Finished my MG42

[flemgunner]

Here ya go guys. The guys at Project guns coated it for me turned out great

[drooling idiot]

beautiful, makes ME nervous seeing her hanging around guns with price tags on them. Hope she don't get SOLD by accident.

[42rocker]

Looks Good...

Later 42rocker

[Blanksguy]

Looks good.

Question......when you said that they "coated" it........what did they coat the receiver with (?)...or did they refinish it with "gun-blueing" or "black-parkerization".(?).

Regards, RichardS in MI.
Blanksguy2001@chartermi.net

[flemgunner]

My bad, its their duralite stuff. Gives it a nice black finish that matched all my other parts

[www.Prussia.us]

Another lives, looks outstanding

[Sd.kfz.173]

Just plain SEXY





Bill

[CRUSADER]

My bad, its their duralite stuff. Gives it a nice black finish that matched all my other parts

Do you mean 'Duracoat'? ... or perhaps 'Durabake' ?

It looks good!

Are you going to leave the stock 'as-is'?

[flemgunner]

Nope its duralite. I really dont know anything more about but its a bluing process that comes out black. I thought about duracoat but this is a full auto gun and I didnt know how well it would hold up plus I wanted it to look as original as possible

[waffendude]

looks awesome !!!!!!

[Michael J]

Beautiful, another piece of history saved

[Dan@AngolaArmory]

Its "Dulite" I've used it myself. Most major firearms manufacturers use this process also. S&W as well as Ruger.
FWIW,
Dan

[flemgunner]

Yep thats the stuff

[METALSMITTY45]

Looks real nice, Can you see the weld lines show with Dulite blueing? Love to see a close up as I've also been considering this instead of cold blue or bake on finishes.

[Boondoggle]

Du-Lite is a commercial name for hot alkaline black oxide. It's a mix of sodium hydroxide and sodium nitrate in water, heated to 285°. More difficult and hazardous than parkerizing, but gives that classic black "gun blue" look. Shiny or matte depending on the surface prep of the metal. I'd like to give it a try, if I can set up a safe space and equipment to do it.

http://www.substech.com/dokuwiki/doku.p ... de_coating

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

I think my MG-42 was refinished with black parkerization (bonderized). Any way to distinguish this from regular acid bluing ?

[Boondoggle]

Getting a bit off-topic, oh well.

I'm certainly no expert, but it seems the parkerizing is more of a matte porous looking finish. Zinc phosphate is a light gray to charcoal gray. Manganese is darker gray, with a brown to greenish tint. Black oxide is a smooth deep black, with bluish highlight under bright light. Polished metal will retain the polished look after black oxide.

Not easy to see in a picture, but the M53 cam on the right has the brown porous looking finish. The Polish made PPS43 on the left has the glossy deep black that I believe is the black oxide.

[TactAdv]

I think my MG-42 was refinished with black parkerization (bonderized). Any way to distinguish this from regular acid bluing ?

There are two basic chemical processes involved in these two most common firearms finishes.

In the most basic terms, one ("bluing", or "oxiding") is a chemical conversion oxidation process in which the base metal is allowed to chemically react with an oxidizer, usually an aqueous solution of Nitric and Hydrochloric acids, that produces a ferrous oxide that converts to a permanent coating. Oxide conversion coatings are typically very tough, hard, and able to resist much mechanical damages alone, though if they are penetrated, the bare metal is exposed again and will be free to rust again immediately. Secondary surface treatments with an "oil" provide additional protection if the surface was to ever be scratched, etc. The "oxide" coating itself though is what provides the primary protection, as chemically converted coating of the base metal.

"Parkerizing", "Bonderizing", or "phosphating" is a chemical etching process that most typically involves a dilute aqueous phosphoric acid bath, combined with a colorant (except in the case of "Bonderizing", which properly is without any colorant). The common colorants for firearms usage are either zinc (resulting in a Zinc phosphate coating), or manganese (resulting in a manganese phosphate coating), although both iron and copper are also used in rare cases. While surface conversion to a phosphate coating results, the primary value for the process is that it is essentially an acid etching process during which the acid reacting with the base metal produces a microscopic roughening of the surface which then allows a rust preventative compound, typically a petroleum based product like oil or grease, to adhere providing a protective barrier layer between the base metal and oxygen and moisture. Unlike "oxiding" where the conversion coating produced, itself, is the primary rust protectant, phosphating produces no real rust preventive value in and of itself, the phosphate conversion coating, but rather is the roughening of the surface that allows the oil, etc., to adhere that then protects the metal. "Dry" (non-oiled) parkerized surfaces have little to no rust protection beyond the very thin layer of phosphate coating that can be easily scratched off.

"Bluing" or "oxiding" will typically show a mostly smoother surface appearance, while any phosphate etched treatment will show a rougher texture, both being magnified under close inspection. Base surface preparation though has the most to do with this as you can certainly NOT polish before oxide, or DO polish before phosphating, but in either case that will result in poor finishes as that is exactly opposite of what results in best finish for each.

-TomH