HardChrome

[Mail Clerk]

Hello to all,

After reading all these messages regarding rusting on the slides I wonder just how soft the metal is. The harder the metal the more resistant it is to rust/corrosion. In any case I wonder If SA will warrant/allow us to hardchrome our slides. My 45 ACP has been hardchromed and had not had any evidence what so ever of corrosion/rusting. You guys/gals should consider this. Or perhaps you all can use a sealable bag and put a small packet of celia gel or a vapor chip inside to absorb the moisture. That should do it.

Mail Clerk

[Delija]

Originally Posted by Mail Clerk

Hello to all,

After reading all these messages regarding rusting on the slides I wonder just how soft the metal is. The hardee the metal the more resistant it is to rust/corrosion. In any case I wonder If SA will warrant/allow us to hardchrome our slides.

Hello Mail Clerk, welcome.

We had a poll here a while back. The majority of XD owners did not have any rust issues. Some had minor rust spots that could be wiped off with an oiled rag. And some had serious rust problems. But they were really rather infrequent.

It seems likely that at least for some period of time the finish on the XD must have been inconsistent coming out of the factory in Croatia.

Maybe it's gotten better since, or for all I know maybe it's gotten worse. But "worse" wouldn't make sense since Springfield's warranty covers rust and many owners have had their pistols refinished at Springfield's expense....and they (Springfield) pay shipping both ways as well. Quite an expense that I'm sure they would do anything possible to avoid. While Springfield does not manufacture the guns in Croatia, they are the sole US importer and they are the issuers of the warranty.

My particular gun was manufactured in November of 2003. It is a standard all black XD9 Subcompact. I live in South Florida where the humidity is extremely high. I have taken the gun and shot it at sea from a friend's boat several times. The gun was subjected to salt water spray and though I of course wiped it down and ran the whole thing under fresh water in a galley sink to get the salt off as best I could until I could go ashore and clean and lube the gun properly, the salt air alone can and does some amazingly fast corrosion to pretty much any metal. When autos used to have chrome bumpers, a day of a car sitting in the parking lot of a beach down here would pit the chrome in a matter of hours. If the car was not washed after leaving the beach and left unwashed over night, rust was pretty much a sure thing by the next morning.

So despite all the humidity and despite the several soakings with salt water and despite prolonged exposure on the ocean to the salt air, my XD has never had a single sign of any rust.

Hard chroming is a nice finish if that's the look you like. It is durable and it is expensive. But to my experience it is unnecessary.

Others have not been as fortunate. But if you use the search function here and have a bit of patience I am sure you can find a lot of information on the much talked about rust issue. And you should be able to find the poll.

I do not recall the percentage of guns that had no rust issues at all. But it was the majority. Taken along with the guns that had the "wipe off" kind of rust it was the vast majority.

The rust issue really has been blown out of proportion according to the experiences of actual owners.

Like many of us here I too have seen the many posts on Glocktalk.com that would seem to indicate that every XD rusts badly and instantly. But that is not what you will hear from people who actually own XDs.

And it also seems that while there have been some serious but only sporadic rust problems, it seems that I see less and less complaints as time has passed. So hopefully any quality control problems have been resolved....or at least improved since I first started reading the posts here on "XD- Talk".

Peace,
D.

[Mail Clerk]

Originally Posted by Delija

Hello Mail Clerk, welcome.

We had a poll here a while back. The majority of XD owners did not have any rust issues. Some had minor rust spots that could be wiped off with an oiled rag. And some had serious rust problems. But they were really rather infrequent.

It seems likely that at least for some period of time the finish on the XD must have been inconsistent coming out of the factory in Croatia.

Maybe it's gotten better since, or for all I know maybe it's gotten worse. But "worse" wouldn't make sense since Springfield's warranty covers rust and many owners have had their pistols refinished at Springfield's expense....and they (Springfield) pay shipping both ways as well. Quite an expense that I'm sure they would do anything possible to avoid. While Springfield does not manufacture the guns in Croatia, they are the sole US importer and they are the issuers of the warranty.

My particular gun was manufactured in November of 2003. It is a standard all black XD9 Subcompact. I live in South Florida where the humidity is extremely high. I have taken the gun and shot it at sea from a friend's boat several times. The gun was subjected to salt water spray and though I of course wiped it down and ran the whole thing under fresh water in a galley sink to get the salt off as best I could until I could go ashore and clean and lube the gun properly, the salt air alone can and does some amazingly fast corrosion to pretty much any metal. When autos used to have chrome bumpers, a day of a car sitting in the parking lot of a beach down here would pit the chrome in a matter of hours. If the car was not washed after leaving the beach and left unwashed over night, rust was pretty much a sure thing by the next morning.

So despite all the humidity and despite the several soakings with salt water and despite prolonged exposure on the ocean to the salt air, my XD has never had a single sign of any rust.

Hard chroming is a nice finish if that's the look you like. It is durable and it is expensive. But to my experience it is unnecessary.

Others have not been as fortunate. But if you use the search function here and have a bit of patience I am sure you can find a lot of information on the much talked about rust issue. And you should be able to find the poll.

I do not recall the percentage of guns that had no rust issues at all. But it was the majority. Taken along with the guns that had the "wipe off" kind of rust it was the vast majority.

The rust issue really has been blown out of proportion according to the experiences of actual owners.

Like many of us here I too have seen the many posts on Glocktalk.com that would seem to indicate that every XD rusts badly and instantly. But that is not what you will hear from people who actually own XDs.

And it also seems that while there have been some serious but only sporadic rust problems, it seems that I see less and less complaints as time has passed. So hopefully any quality control problems have been resolved....or at least improved since I first started reading the posts here on "XD- Talk".

Peace,
D.

Delija,

Thanks for your posting. I was just wondering about the issue as I already have the standard version that I've only shot once. Currently I just bought the "Tactical" version to be added to my collection. Sor I just keep my standard inside the vapor enriched plastic seaable bag. No signs of rust yet unless it's inside the slide. The new "Tactical" didn't come with such a bag so more care will be needed to be used when cleaning and storing. I hope it works out as this puppy was not cheap. Now a days I getting ready to pay off CC's and such so any more expense is not invited. All we have to worry about is taxes and buying gasoline!

Mail Clerk

[LTC-USA]

Sure like my Tripp Research hard chrome with Armadillo on it.

[Mail Clerk]

Hello to all,

I'm gonna do some interneting to see if I can find a company that sells these seable vapor bags. It's the only way I can think of tackleing this issue. My service model is still in the one given to me by SA and it looks OK so far. This weekend I'm gonna take it out and give it a cleaning for some cap busting the following weekend. Or maybe a small packet of celica gel that come with some electronic equipment might help also.

Again the metal must be soft. I wonder?

Mail Clerk

[tnez]

Hi I have a xd40 and shoot it a lot. like i said in another part of this forum i have no problems. i use it a lot and the finish was a little thin so i blued it and i have not had a single problem with it. theres a picture of it to the left.

[Mail Clerk]

Originally Posted by Mail Clerk

Hello to all,

I'm gonna do some interneting to see if I can find a company that sells these seable vapor bags. It's the only way I can think of tackleing this issue. My service model is still in the one given to me by SA and it looks OK so far. This weekend I'm gonna take it out and give it a cleaning for some cap busting the following weekend. Or maybe a small packet of celica gel that come with some electronic equipment might help also.

Again the metal must be soft. I wonder?

Mail Clerk

Hello to all,

Since my Tactical model didn't have a vapor sealable bag they were kind enough to send me one. Using the company printed on the bag I'll try to call them and find out if bags are available for purchase. It's a perfect size for my XD "Tactical"!!!

Mail Clerk

[GLOCKTENMAN]

LTC-USA,

I was looking at the Tripp research web site earlier today. I was thinking about getting my slide chromed and the other parts of my pistol duracoated with SS minus the frame. How was your experience with Tripp? Can you send me some pics of your pistol with the chrome?


Thanks,
G20

[shipwreck]

Originally Posted by GLOCKTENMAN

LTC-USA,

I was looking at the Tripp research web site earlier today. I was thinking about getting my slide chromed and the other parts of my pistol duracoated with SS minus the frame. How was your experience with Tripp? Can you send me some pics of your pistol with the chrome?


Thanks,
G20

I got my Walther P99 slide hard chromed and got it back a couple of weeks ago. I like it so much I am about to send my SW99 slide to him too. I got my Walther back in 2 weeks from the time I sent it - and it took 4 days for Fed Ex Ground to get it to him - so that's not bad...

Here is a pic of my gun (not an XD, but you can still get an idea of what it looks like - I got my extractor and decocked button covered in his black polymer coating - Cobra Coat

[GLOCKTENMAN]

Shipwreck,

I cant see any of the pics you posted. Can you post them again or send them to me on an email?

G20