Who else loves a hard chrome finish?

only one but i like mine. here when it came back newly hard chromed.

I had Virgil Tripp hard chrome a pistol for me before he got tired of jumping through EPA hoops.

Hind sight being 20/20, I should have sent a few others too.

Had a Trooper Mk3 with the “electroless nickel” finish that was very nice.

Many will say the old Robar NP3 finishes were superior to stainless steel for corrosion protection and you could get that coating inside and out. The NP3+ finish had Teflon or a Teflon like substance impregnated into it to increase lubricity.

Tanfoglio and Bernardelli pistols have usually a hard chrome finish.
Also Beretta and Star used to hard chrome some of their pistols.

I have a factory hard chrome finish on the slide of my Pardini GT9-1. Seems to be very tough, very durable.

I've had several handguns hard-chromed over the years (mostly Armoloy), but they've all been sold on. These days when I want something with a resistant, I'll buy it in stainless.

I still have a couple rifles with Armoloy-plated components though.

I have never been a fan of chrome or nickel plating or even polished stainless for that matter. They all look good---in the shade, but too much glare out in the sunshine.

I'm another big fan of hard chrome plating (Mahovsky's Metalife). I had a problem with the bluing on my newly purchased Beretta Model 70S and Beretta agreed to reblue it under warranty. That finish lasted about a year then the same problem appeared and I figured if Beretta couldn't fix it maybe I should look into something better and more durable than bluing. Read an article in SWAT magazine where the writer (I believe it was Chuck Taylor), was really impressed with two guns he had Ron Mahovsky apply his hard chrome finish to. When I saw that the price for the SS Chromium Metalife plating was considerably less than having it reblued, I decided to have it done.

That was many, many years ago yet the hard chrome plating on my Beretta still looks as good as the day I got it back from Ron Mahovsky. This gun has been in constant use ever since, going along with me on lots of backwoods hikes and to the range every time I go, yet shows absolutely no signs of wear and tear to the finish.

Hard chrome is a great finish for hard use guns, especially when rust is an issue. Ive used SS guns in the past as well, and they rust just like the blue and parked guns, just not quite as bad or quickly, but they do rust. I think the hard chrome over carbon steel is the best combo.

This Colt Commander was a pretty Colt blue for the first year of its life in one of my Galco horsehide leather holsters. By the end of that year, it was a rust bucket, and it had to go in to have it addressed. A good bit of of medium to fairly heavy rust on the slide and a few other places, and the overall finish just looked really bad and worn.

At the time hard chrome was becoming the thing to do, and was recommended instead of parkerizing. They polished out the worst of the pits and it came back a nice matte chrome and was basically rust free after that for the next 10+ years or so of daily carry. I switched to kydex holsters a year or two after the chrome job was done, and between the two, that pretty much eliminated the rust worries altogether.

Those dark streaks you see are actually mirror polished chrome, from hoster contact wear and constant draws in practice and use. I recently cleaned them up with some gray Scotchbrite pads I use on my SS revolvers.

Same gun today, after the Scotchbrite...



The bone grips didnt last long. Felt good in the hand, but to "slippy". The old S&A's you see above are back on it for now. Been looking for a decent set of oversize full checkered G10's for it.

Factory finish

If with near 30 years' worth of honest wear.

Dave DeLaurant said:

I've had several handguns hard-chromed over the years (mostly Armoloy), but they've all been sold on. These days when I want something with a resistant, I'll buy it in stainless.

Click to expand...

I hear you, not an option on stuff they never made in stainless. Who were the platers you used?

jmorris said:

I hear you, not an option on stuff they never made in stainless. Who were the platers you used?

Click to expand...

I've used Ron Mahovsky's Metalife quite a few times in the past, but on the last couple of jobs I had Armoloy of Fort Worth do the work. I can recommend both.

http://mahovskysmetalife.com/

https://armoloyfw.com/

Ron also does fine electroless nickel. He did the finish on a beat-up Colt 1903 that I reworked and later sold to a friend -- the finish still looks as good as when he sent it back.

Louisiana boy loves any finish that doesn't rust ... chrome , nickel , stainless steel !
We are the heat and humidity state ... when AMT came out with a 1911 45 acp with adjustable sights and All Stainless Steel Construction ... I couldn't wait to get one . In fact I still got it , it's a good one and is sitting next to me on the desk . Will shoot 1" groups at 50 feet and No Rust ...Love It !
Gary

Hard chrome is outstanding…even over stainless. I prefer to clean hard chrome over the other finishes, just wipes clean….

Nope, not me. I had one chromed, military stamped, 1940ish Beretta M1934 for about six years. I got a deal on it and couldn't resist buying it. But over time it was the red headed step child in my collection. It took a while to find a buyer, but i eventually got it sold and made a few bucks on the deal. I won't do that again.

Many use trade names, but it's all hard chrome.
Prices vary from supplier to supplier, and most offer options as to final appearance.
Appearance can range from the original satin lightly bead blasted "orange peel" pearl-gray, to a brushed stainless look, to a full mirror polish.
At least one, Armoloy of Fort Worth, offers plating inside bores and chambers. One other plater said that he though that didn't really do much.

With new gun finishes coming available, and some disappearing soon after, still today if you ask most custom gun makers for the best possible finish, they recommend hard chrome.
Cogan says the ultimate gun finish is hard chrome over stainless steel.

Here's the top hard chrome plating suppliers.

APW/Cogan is probably the best of them all and the best all-around gun refinisher.......
https://apwcogan.com/

Ford's used to offer top line bluing, but recent review say that their new polishers are not up to snuff and should not be used to do re-bluing.
They always had a great rep for plated finishes, but if a gun requires some polishing, approach them with caution......
Ford's Custom Gun Refinishing | Crystal River, FL

As above Mahovsky has been doing hard chrome for a good many years and offers the lowest prices. Note that communication is often rather poor and recently there's been a couple of reports of quality issues.
Hard Chrome Plating & Electroless Nickel Plating, Armalloy & Gun Bluing by Mahovsky's Metalife

Techplate offers about any metal finish available, and does hard chrome on guns. Some complaints on workmanship have been reported.
Tech Plate

Armoloy was the first to offer hard chrome to the general gun public. I used them extensively for years, but had some problems with guns developing gray blotches.
I stopped using them after a "stolen" customized Colt Combat Commander gun that they never fully made good on, and didn't want to report as stolen until I had to get the BATF involved.
They do advertise plating of bores and chambers at extra cost.
Armoloy® TDC - Armoloy of Fort Worth, Texas

Revolvers only for me. Semi autos needs to be blue or black.

Can’t explain why.

I had one of those hard-chromed Buenos Aries Police Hi-Powers they imported back in the early oughts. It looked and shot fantastic, though you could tell it was very high mileage. Would still have it if it hadn't been nipped.

I've only got one but I really like the way the hard chrome looks on it—my Desert Eagle .44 magnum.



And it catches the sun nicely, too.

Trying Mahovskys on my carry Glock 43x slide.

The 2 Rugers from the factory.
CZ that I had Ron Mahovsky do.

Factory finish on my early KT P32. It was a good, reliable little shooter.
(Traded it off towards a Ruger Super Blackhawk)

Meh.

I like them