\nIf you don’t subscribe to Farnam’s Quips then you are missing out on a lot of good information and astute observations.<\/p>\n
Today’s edition is no exception. In it John talks about the second day of the gun writer’s conference being held at Gunsite. The day, from what I can tell, was devoted to coatings and metal treatments for firearms among other things.<\/p>\n
I’ll let John tell what he learned about coatings and metal treatments:<\/p>\n
\nObservations:<\/p>\n
All metal treatments, even high-tech ones, have \u201cside-effects.\u201d Nothing
\nis perfect!<\/p>\nFor external guns surfaces, polymer is a good choice. Robar\u2019s version is
\nRoguard or Poly-T-Two. Both are very acceptable, and can be an any color.<\/p>\nAlso suitable for external surfaces is QPQ, otherwise known as Tennifer or
\nMelonite. Very hard. Also very suitable for rifle bores. However, it is
\nso hard that subsequent machining is nearly impossible!<\/p>\nFor internal parts, NP3 is the way to go. NP3 has integral teflon, which
\ngives it natural lubricity. However, it is slick and thus not the best
\nchoice for slides. And, it has a silver\/grey color. Other colors are not
\npossible.<\/p>\n\u201cHard chrome\u201d plating is obsolete. There are superior choices for
\nsurface treatment today. Hard-chrome barrels are notoriously inaccurate, because
\nof inherent unevenness of the plating.<\/p>\nNickel plating is also mostly obsolete. It is of interest only by those
\nwho want \u201cshiny\u201d guns.<\/p>\nCeramic coating (Cerakoat) has excellent high-heat tolerance and are thus
\nsuitable for some parts of full-auto guns. However, ceramic has no
\ninherent lubricity.<\/p>\nSmoking and coffee-drinking lowers blood PH, making bodily fluids,
\nparticularly sweat, acidic and thus corrosive to pistols worn close to the skin.
\nSmokers and coffee-drinkers typically have to deal with rusty guns, even in
\ndry climates! They will particularly benefit from modern, high-tech metal
\ntreatments.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhile I don’t smoke and never have I do drink coffee. I didn’t realize that coffee drinking would make sweat acidic. Actually, I never thought about it one way or another but it make sense that acidic sweat is more corrosive to handguns.<\/p>\n
If you want to subscribe to Farnam’s Quips, shoot John an email at dtiquips@clouds.com<\/a> .<\/p>\n