Dixie Gunworx Cerakoting

Continuing our topic last week regarding customization of firearms (see the Hydro Graphcis blob past), this we’ll discuss Cerakoting.

First, what is Cerakote? Cerakote is a ceramic based finish that can be applied to metals, plastics, polymers and wood. The unique formulation used for Cerakote ceramic coating enhances a number of physical performance properties including abrasion/wear resistance, corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, impact strength, and hardness. Each of these properties is rigorously tested to guarantee that Cerakote products remain at the forefront of the ceramic coatings market. Cerakote ceramic coatings utilize state-of-the-art technology to out-perform any competitive coating in both laboratory settings and real world applications.

Unlike other coating/painting processes, Cerakoting has a real world application beyond just a “new look”.

Durability: with properly applied Cerakote finishes, tests have shown the impact resistance of metal before deformation occurs to 160 lbs/inch

Corrosion: testing of salt spray corrosion showed Cerakoted metal to not show any sign of corrosion, even after 3500 hours of straight exposure in an enclosed salt spray chamber. The benefits for your firearm or other item are obvious.

Hardness: All Cerakotings harden metal. Certain Cerakote coatings have achieved a rating of 9h, the highest possible hardness rating that can be achieved. It’s important to have your firearm be able to take torture when it counts.  Through a series of flexibility tests, Cerakoted steel panels showed showed no cracking, elongation, or detachment from the coating.

Abrasion/wear: Taking an abrasive wheel that rotates at a constant speed, several types of coating were tested to see how many rotations/cycles it would take the wheel to break through each coating.

The results are compelling:

Iron Bond 250 Cycles

Blueing 500 Cycles

Duracoat 641 Cycles

Parkerizing 690 Cycles

KG GunKote 744 Cycles

Black Oxide 3,333 Cycles

Cerakote 6,000 Cycles

Heat Resistance: An exhaust system simulator was used to test how Cerakote High Temp Brown would perform on a fully automatic suppressor. During the simulation, the inside temperature of the Cerakoted panels were kept at temperatures between 950-1050 ºF. The surface of the coating was between 220-250 ºF.  There was no coating degradation or color change whatsoever.

All these reasons to use Cerakote over other popular coating for your firearms notwithstanding, it just makes your firearm look awesome!

Contact us at 855.DGX.AR15 or [email protected] for your next Cerakote project!