Gunsmithing Cerakote coming off

[TeaRex]

I'm not sure if Gunsmithing is the right place for this - mods please move if I'm wrong.

I had a custom rifle built about a year ago, and had the entire thing Cerakoted in Sniper Grey (which I love).

I have taken good care of the rifle, kept it oiled, but it is ~500 rounds in and it looks like some of the cerakote is coming off of the bolt. It is hard to capture in the pictures, but it looks like it is flaking off in spots where it is rubbing. I don't care very much about the aesthetics of the bolt, but I do care about not having corrosion / rust. Is this something I need to get fixed / re-cerakoted to remedy? If it's not going to cause a function problem though, I prefer to forget about it until I need to get it re-barreled and re-cerakoted anyways.

 

[toygunner]

Looks like the surface prep was lacking since the original finish is under the cerakote.

 

[308FMJ]

As toygunner says lack of prep! Looks like it's on your fingers also. I smell a redo!!!

 

[RobertB]

You will get some to come off on bolts but that might be excesive since the original finsish is under there. I have never done it before but when mine wears off its shiney under it.

 

[bunsen27]

As others have stated wear on the bolt is typically observed with Cerakote. However, the fact that yours is flaking indicates that the surface preparation may not have been done in accordance with NIC's application instructions.

Cerakote Ceramic Firearm Coating Application Video - YouTube

http://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com/resources/files/Cerakote-Training-Manual-Web.pdf

The degreasing and grit blasting steps are critical for proper adhesion. It might be time to have a polite discussion with your coater about how they exactly prepped our rifle. The fact that it looks like bluing showing through on the flaked off areas would indicate to me they did not do the grit blasting properly. Good Luck.

 

[smokebomb]

As far as it being a corrosion hazard or rust spot, keep it oiled and you'll never have an issue. It is purely cosmetic.

 

[bhoges]

Im not a fan of coating bolts. Its going to wear off and when you sand blast the bolt you have a chance of making the action rougher. I usually only coat the handle.

 

[Furtaker_.223]

Should of been blasted, then wiped down with acetone.

 

[Regular Guy]

Im not a fan of coating bolts. Its going to wear off and when you sand blast the bolt you have a chance of making the action rougher. I usually only coat the handle.

Yep, exactly. To keep the action smooth and prevent binding it needs to be applied very thin and blasting with AL oxide - which is what NiC recommends - is a bad idea. I have been applying Cerakote to guns since the product came out. Even if applied per spec the finish will wear due to the sharpness of the edges inside the action.

 

[chipsfan]

Yep, exactly. To keep the action smooth and prevent binding it needs to be applied very thin and blasting with AL oxide - which is what NiC recommends - is a bad idea. I have been applying Cerakote to guns since the product came out. Even if applied per spec the finish will wear due to the sharpness of the edges inside the action.

yep. I've been spraying the stuff for 5 or six years. Get a tight fitting bolt and bolt nose recess and the edges wear off pretty fast.

 

[308Gunner]

I have 3 rifles and mine has wear but not flaking, I agree with above might have a talk with the coater.

 

[TeaRex]

Thanks for the responses...

I know the smith outsources the cerakote jobs to someone else to get it done, so hopefully he will be just as interested/concerned.




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[ugsly]

Thanks for the responses...
I know the smith outsources the cerakote jobs to someone else to get it done, so hopefully he will be just as interested/concerned.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you get in a pinch PM me and I will redo it for ya and get it shipped back at no charge. Just cover shipping here.

Casey

 

[Straight Shooter]

I am factory trained to apply Cerakote. Properly applied it fills in the blasted valleys of the metal and is extremely hard to wear off. I have a couple barrels I let people bash together and round surface against round surface all you can do it dent it. The Cerakote will not come off.

It also acts like a lubricant. I coated my barrel vice once and it would no longer grab barrels even torqued up to 150 pounds on all 4 bolts. Once I blasted it back off it now grabs at just 50 foot pounds just like it did when I built it. On a bolt nose it should never wear off as it isn't supposed to touch anything in the bolt relief. If it's wearing there you have much more important issues that need addressed.

Once in awhile I get Cerakote stuff in for repair done by other applicators and a fair percentage of those the guy parkerized before coating. Whatever it is it doesn't have the correct surface profile to lock down the coating. Anything that will scratch the base metal will also scratch right through the coating. As long as everything is reasonably deburred the bolt should run really smooth with Cerakote. If your bolt has the factory finish under it like what comes on the SPS rifles I suspect the action may not be prepped right either. And if that's not done right well then the barrel is suspect too.

At the least this rifle needs the action popped off to check the bolt nose clearance and then thoroughly degreased by soaking in acetone and then out gassing in the oven at 300 degrees for an hour and keep repeating until it quits pushing oil out of it. Then the whole thing blasted down with 100-120 grit aluminum oxide. Once done you should really only need grease on the lugs and cocking cam. Maybe a drop of oil on the bolt body but it should run pretty smooth dry.

 

[jsthntn247]

I've done a few myself. I did one about a month back and couldn't blast it down, just roughed it up with sandpaper. Its flaking off now just like that, gotta redo it. The ones I blasted down and prepped properly the finish is tough as nails.

 

[jerseymike]

Definitely poor preparation. The cerakote should not flake off. It will wear in places where their are tight tolerances.

 

[sagillman]

Does anyone here have a picture of their cerakoted bolt after it's been used for a bit? I was thinking of picking up 4oz of OD to do a couple things including my bolt, just seeing if it's that much better then what I coat with now (KG).

 

[Straight Shooter]

Cerakote is composed of ceramic. KG is paint.
Check out the wear test video on NIC's website.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ksj-XJzVQik" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

[chipsfan]

Cerakote is composed of ceramic. KG is paint.
Check out the wear test video on NIC's website.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ksj-XJzVQik" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

Am I the only one that ever noticed that the table at the end of that video doesn't match the results shown in the video? Look at when ion bond, blue, and park fail in the video and then compare that to the table- they don't match.

 

[Straight Shooter]

The test results during the video is in wear cycles. The chart is converted to show wear cycles per mil. It's all explained at the 3 minute mark.

 

[Unknown]

The cerekote has worn off the wear areas on my bolt too. My bolt was bright stainless, and I can clearly see that the surface was bead blasted prior to cerekoting. The rest of my rifle looks brand new, so think it will wear off areas having hard friction after time.
The remainder of my rifle hasn't shown any scratches or finish wear after 3 years of dragging it over all sorts of shooting props, rocks, brush, woodsy junk and all other normal things that a using rifle goes through. I LOVE cerekote, and accept the wear on the bolt as "normal".

 

[lash]

Here are some pictures of my worn cerakoted bolt.

Note no chipping or flaking, only wear:

 

[chipsfan]

The test results during the video is in wear cycles. The chart is converted to show wear cycles per mil. It's all explained at the 3 minute mark.

OK- thank you. that makes much more sense

 

[gewehr]

I have found cerakote lasts a lot better if a month is waited before using the running surfaces


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[Petrov]

Is it me or do the paint chips show REALLY thick layer of paint?
I was messing around and experimenting with cerakote, if you bead blast it with glass instead of aluminum oxide the pant wont stick and comes off easy.
I also learned that cerkote should be left to professionals with proper equipment.