XD Talk

Tomcat088 · 07-10-2006, 08:43 PM

I was just thinking about a couple of finishing options on the XD and it made me think about a special one. First off, I wanted to ask people who had their slides hard chromed if they liked it? Is it too shiny or "blingy", and would it be that for a carry gun? Eventually I know I'll have to refinish my carry gun and I've always been fascinated by black chrome. I'm not sure if some of you have seen this finish, but I think it's quite elegant and unique, and I've never seen an XD done in this. Here is a light from a motorcycle done in black or "smoked" chrome as some people call it http://www.chromeservices.com/images/sam4.htm . I was wondering if the people that had chrome slides had problems with reflection and their sights, etc. Any input would be much appreciate, I was just curious.

dirtyvicar · 07-11-2006, 08:08 AM

I had my slide hard chromed by http://www.trippresearch.com/
He's the man for hard chroming slides.
It's not too shiny. The top of the slide is slightly more matte finish than the sides, so there is no reflection to interfere with sighting your pistol. It's not like a car bumper.

I don't know if they can do the black chrome or not, give them a call or e-mail them.

I'll post a pic later if you want.

LTC-USA · 07-11-2006, 08:11 AM

Tripp is the man. I love my hard chromed slide. On another thread, it was noted that Tripp said black chrome was not durable.

shipwreck · 07-11-2006, 09:56 AM

NO, hard chroming the slide makes a flat grey/silver color

I have my fullsize P99 slide there now - already had 2 slides done by him...

I also had him use the black polymer coating on the extractors and decocker button.

**Loves2Shoot** · 07-11-2006, 10:53 AM

You can polish it and make it "bling."

Tomcat088 · 07-11-2006, 11:04 AM

Right, I knew hard chrome wasn't shiny, almost just a "silver paint" look. I was just curious about what an XD might look like if it was done in black chrome. I've heard that black chrome is harder than normal chrome. With that said, "hard chrome" which is different from like "bumper chrome" could quite possibly be harder than black chrome. I was just curious if anybody had done it, or thought it might end up worth a dang, lol. Also, if you had a slide finished that way, could you ever get it off to do something else with it later if you didn't like it, like say gunkote it?