brendog10 1 Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 So I want to polish the bolt carrier on my Saiga .233. I read on some posts that people use clear Engine enamel to finish and protect the metal. My question is which clear do you use. There is gloss, satin , flat, and metalic. Which one would simply protect the metal? I just want a true clear coat but am afraid that I may buy the wrong one and end up with something strange. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChileRelleno 7,071 Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Find someone who does firearm quality hard chroming. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Paulyski 2,227 Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 So I want to polish the bolt carrier on my Saiga .233. I read on some posts that people use clear Engine enamel to finish and protect the metal. My question is which clear do you use. There is gloss, satin , flat, and metalic. Which one would simply protect the metal? I just want a true clear coat but am afraid that I may buy the wrong one and end up with something strange. Ok, so you polished your bolt carrier to reduce friction & now you want to repaint it to gum it back up again? Go for the chrome or try Bluing it, would be my suggestion. Rust protection without friction. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janusthephoenix 24 Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 I've read a lot of posts from this forum and others contesting that a well polished gun part will not be any more corrosion prone than any other. I haven't had any problems with my polished pistol barrel yet with no real oil or grease on it at all. Why not try leaving it be and keeping a close eye on it for a while? (Maybe not if you live in a very humid area) Just my two cents. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nalioth 405 Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 So I want to polish the bolt carrier on my Saiga .233. Would that be a Hesse/Vulcan Saiga? Just funnin' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cobra 76 two 2,677 Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 So I want to polish the bolt carrier on my Saiga .233. I read on some posts that people use clear Engine enamel to finish and protect the metal. My question is which clear do you use. There is gloss, satin , flat, and metalic. Which one would simply protect the metal? I just want a true clear coat but am afraid that I may buy the wrong one and end up with something strange. Ok, so you polished your bolt carrier to reduce friction & now you want to repaint it to gum it back up again? Go for the chrome or try Bluing it, would be my suggestion. Rust protection without friction. This is a rifle, not a Saiga shottie. He wants "bling", it's not about getting a slick surface. (at least that's what it sounds like to me) I had a bunch of my bolt carriers bead blasted to get that old school AK look. They have a nice satin steel "in the white" appearance. At this stage you can take it a step further and polish it to a super shiny, chrome like finish, leave it like it is and just keep an eye on it for light surface rust, or you can paint it with a hi temp ceramic engine enamel like Dupli-Color. You can probably get that in clear but I haven't tried that myself. Another option is something that I'm trying tomorrow actually, something that dinzag told me about....is Dupli-Color Ceramic Aluminum coating. It's heat tested to 500 degrees and dinzag has posted pics of some bolt carriers he did with it that look pretty nice. He and I both had a good number of our carriers bead blasted a few years ago by a mutual friend here. We both found that if you don't coat it with something, or keep it oiled at least a little, it will eventually develop some surface rust. It's easy to keep an eye on it and get it cleaned up with steel wool if it happens, so I never coated any of mine. I'll be trying it tomorrow though on an extra BC for my S-20, and if I like it I'll also do my new 5.45 with it. My plan is to start offering this as a service in my business section. I already modify and polish a lot of S-12 and S-20 bolts and bolt carriers for people for increased performance, so I'm now offering to make them look all nice and shiny too, as an option. Here's what they look like just cleaned down to bare metal.... Then after some polishing by hand... some early pics of my AKS-12 and Saiga 410 when I first got them done... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
6500rpm 670 Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 One thing to keep in mind about top coating after polish is adheasion. MolyResin makes a clear, but my assumption is that they don't recommend coating anything that's been taken down more than abrasive blasting (not even bead blasting). I like the satin finish from bead blasting and keeping it surface oiled. If you want it to look like chrome, then plating or blasting and painting with a shiny look-a-like is probably your best bet. If you shoot your guns, you also need to think about the need to deal with contact area wear over time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EmTea 1 Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Quick question, anyone have a company to recommend when going with the chroming option? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reverendfranz 160 Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Im not sure, but i think the only forum vendor that does chrome is Travers. Otherwise, there are alot of companies that do nice work, and googling ak bolt carrier chrome should find you a few. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eric Pate 478 Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 I just want to add that you should check out Robar NP3. Its a FANTABULOUS finish (carbon literally slides right off)and I hope to eventually have all of my bolts refinished in NP3. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cobra 76 two 2,677 Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Im not sure, but i think the only forum vendor that does chrome is Travers. Otherwise, there are alot of companies that do nice work, and googling ak bolt carrier chrome should find you a few. For the record, Jack Travers is no longer a forum vendor... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cobra 76 two 2,677 Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 So I want to polish the bolt carrier on my Saiga .233. I read on some posts that people use clear Engine enamel to finish and protect the metal. My question is which clear do you use. There is gloss, satin , flat, and metalic. Which one would simply protect the metal? I just want a true clear coat but am afraid that I may buy the wrong one and end up with something strange. Ok, so you polished your bolt carrier to reduce friction & now you want to repaint it to gum it back up again? Go for the chrome or try Bluing it, would be my suggestion. Rust protection without friction. This is a rifle, not a Saiga shottie. He wants "bling", it's not about getting a slick surface. (at least that's what it sounds like to me) I had a bunch of my bolt carriers bead blasted to get that old school AK look. They have a nice satin steel "in the white" appearance. At this stage you can take it a step further and polish it to a super shiny, chrome like finish, leave it like it is and just keep an eye on it for light surface rust, or you can paint it with a hi temp ceramic engine enamel like Dupli-Color. You can probably get that in clear but I haven't tried that myself. Another option is something that I'm trying tomorrow actually, something that dinzag told me about....is Dupli-Color Ceramic Aluminum coating. It's heat tested to 500 degrees and dinzag has posted pics of some bolt carriers he did with it that look pretty nice. He and I both had a good number of our carriers bead blasted a few years ago by a mutual friend here. We both found that if you don't coat it with something, or keep it oiled at least a little, it will eventually develop some surface rust. It's easy to keep an eye on it and get it cleaned up with steel wool if it happens, so I never coated any of mine. I'll be trying it tomorrow though on an extra BC for my S-20, and if I like it I'll also do my new 5.45 with it. My plan is to start offering this as a service in my business section. I already modify and polish a lot of S-12 and S-20 bolts and bolt carriers for people for increased performance, so I'm now offering to make them look all nice and shiny too, as an option. Here's what they look like just cleaned down to bare metal.... Then after some polishing by hand... some early pics of my AKS-12 and Saiga 410 when I first got them done... Update...OK I did do a couple of my bolt carriers in the ceramic aluminum coating, and I think they turned out GREAT! I'm going to do the rest of them too, because I like the color better and this will increase, rather than decrease rust protection. I'm tired of having to get out the steel wool and oil every few months to shine them back up. This finish looks almost exactly like the finish used to look, right after I was done polishing them originally, after bead blasting. Then over time (the past five years) the blasted ones have faded to a much more dull finish. Here's what they look like before and after the new coating... The top one in the pics, has been bead blasted to bere metal, and lightly polished by hand, using a polishing compound (again...that was 5 yrs ago...it used to look like the pics I posted above) The other one I sanded down and applied the Dupli-Color Ceramic Aluminum Engine Enamel, then baked it on. My S-20 before... After... 5.45x39 (was black before) As far as the comment above about 'polishing it down smooth, then gunking it back up with paint'...well, it is possible to repolish the small areas where friction can be an issue. I plan to go out to the range and put some ammo through both these guns, and see if there is any wear....then in the areas where any is discovered, polish those areas. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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