Sending my XD9 Service model to Robar for their NP3 finish treatment

[Tungsten]

I've decided to send my XD9 Service (4" bbl) model off to Robar to have them refinish it in NP3. I've seen some amazing work come out of their facility and the XD9 has a few scrapes in the swamp water finish that Springfield put on the older versions.

This thread will more or less serve to journal my experiences so I'll post some before and after shots here, and we can all watch together to see how long it takes to get the firearm back.

I sent an email to Robar this morning asking if they could provide a rough guesstimate of how long it will take to have the work done and the firearm returned to me. It seems that most folks are getting their guns back in 6-10 weeks, which is ok with me. I'm not in that huge of a rush.

Stay tuned!


Before Robar Coating

[BigRedXD40]

I sent mine to have the NP3 & Heinie night sights on my XD40. I'll be recieving mine back the end of next month.

[loonybin]

I had mine done quite a while ago (read: a few years ago).

[deepdiver]

This may be a stupid question, but I won't know if I don't ask. Is all this refinishing people are having done on the XDs purely cosmetic? Obviously, on the older finish there are very practical reasons to refinish in something more durable. However, I don't understand refinishing one of the melonite models.

I'm more concerned about my CCW pistol being functional than pretty and I don't really care if it has holster wear or normal use wear on it. I bought it as a combat pistol, essentially, and plan to run a lot of rounds through it in a lot of tactical and CQC classes, etc for my own enjoyment and learning. But that is just me. I'm just wondering if I am missing something important or if this is mostly a matter of visual niceities.

[loonybin]

Well, some of the finishes provide more than durable corrosion resistance. The NP3 finish on mine, for example, has teflon in it which helps lubricate the movement of parts. I don't even need to oil the slide rails. Running a gun completely dry isn't always the best idea, but with some finishes, it becomes a moot point as it is permanently "lubed" by the finish.

Other finishes are purely cosmetic.

[kritter]

Loonybin, can you show us the other side of your gun? I'm curous how much wear is showing up on your slide with that finish. Also, if you do show us that, how many rounds (approx.) have you shot since getting it redone?

[Tungsten]

I checked the FedEx tracking manifest and my XD9 arrived at Robar on Monday, April 2nd. So the wait begins!

[beitzel15]

Tungsten.
I see it look slike you tried to push the little lever there up without having the slide locked back. I have those same marks on mine. (comes from not reading the manual)

Did you just send the slide in or the entire pistol? Can you just send the slide in and what was the shipping on it to send it off?

[Tungsten]

Actually those marks are from the slide slamming forward while the lever was up. I inadvertantly hit the slide release with my thumb while disassembling the gun for cleaning once, and well... there ya go. We call them "Idiot Marks" over on the 1911 forum. As in, I was such an idiot to do that.

I sent the entire gun so that they could NP3 all of the metal parts. It'll look tacti-cool when it gets back.

Shipping for me was a little less than $40 overnight FedEx with $600 insurance. I get a pretty good FedEx rate through work, though, so your mileage might vary.

[the_gunman1]

Loonybin: That looks nice!

Deepdiver: Nothing wrong with wanting to pesonalize your gun brother.
Melonite is a great factory finnish to be sure but it's not in the same class as NP3. The np3 finnish is far better! I have a couple buddies that have 1911's' that were finnished with NP3 a few years ago and WOW that finnish holds up perfectly!