Powder Coating question

[J Miller]

Has anybody powder coated aluminum gun parts, such as the Ruger grip frames? If so how has it held up?

Joe

[Sixgun]

Joe.......I've used the bake on paint on a 642 Smith.......OD Green....looked great......did the frame and left the cylinder and barrel stainless...then I started using it.....6-7 years later it still looks OK but every edge is chipped off......it's my daily carry gun.

Powder coating? I would not use it.....my Jeep is heavily accessorized and the parts (all quality. No cheap parts) that were painted like the Warn bumpers still look like new while the powder coated parts like the rear tire carrier flaked off and required me to paint them.----6

[J Miller]

Sixgun,

Thanks for the info. Guess I wont do that then.

Joe

[GunnyMack]

Back in the 90's we were doing aluminum stuff in a moly coating. Spray it on and baked in the oven. Like Six says the edges would chip off. Worked on steel,aluminum equally well. No idea how many guns we did but it was a lot.

[Tycer]

Powder coating seems to be variable. My KargoMaster truck rack is still going strong with only the wear surface being devoid of paint and no flaking or chipping anywhere else. My DrawTite hitch is equally good. Ten years on each. I have lots of other things that aren’t faring nearly as well. I’ve had three different local companies powder coat things like railings and such, things that get minimal abuse and they all have rust and would have been as good with proper prep and paint. Perhaps preparation of the bare metal is the key. I’m pretty impressed with linear polyurethane paint over epoxy primer as of late.