I don't think there is a finish harder..or more durable than chrome...if you like that look. There is also a "black chrome" that is pretty interesting. ( Blued finishes, in general, are not very durable...unless you go for a coating like Wilson's Armor Tuff ...which is not really blued....more black which you said you did not want ...but a fresh, deep bluing can be amazing )..

Hard chrome will scratch ( you lay a gun down on a spent case, etc...).. and so will stainless. Both can rust if you neglect or abuse them and don't take care of them. Chrome can be polished...as long as you don't significantly damage the finish. If you badly scratch stainless..it can be blasted and repolished looking virtually brand new.

To me, its an appearance issue....do you like that mirror finish that chrome can give you ...or the more subtle polished stainless. I have very few blued, or coated guns, I prefer stainless .

 

I don't think there is a finish harder..or more durable than chrome...if you like that look. There is also a "black chrome" that is pretty interesting. ( Blued finishes, in general, are not very durable...unless you go for a coating like Wilson's Armor Tuff ...which is not really blued....more black which you said you did not want ...but a fresh, deep bluing can be amazing )..

Hard chrome will scratch ( you lay a gun down on a spent case, etc...).. and so will stainless. Both can rust if you neglect or abuse them and don't take care of them. Chrome can be polished...as long as you don't significantly damage the finish. If you badly scratch stainless..it can be blasted and repolished looking virtually brand new.

I have no idea of who did your hard Chrome, but all out old IPSC pistols were usually hard chromed. We didn't baby them, because we knew they're end up shot out (frame cracks).

You're right about the rust, nothing including stainless will stop it if the firearm isn't well maintained.

 

If you are going to carry the gun, I think robar np3+ is a good option.
Looks great and is very durable.

Here's a link....

https://robarguns.com/custom-firearm-finishes/np3-plus/

 

I'm not concerned about carry.

Being a amateur hot rod builder, I can accomplish the same amount of gloss using stainless as I can using chrome plated steel. Since stainless has a lower tensile strength, we typically use chrome plated grade 8 steel components for the suspension/driveline components and high polish stainless for the other bright work, many times side by side and you can barely tell the difference.

I agree that chrome is probably harder to scratch but stainless can be touched up without re-plating in the case of the chrome getting damaged.

Most of the hard chrome I see seems to be in a satin finish which will look similar to the blasted stainless. Maybe the hardness of the chrome makes for better wear when holstering?

It would seem that the plating may wear at the mating surfaces and create potential corrosion hot spots.

 

I'm not concerned about carry.

Being a amateur hot rod builder, I can accomplish the same amount of gloss using stainless as I can using chrome plated steel. Since stainless has a lower tensile strength, we typically use chrome plated grade 8 steel components for the suspension/driveline components and high polish stainless for the other bright work, many times side by side and you can barely tell the difference.

I agree that chrome is probably harder to scratch but stainless can be touched up without re-plating in the case of the chrome getting damaged.

Most of the hard chrome I see seems to be in a satin finish which will look similar to the blasted stainless. Maybe the hardness of the chrome makes for better wear when holstering?

It would seem that the plating may wear at the mating surfaces and create potential corrosion hot spots.

If the hard chrome is done right, you don't really get normal wear marks they way a conventional coat does. Hard Chrome comes in multiple finishes including Metaloy.

BUT, finding people that can do it right is tougher these days given the governing rules about it these days.

 

The big plus that industrial hard chrome brings to the table is wear resistance because it is so hard, much harder than either the stainless or carbon steels used by gun manufacturers, and it holds up against holster wear and day to day use extremely well. I've had guns that had been HC'd 25-30 years earlier that showed almost no wear from normal use.

"Hard chrome" is a generic term used for the industrial hard chrome used for gun plating/finishing. It has been known by many brand names over the years - Metaloy, Armoly, Metalife - are just a few, all being essentially the same, with minor variations in formula, preparation, method of application. It is not the same as "bumper chrome" and will not be shiny unless the metal it is applied to has been polished. Usually it is applied over a brushed or matte surface and that is the appearance it takes.

Black chrome is softer than regular HC and I don't think anyone is doing it on guns anymore. The hardest black finish you'll fjnd is DLC and, like HC, it will conform to the surface it is applied to. Put i a matte surface and that's what it will look like, put it over a polished surface and it will be smooth and shiny.

There are still plenty of companies offering HC plating for guns, in fact, the big names from the past that I mentioned earlier are all still around. In fact, Mahovsky's just did the HC on the frame and small parts of the Commander that David Clevinger is working on for me. Like Metaloy and Armoloy, they've been doing it for decades.

 

A HC'd gun has substantially better abrasion resistance and better corrosion resistance than SS-
which is why it is and has been a popular finish on competitors pistols.
The only thing of similar (better) abrasion resistance and much better corrosion resistance is Ferratic Nitrucarburizing aka Melonite/Tennifer/Duty Treat/etc.

 

A HC'd gun has substantially better abrasion resistance and better corrosion resistance than SS-
which is why it is and has been a popular finish on competitors pistols.
The only thing of similar (better) abrasion resistance and much better corrosion resistance is Ferratic Nitrucarburizing aka Melonite/Tennifer/Duty Treat/etc.

This is something I've wondered about. My next 1911 will either be HC or Melonite. I would like HC, but if it's not as "hard" or scratch resistant as Melonite that might make my decision for me...

 

Good HC finish is as good as it gets. Most everyone I knew in the early IPSC days used HC. That meant a lot of abuse, especially coming in and out of holsters.

 

Check out Robar's Np3+ for a very durable treatment.

 

This sounds like something I would of said.
I totally believe this is the best finish available for a carry gun.

 

Good luck finding a holster........

 

The gift that just keeps giving .

 

I am sending one out tomorrow for HC at Metaloy. We will see how it goes.

 

"The Answer"...... To the holster issues with Hard Chrome.

 

"The Answer"...... To the holster issues with Hard Chrome.
View attachment 128825

Glock owner, not unusual

 

I don't have any "advantage" evidence of HC as a finish, but I just like the look. With my oldtimers memory I thought I read an article/add saying the lubricity factors and high anti scratch properties were some benefits of HC.

2 recent purchases were factory ordered WC & NHC and done by Metaloy. I opted for brushed slide on the XTAC & Satin slide on the NHC Classic.

View attachment 128959

But I just like it

George

 

Hard chrome is a good finish but it has its trade-offs too.

On the plus side is that it's, well, really damn hard. It reduces friction compared to steel-on-steel contact and helps corrosion resistance some. The stuff is just tough as hell - it's a repurposed industrial coating, not the same thing as cosmetic car bumper chrome. Also, on a stainless gun you really, really don't need to worry about galling if you hard chrome it. I think it looks really nice too.

It has downsides though. A common misnomer is that hard chrome rustproofs your gun. It really doesn't. The big problem is that hard chrome is porous, and if say salt water gets through them the underlying metal can corrode. Industrial applications that really need corrosion resistance use different coatings than hard chrome because its salt spray performance is surprisingly mediocre.

Hard chrome also doesn't plate entirely evenly and can affect how parts fit.

Finally, there is the risk of hydrogen embrittlement. It's pretty rare, but more than one person has had small parts fail out of nowhere after being hard chromed. Hard chrome is typically ruled out when it comes to plating small metal things that have life-or-death consequences associated with them like parachute hardware for that exact reason.