Cerakoting my P226 - A Pictorial

[Crysknife1013]

Hopefully it's okay to post this in the Handguns Gallery sub-forum because I'm including a ton of photos...

First for reference, I've owned my P226 since May 2012. However, over the past year, I've wanted to customize it and make it my own. So I had it cerakote'ed.

Before:

My Sig P226 by dalipiojr, on Flickr


The Sig's right side by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Frame [Left Profile] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Frame [Right Profile] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Frame [Top] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Frame [Underside] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Parts by dalipiojr, on Flickr

[Crysknife1013]

And here it is

After:

IMG_6627 by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Underside [B] Post-Cerakote by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Underside [A] Post-Cerakote by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Top [B] Post-Cerakote by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Top [A] Post-Cerakote by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Left Profile Post-Cerakote by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Right Profile Post-Cerakote by dalipiojr, on Flickr


IMG_6628_edited by dalipiojr, on Flickr

[Crysknife1013]

P226 Assembled Right Profile by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Assembled Left Profile by dalipiojr, on Flickr


P226 Assembled Slide Open by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Close-up of Barrel & Guide Rod Post-Cerakote by dalipiojr, on Flickr

[Elysium]

Great 'kote job. It's a nice looking 226.

Is the color FDE?

[NatesDad]

Very nice indeed. I've got a 226 that I've been thinking about coating. I saw a 92FS in the marketplace that was either OD/FDE or OD/Black, either way it looked sick. How much did it cost, if you don't mind? Also, did you strip it to the frame or did the coating shop do that for you?

[Jeymz]

Damn, that looks awesome. Good work!

[Omil]

Looks great! Well done.

[Kalakaua]

The final product looks sweet!

[Crysknife1013]

First, let me say that I don't regret cerakote'ing my pistol. I think the new finish makes it much more mine and less like everyone else's. Again,that was my goal.

But I do want to warn other newbies like me that cerakote'ing a pistol with tight tolerances (such as a P226 or a Les Baer 1911 or similar) will screw it up royally!

After I got the frame and parts back from the shop I took it to, I jumped right into reassembling it. But the barrel would not go back into battery. At all.

After cussing myself out for 30 minutes for destroying a $900+ investment, I calmed down and looked at what was going on. After an hour or so of inspecting where the barrel was getting caught in the slide, I saw that there wasn't enough clearance on the front and back of the hood. (I hope that's what it's called. Let me point out again, that I'm just a noob.) So I thought that I could just sand away the cerakote in those areas.

I took out some sand paper I had in a drawer and started sanding. When I thought that I had sanded away the cerakote, I tried to put the barrel back in the slide. But still no go. The barrel would still not slide all the way up the ejection port. So I sanded some more. And some more. And some more. Still no luck!

That night I cried myself to sleep.

The next day, I combed through the internet looking to see if anyone else in the world was as dumb as me and had run into the same problem. The only things I was finding were people on 1911 forums saying that they had to sand away the cerakote around the muzzle of the barrel where it was contacting the bushing. And after that, they were able to get their barrel to go back into battery. So I tried that. I sanded away the cerakote on the bottom side of the muzzle of the barrel. But guess what? It didn't help.

I cussed myself out for a hour this time and cried myself to sleep again that night.

The next day, I took my pistol to my LGS to see if anyone there could give me any advice. As soon as they saw what I did, they handed me the card of a gunsmith they recommend to idiots like me.

So I called him. He's actually a Calgunner - kendog4570. Nice guy. After I described to him what my problem was, it sounded like he knew what to look for and had experience with failed cerakote jobs. The only drawback was his shop is 40 miles south of where I am located. He said that I could ship it to him. But I thought I read somewhere that handguns have to be shipped overnight via UPS or FedEx. And I couldn't afford that plus his service.

So I looked around Calguns and found another gunsmith recommendation - Don Lazzerini. Just 10 miles away in Santa Clara. I called his office and got his voicemail. The outgoing message said that walk-in hours were Thursdays and Fridays from 11am - 2pm. I looked at my calendar and found that I couldn't sneak out of work till the following week.

Fast forward one week, on my lunch hour that Thursday, I drove over to Don's shop. I get there around 12:45pm. The sign on the door confirms what the voicemail message said - walk-in hours Thursdays and Fridays from 11am - 2pm. But the front door is locked and the lights are out. I knock. No answer. I knock again. No answer. I knock louder. But still no answer. I figure, maybe he stepped out for lunch. I'll hang out for a little bit.

After 20 minutes, there was still no one there. By this time another guy drives into the parking lot and comes to the same door I'm waiting at. He asks if anyone's there. I told him that I haven't been able to get anyone to answer the door.

Don's office is next door to some type of martial arts / self defense gym. I guess one of the guys in the gym knew Don and saw us waiting. He comes over and tells us that Don was out for the week and wouldn't be back till next week!

So I leave pissed and giving up all hope.

Fast forward two weeks. (Things got busy at work and at home. So I was able to forget about my problems for a little while.)

I'm home alone on a Saturday and I have some time to myself. So I decide to try to work on the pistol myself and see if I could get it back together on my own.

I look at the barrel and slide again and I'm thinking that the barrel still doesn't have enough clearance in the rear to come all the way back and up into the ejection port.

This time, I pull out the dremel and some grinding bits. I ground down the surfaces I thought were getting caught up in the slide little by little. I mean I literally made one grinding pass and then tested it. Then another grinding pass and tested that. I really didn't count how many passes I made with the dremel, but after however many it was, the barrel finally went back into the slide!! (Cue the hallelujah music...)

Sorry for the long-winded story! But I really needed to vent all that out.

In summary: NEVER CERAKOTE A P226's BARREL! It's not worth the money, time, or trouble!!! The other parts I had done - the frame, the grip screws, the guide rod, and even the hammer - seem to work fine with the cerakote. But the barrel just didn't want to have any of it!

Hopefully this will provide a little insight to anyone that might be considering cerakote'ing his/her own pistol.

Thanks for reading!

[Crysknife1013]

Originally Posted by Elysium

Is the color FDE?

Yup. I specifically asked for Magpul Flat Dark Earth.

The color in the pictures are just off. I used the automatic settings on my camera and so the flash washed out all the images. I tried to use the photo-editing software on Flickr to try to correct the color but wasn't so successful.

[Crysknife1013]

Originally Posted by NatesDad

How much did it cost, if you don't mind? Also, did you strip it to the frame or did the coating shop do that for you?

I can't really say how much it cost because I worked out a deal with the owner of the shop I took it to. He cerakote'ed 6 items for me for a package deal of $150.
1) the Sig P226 frame
2) 4 grip screws for the P226
3) the guide rod for the P226
4) the hammer for the P226
5) the barrel for the P226
6) a stripped AR-15 lower

Originally, he was going to charge me $220 - $75 for the 226 frame + $75 for the stripped lower + $50 for the barrel + $20 for the hammer, guide rod and screws. But we negotiated...

As for stripping the firearm, I stripped it down completely myself at home and just took the parts I wanted coated to the shop. I didn't want to take the chance of them losing/misplacing anything that I didn't want coated.

[NatesDad]

Thanks for the info. However your tale of sadness trying to reassemble the slide has me thinking hard about coating mine! Glad to hear you eventually got it all back together, and on your own no less. The reward of doing it yourself is what drove me to build my ARs and the 80% 1911 I have coming. Good job.

[scfrogmansc]

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=802893
check out how my 1911 turned out, the guys at livefire coatings can sure do stuff with tight tolerance with no problem!

[Crysknife1013]

Originally Posted by scfrogmansc

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=802893
check out how my 1911 turned out, the guys at livefire coatings can sure do stuff with tight tolerance with no problem!

Your 1911 is sick, frogman!

Do you actually shoot it? Or does it sit in a glass case for everyone to ogle and admire?

[syferstream]

So crysknife can you upload the picture of just your barrel post-cerakote and post-fitting so I can get a gauge of where you dremel'd and sanded? Was it deep enough that you bit into the actual steel?

[Crysknife1013]

Originally Posted by syferstream

So crysknife can you upload the picture of just your barrel post-cerakote and post-fitting so I can get a gauge of where you dremel'd and sanded? Was it deep enough that you bit into the actual steel?

Barrel Breach View [A] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Barrel Breach View [B] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Barrel Breach View [C] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Barrel Breach View [D] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Underside of Muzzle by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Front of Hood [A] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Front of Hood [B] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Front of Hood [C] by dalipiojr, on Flickr


Underside of feed ramp by dalipiojr, on Flickr

Where you see bare metal is pretty much where I ground and sanded.

Where the Cerakote has been scraped off and worn down is actually just the wear and tear from shooting 50 rounds through the pistol after I refit the barrel, reassembled and took it to the range to test fire.

[Crysknife1013]

P.S. The nicks and dents you see on the feed ramp are NOT from grinding or sanding. I believe those were caused when the barrel was not going all the way up into the ejection port and so while trying to reassemble the pistol, the feed ramp was getting caught (and rammed) against the locking block...

[chozenfew805]

OP! Keep us updated with a report on durability and other lessons learned.

[scfrogmansc]

Originally Posted by Crysknife1013

Your 1911 is sick, frogman!

Do you actually shoot it? Or does it sit in a glass case for everyone to ogle and admire?

yeah i put 300 rd through it already everything works great!

[ljgrasso]

Gun looks great, thanks for sharing your experience.

[syferstream]

Thanks for the pics crysknife. I would be pulling my hair out if anything happened to my hypothetical ~$900 - $1000 hand gun. You went at that barrel with the mind of a surgeon and the will of a soldier.

How's the accuracy of the barrel?

[Crysknife1013]

Originally Posted by syferstream

How's the accuracy of the barrel?

Hard to say... The accuracy of the shooter wasn't all that great to begin with

But when I test fired it, I was getting about the same size groups as before I messed things up. So I hope it's just me and not the barrel.

[Beach1]

Great story, glad u fixed it.

[r6guy85]

Ill be glad to take that sig off your hands sorry you had such a terrible experience.......how much you want for it?