DIY Durabake vs professional cerakote?

[EasyEJL]

I was looking at the cost of getting everything cerakoted vs what the durabake aerosols cost, and that makes the durabake attractive. Any opinions on it? I can afford to do whole rifle in camo that way for less than getting my upper and hand guard cerakoted one color

[edgecrusher]

Duracoat shake and spray!

http://www.lauerweaponry.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=1013

[392heminut]

The Cerakote is a lot more durable, but for what the Durakote costs it is cheap to touch up if need be.

[edgecrusher]

The Cerakote is a lot more durable, but for what the Durakote costs it is cheap to touch up if need be.

Just wondering what brings you to this conclusion, but ubderstand I'm not starting an arguement… The only first hand cerakote wear I've seen was Dave Branson's Sig Scorpion, and the duracoat jobs I've seen wear almost exactly the same. For the money saved, for ME, it's just not worth the extra cost…

carry on!

[98Z5V]

Cerakote does a C-series, air-dry product.  It's pretty damn good. 

The two are completely different (Cerakote and Duracoat).  Research both.  In a nutshell, Duracoat is a badass paint, and Cerakote is a ceramic coating.  They both color your gun, they both spray on, and either airdry or bake to a final product, but it's not comparing Apples to Oranges.  It's more like comparing Apples to Hammers. 

[edgecrusher]

<thumbsup> Cool, thanks.

[98Z5V]

Now, I'm not knocking Duracoat, not in the least.  Haven't used it.  I've only shot one project with the Cerakote C, airdry, but it was the upper, lower, rail, receiver extension, and 3 parts of a Surefire light.

I prepped the parts with 400-grit, degreased the hell out of everything, and shot it.  I didn't mask anything, or cover any holes, nothing like that.  The coating goes on at 0.0005" to 0.001".  I wanted to try it out, and I painted over everything.  The big tests or coating thickness were:

1) receiver extension into lower receiver - piece of cake.

2) Badass safety into the lower - easy, functions fine.

3) trigger and hammer pins on a Geissele trigger - no prob.

4) barrel nut onto upper receiver.  Done.

5) takedown pin and pivot pin fitment in upper and lower.  Done.

6) buffer retaining pin in lower - zero binding.

No masking, thin coating, covered everything well, and no issues with just putting it together, or function of all parts afterwards.  I have no binding in any of the precise-fit parts.

I'm sold on it.  Enough to buy a nice spray gun, and keep on going.  Eventually, I'll get an oven specifically for baking parts, and move over to the Cerakote H series. 

[unforgiven]

<munch>