 2/14/2020 11:59:44 AM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:
The idea is to form an oxide on the surface...iron oxide...

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1. Cerakote isn't Polymer.
2. The goal of salt bath nitriding is not to form iron oxide on the exterior of the part...

Posted: 2/14/2020 12:11:49 PM EDT

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:
It's a ceramic based coating. Hence CERAkote. Not polymer.
Also you never, ever bead blast cerakoted parts. Aluminum Oxide only.

View Quote View All Quotes

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

Cerakote is a spray-on polymer finish that requires thoroughly degreasing the gun, bead blasting, and then applying it like a paint.

It's a ceramic based coating. Hence CERAkote. Not polymer.
Also you never, ever bead blast cerakoted parts. Aluminum Oxide only.

Looks like he said blast prior to coating.

Posted: 2/14/2020 12:16:25 PM EDT

[#32]

Quote History

Quoted:
Looks like he said blast prior to coating.

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Yes, what Bruce is stating is that you never bead blast for cerakote prep.

Posted: 2/14/2020 1:29:19 PM EDT

[#33]

I've never been impressed with how Cerakote wears.

If it is done over existing anodizing or nitrocarbirizing, ok. But as the only layer? No thanks.

Posted: 2/15/2020 4:14:59 PM EDT

[#34]

Cerakote is a ceramic filled epoxy system. GunKote is an epoxy system that has been on
the market since late last century and has ceramic filled an non filled formulations.

From observation Kydex holsters wear epoxy finishes sooner than leather. A theory on that is abrasive particles are more easily embedded in Kydex than leather.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Cerakote vs Nitride

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