Gunsmithing cerakote removal options
- Thread starter CStroud
- Start date
Is your bolt body coated as well?
Removing CK from inside the bolt raceways will be a PITA.
Only way to remove properly applied CeraKote is surface to surface abrasives or blasting.
Bolt body is not coated. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to send it back off for dlc or tin coating at this point.
Can confirm. Never Cerakote a bolt, at a minimum. I like Cerakote, but I learned to not to apply it to the bolt or the raceways after the first one I did.
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Yeh I have an old Phoenix action that both the bolt body and action were cerakoted, and it is gummy/sticky feeling when cycling the bolt. That's why I asked for no cerakote inside the action or on the bolt this go round, but here we are.
You could try some JB bore paste on the lugs and run it back and forth, but you're just as likely to put wear on the lugs and not so much on the cerakote.
My understanding is that salt blasting from a sand blaster can remove cerakote but will not damage most anodized or DLC finishes. I could be wrong but look into that as well. I was looking up how to remove cerakote from some higher end firearms to restore its original look a couple months ago.
I was also curious if it could be honed like a cylinder wall, but didn't see much on that when I searched.
LRI can both polish the bolt body portion of the raceway, and polish the bolt.
Update: crisis seemingly averted. Someone lubed the new prc bolt with grease and the back of the bolt was/is contacting the action. Apparently there are some minor differences in the new AI AT bolts vs old. I cycled it a ton both dry and lubed and it’s nowhere near as bad. Obviously I can make it bind if I get too far off center when pushing the bolt back in, but as long as I’m square behind the rifle it rarely happens. Pic of contact area below.
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Respectfully.
This has been an issue with guns and Ceracote from the day it was created.
If you troll around the NIC website, you'll find that it is intended to go on with a "one mil" film thickness. According to Google that equates to .001" (one thousandths) of an inch. If everything is perfect the bolt body grows and the receiver bore shrinks by .002". This creates the potential for a .004" interference fit.
To complicate this further...
What C/K doesn't tell you is that the film thickness applied depends heavily on the color(s) being used. Dark stuff (G/B, A/B, etc...) follows the .001" rule pretty well. However, the pigment saturation of lighter tones is radically different from the dark stuff. -You'll feel like your putting it on with a power roller. As a result, the film thickness is very color dependant.
From day one, I took issue with the practice of masking off receivers or bolts. I equate it to paying someone good money to paint my car and later discover that the door jambs/hinges were left in bare steel. Nobody would tolerate that and gun owners shouldn't either IMO. The solution I found was with a Sunnen connecting rod hone. An MBB-1660 to be specific. With some specialized tooling, this challenge becomes solvable. Here (LRI) we hone the receiver bores to fit the bolt prior to spraying. It also ensures that the bores are straight and taper free. Not really a concern when working with the better aftermarket receivers, but legacy production stuff often benefits from this. -Especially when the receiver body is being accurized/blueprinted.
The point I am trying to illustrate is it's very possible to have the best of both worlds.
Hope this helps.
C.
This has been an issue with guns and Ceracote from the day it was created.
If you troll around the NIC website, you'll find that it is intended to go on with a "one mil" film thickness. According to Google that equates to .001" (one thousandths) of an inch. If everything is perfect the bolt body grows and the receiver bore shrinks by .002". This creates the potential for a .004" interference fit.
To complicate this further...
What C/K doesn't tell you is that the film thickness applied depends heavily on the color(s) being used. Dark stuff (G/B, A/B, etc...) follows the .001" rule pretty well. However, the pigment saturation of lighter tones is radically different from the dark stuff. -You'll feel like your putting it on with a power roller. As a result, the film thickness is very color dependant.
From day one, I took issue with the practice of masking off receivers or bolts. I equate it to paying someone good money to paint my car and later discover that the door jambs/hinges were left in bare steel. Nobody would tolerate that and gun owners shouldn't either IMO. The solution I found was with a Sunnen connecting rod hone. An MBB-1660 to be specific. With some specialized tooling, this challenge becomes solvable. Here (LRI) we hone the receiver bores to fit the bolt prior to spraying. It also ensures that the bores are straight and taper free. Not really a concern when working with the better aftermarket receivers, but legacy production stuff often benefits from this. -Especially when the receiver body is being accurized/blueprinted.
The point I am trying to illustrate is it's very possible to have the best of both worlds.
Hope this helps.
C.
