I'm kind of torn between using Gun Kote and Dura Coat. Dura coat looks much easier to apply. And I like the Dura coat finish on my AKM that I have now. My only experiance with Gun kote was on old iron cylinder barrels on my 1995 Ural. Those are known to get rusty/crusty easily and that finish held up well for the four years I had it. So I suppose what I'm looking for here is the opinions of those who've used them on AKM's. In the long term for durability, which will be better? I have an airbrush and a nice HVLP gun I use in my cycle work. No problem applying either. But which holds up better? And since I'll be finishing the whole rifle, would it be better to use the hi-temp Duracoat? Or is the regular proof enough against the temperatures the gun will see in semi auto target shooting?

I ordered in some flats, rivets and other stuff from Copes today. So I'm sure I'll start my first build soon. So I need some opinions on bending flats. I've looked all over locally for a piece of steel to make the male die from. No luck. The two steel yards in my area have none. So I would have to build up/weld up the male die from 1/4" plate.
But I'm thinking of another way and want to see if I'm full of "it" or if it's a viable idea. I have a small 18" bending brake that works on small pieces of steel like these flats very well. If I mill some cuts into the hold down plate to allow for the dimples and such is there any reason why I couldn't make the two bottom bends with my brake? I plan to lightly scribe where the bend needs to be and clamp it in well before trying. Can this work well?

Thanks!