anybody have experience with Robar's NP3 treatment?  Either on an AR or another gun?

I recently had a lower / upper and some internals done.  The people at Robar were friendly and helpful.  The items are done but they are still in the mail right now.  Should have them in a couple of days.

I would have asked for input before but i did not discover this board 'til a week or two ago.

thanks

the upper and the lower had a pretty tight fit before i sent it away.  if figured i would lose a little bit when they stripped the finish off and then gain a little bit back when the treatment was done.

when i get the parts back, i'll be able to assemble a complete lower half and have a les baer upper minus barrel/hg/front sight.


Did you have to hand fit any of your 1911 parts.
I hope this isn't a problem for me.

Our Department duty weapons had a NP3 finish.  They took a hell of a beating, but still looked good when turned in 9 years later.  I would certainly recommend it.

NP3 is a good finish, but there are alternatives. I have been applying Gun Kote for about 8 years, and IMO, it is superior to most of the finishes out there.

It is a spray on bake on finish that has the self lubricating qualities of a teflon finish, but it is much more durable. And it comes in a rainbow of colors.

It applies thinner than NP3 or Teflon, so you don't have to worry about screwing up tolerences or filling checkering. I coat all the parts, inside and out, except the springs. I don't like baking the springs cause there is a possibility of screwing up the temper.

NP3 is a good finish, but there are other options.
Check out my web site. All of the guns on my page have been finished with Gun Kote.

[url]www.thearmsroom.com[/url]

Thanks,
Lee Hadaway
The Arms Room, LLC.

Hey Lee ...good to see you here buddy...
Cant wait to get my rifle back with its new side cocking lever...
One of these is gonna go on my AR-10 as well....
Hey guys if you need to get a post ban brake on your barrel...
Lee is a great guy...lots of experience fast turn around time etc..
Highly recommend him..
check out his website to...
BTW Lee is a pretty modest guy...
He was the head gun mechanic for Scattergun Technology until they sold out to Wilson...a pretty inovative gun guy...
Whose work speaks for itself...
If we got ourself a scattergun forum...it sure would be nice to have Lee as a mod or at least resident expert imo

hadaway,  those ARs are awesome.  do you do the camo patterns free hand or stencils?  The AR has all ready been completed with the NP3 finish, but I have an AK project coming up the would look great coated like the prairie dog setup on your web page with the hot girl.  Maybe even a tiger stripe would look cool.

thanks

I have no experience with NP3 but here are some alternative competing products.


I did one of my rifles in lauer duracoat.

It is a good temperature resistant finish but is brittle and will scratch if it comes in contact with other metal parts.


I finished a couple guns in a 1200degree ceramic paint (bake on for 3 hours at 400degrees) that I got at Walt Mart for $5-  the finish turned out brownish like that pic of the side-lever cocking Bushmaster on this forum.  THat I wasn't happy with but the finish is like a surface treatment more than paint I litterally can't scrape it off or mar it's finish if I try- like Paint on flat gloss glass.

Brownells Moly coat is somewhere between the two for durability but on my gun it took on a semi-gloss (a lot like some of the NP3 I've seen) which I don't like.


EGSW is doing a licensed version of Glock's tennifer (MELONITE) a 73RC surface treatment (NOT COATING) which would probably only apply to the steel parts of the AR-15 but it is an Awesome finish.

Did you do the whole gun or just the frame?  I understand they wont do barrels for some reason.  Do you know why that is?  I believe it had something to do with chipping NP3 from slide/barrel wear.

tango-down
I camo free hand. I think you're right, a tiger stripe pattern on a AK would be nice.

I've had a KKM Match Barrel for a Hi-Power NP3'ed and didn't note any problems with the process. The high conntact areas wore through the NP3 by about 3000-4000 rounds so I'm not sure how useful it was but it didn't cause any issues.

The match barrel itself snapped the locking lug at 7,000 rounds, so the NP3 coating lasted at least 50% of the barrel life [;)]

I got my NP3'ed AR stuff today.  Let me just say that Robar is an excellent company with which to deal.  They got the project completed on time and shipped it back very fast!

The NP3 finish looks great and is very tough.  I've assembled my lower and les baer upper (minus barrel, handguard , front sight) and it looks awesome so far.

Once the project is finished i'll try and get a picture up.  So far the AR looks like the cover AR from Guns and Weapons for LE from 1/03 (i think that is the date)

Thanks for all you input.  I'll be sending my shotgun project to Robar also.
My AK project may get the grassy camo treatment mentioned in a previous post, though.

stay safe