Review of Cerakote on my AR15

[sturmgewehr]

I bought a new Stag Model 3 for the purpose of having it Cerakoted. I've read a lot about Cerakote and I've tried other finish products like Duracoat, so I wanted to see how Cerakote stacked up.

Here's a video review including some tests I conducted of the finish including a salt bath, leaving the upper outside in the elements for 3 weeks without lube, a heat test, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Z_Zv2ue-w

Here's a picture of the rifle I had Cerakoted and that is featured in the review video.

 

[taliv]

how well did the lower parts go together after you did it?

are the pins tight? upper-to-lower tight?

 

[The War Wagon]

I've had an AR15 and a 1911 cerakoted - both look great and the finish is just as durable as sturmgewehr shows in his video. My AR, here;







Here's the BEFORE and AFTER on my 1911.

BEFORE - finish is rattle-canned on!





AFTER (and a few other improvements)



I'll vouch for cerakoting!

 

[taliv]

nice ARs btw!

is that just a noveske rail or is it a complete noveske upper? if the latter, did you take it apart to cerakote?

 

[The War Wagon]

is that just a noveske rail or is it a complete noveske upper? if the latter, did you take it apart to cerakote?

It's just the Noveske rail. I'd bought it locally off a buddy who needed the money, and decided - "This looks SO good, it needs a little rifle to go with it!"

I really hadn't PLANNED on a FDE rifle, but I own 4 others in black, and have owned about a dozen others in black over the years; I always thought I'd get around to a differently colored AR eventually, and this whole project kinda fell into my lap through STS Arms out of Mapleton, OR.

I traded a couple of accessories to Sam there, and he offered one of his lowers cerakoted in any color I wanted. Didn't want JUST a lower, so I picked up a stripped DSA A3 flattop, sent that off to him, & had him build it (cerakoted the barrel, too) for me. Sports a 14.5" melonited bbl, 1: 7 twist, 223 Wylde chamber, & p/w PWS-556 comp.

 

[MCMXI]

sturmgewehr, was the Cerakote applied directly over the Type III anodizing on the receiver or was the anodizing removed first?

 

[sturmgewehr]

how well did the lower parts go together after you did it?

are the pins tight? upper-to-lower tight?

Everything went back together as if the Cerakote wasn't even there. I noticed no fitment issues reassembling things. The pins are just as easy to push out as before without the Cerakote. I was really surprised by this.

1858, I don't know if they stripped things down or just roughed up the finish with an abrasive. I sent the rifle to Cerakote to have the finish applied so I wasn't able to see the process being done.

 

[Inebriated]

Their site video shows that you should sandblast it, so I'd guess that's how it was done. Great review.

Might have this done to an AK.

 

[MCMXI]

sturmgewehr, thanks and very good videos by the way ... some of the best firearms related videos on the internet as far as I'm concerned.

Their site video shows that you should sandblast it, so I'd guess that's how it was done. Great review

The point of grit blasting is to key the surface. My guess is that they did a very light blast to roughen the surface but didn't go as far as removing all of the anodizing. I've applied GUN-KOTE and Cerakote directly over anodized aluminum parts without blasting and they turned out great. I was just curious as to how Cerakote did it.

 

[sturmgewehr]

I will likely be doing a couple other firearms for testing and of course for video review.

I am going to send them a Glock and have the frame and slide Cerakoted.

I'll send them an AK to have the same color scheme as the AR - FDE / Black.

I'm thinking about sending them my black SCAR 16S to have it turned into an FDE rifle.

The AK and the Glock I'll probably do right aware. I want to see how the Cerakote works with the polymer frame. Since the Glock frame flexes pretty easily, I want to see how it stayed bonded. Plus, I can abuse the crud out of a Glock, they're good for it.

 

[sturmgewehr]

Thanks 1858, it's appreciated. I'm glad you enjoy the videos.