Who does the best hard chrome these days?

[Chairman Meow]

I had always heard great things about Tripp and have seen his work firsthand, but he is no longer doing hard chrome. I have also heard good things about Metalife and I am considering that as an alternative. Who else out there should I be considering? I have done the usual Google search and checked out a number of places, but as usual I just thought I would tap into the vast wealth of experience here before tapping into my savings account. Thanks in advance.

 

[cordex]

When I get my 1911 chromed, I'm going with Metalife. I looked into Accurate Plating and Weaponry, and heard good things about they way they used to do business, but some scary stories about some of their more recent jobs.

 

[mr. e]

I was very disappointed when I heard that Virgil Tripp no longer did hard chroming. I'm hoping he will restart that business. I have a Kimber that is now a work of art thanks to his finish and was on the verge of having my P229 done when I found out:^(

 

[HSMITH]

Checkmate in Florida is another one that did really nice chrome. I have not seen a recent example but a couple years ago they were really good.

 

[harrydog]

I'm having a custom gun hardchromed and the smith is using this company.
He's used them in the past and is very pleased with their work. And he's a perfectionist.

http://www.techplate.com/index.htm

 

[PackingHeat]

No more Tripp?

Tripp did a great satin chrome on my P99 slide and I was looking forward to doing future business with them. What a shame to lose another great resource. Now I am going to have to check some platers in my area who normally only do production volumes for my company and see if I can get them to slip me the occasional freebie like our Cryo source does.

 

[Mastrogiacomo]

I've heard good things about Metaloy. BTW, I'll miss Tripp; they did both my compacts.

 

[incursion]

By most accounts, Metaloy is the best chromer.

 

[Sean Smith]

I had Tripp do my Delta Elite and it came out great, too bad about them no longer doing plating. The one plater I hear the most positives about is, you guessed it, Metaloy.

 

[Chairman Meow]

Anybody here have any guns chromed by Metaloy? I checked out their website and I will give them a call about pricing later today.

 

[LToled]

Metaloy

I just got back a couple of 1911's from Metaloy last week. They turned out very nice. The finish was even and non-reflective. Their current turn-around is about 2 weeks and after pricing other chromers, Metaloy is actually less. Talk to Steve Davis. He's the head guy there.

I have used Metalife before also. I choose Metaloy over Metalife because Metalife has a current turnaround time of over a month and the last pistol I sent them had an uneven coat with streaks. They said that was "normal". Cost was a minor factor. But I wanted the guns back sooner. Metaloy also does the hard chroming for Wilson Combat. This helped since one of the firearms i sent out was Wilson Protector.

Metaloy's chrome is more "matte silver" whereas Metalife has a blue tinge to it.

Hope this helps.