Nickle finish question

[Darrell Davis]

Morn'in Shooters,

Beautiful and sunny morning here is Ol'Deary Ideeeeeeho!  Long over due! This old timer about worked himself into a hole yesterday getting utilities put in at a new home site, but been waiting for MONTHS (6) for the weather to break. It was time!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I expect this question is already answered, somewhere back in the files of "Handgun General Discussion," but I don't recall seeing it so here goes.

I have a friend who is thinking about having a handgun plated.  I think that his goal is mostly weather proofing the metal.

Among his options is a Nickle plating.

I told him that I seemed to recall there being some potential problems with a Nickle finish.  Something about the finish going bad when some cleaners such as Hoppies were used.

Anyone have any REAL information on this subject and/or personal information/experience on other plating/coating processes?

Not looking for "he said/she said" info, like Coke I am looking for the REAL THING!

Thanks and keep em coming! :wink:

[rockbilly]

We bounced this around a while back.  At that time I went to a local plating shop and talked to the manager.  He had spent a number of years working in the plating plant of several gun manufactures,  was also an avid collector and shooter.  His advice.........don't do it.

The reason most factory nickle plating is done is to salvage guns that don't meet the tight tolerance demanded by quality control.  It is much cheaper to plate the parts and use them than it is to scrap and re-make.

There are two types of nickle plating, first, decorative, second, functional hard nickle.  Either type is usually electro-deposited on the metal.  Ectroless nickle is somewhat harder and more wear resistance than electro-deposited nickle.  Electroless nickle can be hardened to a Rc68 by heat treating at 600-750 F for one hour.  The question here, what does iheat treating do to the hardness of the base metal?

Based on the advice of the individual I talked to, I would not even consider plating a gun unless it was in bad need due to pits or other damage. According to him, a "pimped out" gun may look nice, but is not a gun you would want to subject to a lot of use. :roll:

[CJ]

You can try Robar
http://www.robarguns.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=4&tabindex=2
Not cheap, but very good reputation.
I have a S+W .22 that I bought second hand 20 or so yrs ago that had been Armoloyed some yrs before that. Everyone who handles it thinks its stainless and so did I until I filled out the paperwork and saw the model #. It looks as good as the day I got it. Cant find anything about firearms on Armoloys web site
http://www.armoloy.com/
but if they still do guns I would highly recomend them.

[Savage]

Darrell,
The electro plating process requires that the ferrious metals must be copper plated for the nickel to bond to, as the plating will not adhere well to the base metal. Then if you get a defect in the nickel plating where copper solvents can enter, it will undermind the copper plating and the entire finish will flake off. I have a couple of guns that I am considering having NP-3 finished. Of course there's the powder coatings available that are quite durable and inexpensive. Just a couple more options for consideration!
Savage

[Questor]

I don't like nickle plating because in time it starts to flake off and it looks terrible. In fact, I am suspicious of any plating because unless it is done very well--including hard chrome-- it can be likewise disastrous.  My opinion is to skip the plating and stick with either stainless, or with finishes that are easier to replace.  I just saw a commemorative Dan Wesson revolver with a gold plated cylinder. The gun was probably pretty expensive and probably wasn't meant to be a shooter. It looked terrible and although functionally sound, was such an eyesore that it could not possibly have engendered pride of ownership.