How tough is duracoat to use

[Bonstrosity]

Anyone have experience with it? Pretty easy or is it something you should be trained to do? Where on the slide do you do it, just externally or internally also? any other advise would be great.

[CajunShooter]

Piece of cake. I coated my XD40SC and my Dan Wesson. Both came out great.

The only gotcha is that you need to spray in short bursts instead of a continuous stream. Think pst, pst, pst instead of p-s-s-s-t. Build up the thickness a little at a time.

Give it a shot. It's a great product.

[CajunShooter]

Reread your post. Here's more.

You can coat both the outside and inside of the slide if you wish. If you coat the inside, let the coating cure for a few days before shooting. If you shoot it sooner, it may chip off. The longer Duracoat cures, the tougher it becomes. The info that comes with Duracoat states that it can be handled in 24 hours and fully cures in 2-3 weeks. Although you can shoot it after a day or so, I think the longer you can go without subjecting it to heavy use, the better. I coated my Dan Wesson first, then was out of town for about a week and a half. When I returned, the coating had cured very well and posed no problems when I shot it.

Also, tape over the breech face if you coat the inside of the slide. You don't want the coating to get inside the striker hole. May or may not cause problems, but I wouldn't take the chance.

[Bonstrosity]

Thanks Cajunshooter,

Good call on covering up the breech face. That would definitly cause some problems if you got too thick of a coat in there. I might have to give it a try.

[Mosi]

Where did you buy your Duracoat supplies?

[ArmedFerret]

Mosi--

I usually get my duracoat from Midway USA but if you want a less common color, you may need to order straight off Lauer Custom Weaponry's website. Midway seems to be a bit cheaper, plus they don't mess around with shipping at all--i often will receive my "ground" shipments the next day!

To all wondering:

You won't be disappointed with duracoat. I also use molyresin when I get too confident with the duracoat. The duracoat is so easy to use that i tend to forget just how difficult the Molyresin is. If you haven't used Molyresin, don't even waste your money. It's WAY too tempramental for all but the most experienced refinishers. For the hobbyist like me (ak/ar builds, refinishing "character wear" guns for friends) the duracoat is way too easy to pass up.

If you have the ability, I'd HIGHLY recommend blasting the old finish, then parkerizing (i use Lauer's Manganese Phosphate solution) before duracoating. It adds a LOT of durability to the duracoat, and in the off chance you get a wear spot on the finish, you'll still have the parkerized protection on the metal.

[CajunShooter]

I bought mine from Lauer Custom Weaponry. Got the EZ Starter Kit. Didn't know that Midway carried it. I'm not dissapointed. As ArmedFerret said, Duracoat is the way to go.

[bigwilly11189]

Does it come in a spray can or do I need an airbrush and all that setup?? I have a browning buckmark that I want to refinsh the frame with since the prior owner spray painted it (didn't know) and now it's all coming off everytime I clean the gun. The paint just drips off everywhere...to make it worse it a pinkish-red (for my fiance) and my hands almost look like there is blood all over them while cleaning the gun

[CajunShooter]

Duracoat is a two-part paint, paint and hardner. It is applied with an airbrush or an HLV paint gun. They do make a spray can product called Durabake. The main difference is that Duracoat cures without baking, Durabake must be baked to cure.

The EZ Starter kit includes the airbrush, propellant, paint color of your choce, hardner, reducer, a degreaser spray, and a DVD. It's not a bad way to get started.

You will need to remove all the paint that is currently on the gun. If it's coming off when you clean it, then regular paint thinner should do it. After cleaning it, use the degreaser that comes in the kit to get all the paint thinner off it.

My first attempt wasn't great and I had to redo it. The problem was the way that I was spraying it (see my earlier post). I used all the reducer (it's a kind of paint thinner) to remove what I had put on the first time. I spoke to someone at Lauer who was very helpful in explaining how to spray it on. He also told me that I could use laquer thinner to remove it before it cured. You would do this only if you were not satisfied and wanted to redo it. Once it's cured, it is chemical resistant and will not come off when you clean the gun. I use Poly Dunk-it to clean my guns and it has not harmed the finish at all. I've also use Hoppes and a spray bore cleaner with no problems.

Visit the Lauer Custom Weaponry website www.lauerweaponry.com There is info about the products on the website. I also found them to be very helpful over the phone.