372 replies to this topic

[A_Med]

I put 200 rounds through the gun last couple of days. Not even a hint of wear on the barrel hood or at the muzzle. Amazing stuff.

Angel

[JThompson]

I put 200 rounds through the gun last couple of days. Not even a hint of wear on the barrel hood or at the muzzle. Amazing stuff.

Angel

Keep us posted as the round count goes up.

[B.J. Norris]

General question, does this stuff feel slicker than the polished stainless of mag tubes?

[Interceptor]

I shipped mine to Ryan and it arrived at Ionbond today. He quoted me 6-7 weeks to get it finished. I will add pics when it comes in.

[Matt Cheely]

I shipped mine to Ryan and it arrived at Ionbond today. He quoted me 6-7 weeks to get it finished. I will add pics when it comes in.

Ouch. Anyone know if you can just put your name in line? I don't want to have to borrow a gun for 2 months to shoot matches!

[steel1212]

I shipped mine to Ryan and it arrived at Ionbond today. He quoted me 6-7 weeks to get it finished. I will add pics when it comes in.

Ouch. Anyone know if you can just put your name in line? I don't want to have to borrow a gun for 2 months to shoot matches!

Matt wouldn't that be just another excuse to build another gun

[Scout454]

Angel,
Are you going to bring it to Black Creek?

Mike

[CDRODA396]

Ok, traffic in Greensboro sucks on a Friday! Just got back from IonBond, and could NOT be happier with the finish or the customer service from Ryan. If you have ANY questions, call, he'll drop what he's doing and answer them all.

When I picked it up, there was some grey splotching that A Med mentioned all over the slide. Ryan explained that the finish is basically billions of microscopic tubes all lined up that "fill up" with oil when you rub it down, then when its needed for lubrication, it releases it. When you store it in a gun case with the foam liners, the foam liners will soak up some of the oil, leaving the grey splotches...as soon as you rub it with your fingers, it turns black!

I asked about the gloss finish and he said they dont get many asking for it...but they have done a pair of guns they sent out and had polished to a mirror like finish, then when they coated it, it looked like a black mirror. I imagine it is pretty sweet.

On mag bodies, I polished mine with Mothers Mag polish to a very high gloss before taking them in and they look just like black chrome. To answer B J Norris' question, the mags feel like a slightly oiled stainless finish, not much different than when I had mine highly polished with the mag polish, elbow grease and a dremel.

I am no photographer, so these pics look alot like A Meds...I wish I could see A Med's in person to compare the satin and the matte. Where do you shoot in VA and are you shooting this Sat, I might have to drive up!!!

My Webpage
My Webpage
My Webpage
Its difficult to tell, but they really are black!
The gun...
My Webpage
My Webpage
My Webpage
My Webpage
[Admins if I am screwing this up and taking up too much space, feel free to delete and I'll PM someone who can help me clean them up...thanks]

Monday the Public Affairs Photographer is supposed to take some "real" pics and I'll replace these with some better shots of the surface.

Edited by CDRODA396, 29 April 2007 - 04:53 AM.

[A_Med]

I shipped mine to Ryan and it arrived at Ionbond today. He quoted me 6-7 weeks to get it finished. I will add pics when it comes in.

Ouch. Anyone know if you can just put your name in line? I don't want to have to borrow a gun for 2 months to shoot matches!

I don't think you can put your name in line but you can pay extra for a RUSH job. I was originally quoted 6 weeks as well. I got mine back in 1 week. But it cost me an extra yard. It was worth it to me. It is only money after all.

Angel

Angel,
Are you going to bring it to Black Creek?

Mike

If you mean the 3-Gun Match probably not. I didn't sign up. It will be at Fredericksburg next week though.

Angel

I am no photographer, so these pics look alot like A Meds...I wish I could see A Med's in person to compare the satin and the matte. Where do you shoot in VA and are you shooting this Sat, I might have to drive up!!!

Looks great!! and the pics are great too.

Angel

Edited by A_Med, 27 April 2007 - 03:25 PM.

[CDRODA396]

Thanks A Med, I'll get some whole gun shots that show it better next week, you set a high standard! I told Ryan if he'd post some pics of a gloss finish on here, he wouldnt need a website!

Ryan also told me normal turn around time is 6-7 weeks, but is usually is done in 3-4.

I cant wait to see how the magazines hold up, they look sweet up close!

Black Guns Rock!

[steel1212]

I wonder how that finish would work on nickel plated para mags? That is pretty sweet and I do love black guns! If I had known about this before I had my XD chromed I would have gone that route.

[darrenk75b]

I'm pretty excited about this finish- it looks to be the same stuff as on my Kahr PM9 slide, which has held up very well to regular carry use.

[shadetree]

Those mags look awsome. I'm geeting excited but with a wait that long i'm going to have to get my backup gun before I send this one out. It definitely looks like it will be worth the wait though.

[steel1212]

Those mags look awsome. I'm geeting excited but with a wait that long i'm going to have to get my backup gun before I send this one out. It definitely looks like it will be worth the wait though.

I think I'll just wait until the end of the season and then send in my para. I'll shoot production for the matches still going.

[A_Med]

Those mags look awsome. I'm geeting excited but with a wait that long i'm going to have to get my backup gun before I send this one out. It definitely looks like it will be worth the wait though.

Like I said just a mere $100. more and you can get it back in a week.

Angel

[OpnBlstr]

The first pic is parts as returned from Ryan at IonBond. The second is the final product.

[Flexmoney]

How would this stuff work on sights ?

Black enough?

[ChrisMcCracken]

OpnBlstr, that is one good looking gun! How was it prepped and are you happy with it?

Chris

[bp78]

Anyone have a pointer to a comparison of this to hardchrome?

I want to refinish my STI Trojan and had planned on a hardchrome job by Tripp. If I understand it correctly, the hardchrome finish is a bit harder than this finish. Possibly a bit smoother out of the holster too?

How ugly would a hardchrome slide and PVD/IonBond frame look? The IonBond shop is just up the road and would save my $100 in overnight postage to ship a firearm to & from Texas.

[CDRODA396]

Anyone have a pointer to a comparison of this to hardchrome?

I want to refinish my STI Trojan and had planned on a hardchrome job by Tripp. If I understand it correctly, the hardchrome finish is a bit harder than this finish. Possibly a bit smoother out of the holster too?

How ugly would a hardchrome slide and PVD/IonBond frame look? The IonBond shop is just up the road and would save my $100 in overnight postage to ship a firearm to & from Texas.

This is off of Tripp's website....

The Vickers hardness scale is normally used to test hard chrome. Since most firearm people are more familiar with the Rockwell C Hardness Scale, the apparent Rockwell C hardness of hard chrome is RC 70-75. A heat treated frame is usually RC 28-32. Hammers are generally RC 48-52 while sears are usually around Rc 56.

This is from a post by Ryan of IonBond in this thread....

The coating most of people are wanting is the DLC (Diamond Like Coating). This is our PVD coating that is the One tough mother of a coating. Hardness is 70-90 rockwell and thickness is 3 to 6 microns.

I would think that a HC frame with a DLC/PVD would look like most any HC slide/Black frame with pretty darn good overall wear resistance. If you're still not sure, call them both and see what they say, they both have great customer service reputations as far as I know.

Edited by CDRODA396, 30 April 2007 - 02:35 PM.

[OpnBlstr]

OpnBlstr, that is one good looking gun! How was it prepped and are you happy with it?

Chris

We blasted with 220 aluminum oxide as specified by Ryan. The finish came back exactly as he said it would - not too rough and very dark when oiled. Very happy with it as far as tactical use goes.

Anyone have a pointer to a comparison of this to hardchrome?

I want to refinish my STI Trojan and had planned on a hardchrome job by Tripp. If I understand it correctly, the hardchrome finish is a bit harder than this finish. Possibly a bit smoother out of the holster too?

How ugly would a hardchrome slide and PVD/IonBond frame look? The IonBond shop is just up the road and would save my $100 in overnight postage to ship a firearm to & from Texas.

Supposedly this stuff is 70-90 Rockwell. Very hard - harder than chrome. We built the gun to our standard tolerances which is VERY tight but smooth sliding. It wouldn't have been a problem with the hard chrome which only adds 0.0002" but it seems the IonBond is substantially thicker. We had to lap the rails with JB Bore Paste to slick it up. It didn't necessarily take off any depth of the finish but seems to have cut down the peaks of the finish. On future guns we will likely just leave a slight bit more clearance.

This is a demo gun we take to trade shows, etc so I decided to see how hard the stuff is. I took an X-Acto knife and gouged it into the disconnector rail - several times - it removes metal from the blade, deposits it on the finish, and doesn't scratch the IonBond. This is very close to the same coating they put on milling cutters and if that stuff can cut through 4340 steel and not come off the cutter then it can certainly stand up to a little holster wear!

Each finish has a different application. For competition guns I would personally prefer hard chrome since it seems to slide against itself smoother then the IonBond. For tactical use where the user needs a flat black finish that wears as good as chrome then I think the IonBond can't be beat. If you want a flat black finish for less $$ than IonBond where wear isn't the primary concern then TactiKote will work perfectly.

One other thing - make sure your disconnector and hammer are also IonBond coated as well since they run against this extremely hard surface with every pull of the trigger. 45R against 90R doesn't seem like a good idea.

We took the pistol out and put 500 rounds through it right away to help wear in the IonBond - it didn't seem to wear in at all! There was no difference from shot 1 to shot 500. I suspect this stuff will be very long wearing on the rails. Ryan is correct when he says the finish will soak up oil for a long time - it was thirsty for hours.

IonBond says they can do anything from polished to a rough finish. If you do a 220 grit frame I think it would look very good against a hard chrome slide. Be absolutely sure to NOT blast the rails or it will chew into the slide in short order!!!

[Radical Precision Designs]

OpnBlstr, that is one good looking gun! How was it prepped and are you happy with it?

Chris

We blasted with 220 aluminum oxide as specified by Ryan. The finish came back exactly as he said it would - not too rough and very dark when oiled. Very happy with it as far as tactical use goes.

Anyone have a pointer to a comparison of this to hardchrome?

I want to refinish my STI Trojan and had planned on a hardchrome job by Tripp. If I understand it correctly, the hardchrome finish is a bit harder than this finish. Possibly a bit smoother out of the holster too?

How ugly would a hardchrome slide and PVD/IonBond frame look? The IonBond shop is just up the road and would save my $100 in overnight postage to ship a firearm to & from Texas.

Supposedly this stuff is 70-90 Rockwell. Very hard - harder than chrome. We built the gun to our standard tolerances which is VERY tight but smooth sliding. It wouldn't have been a problem with the hard chrome which only adds 0.0002" but it seems the IonBond is substantially thicker. We had to lap the rails with JB Bore Paste to slick it up. It didn't necessarily take off any depth of the finish but seems to have cut down the peaks of the finish. On future guns we will likely just leave a slight bit more clearance.

This is a demo gun we take to trade shows, etc so I decided to see how hard the stuff is. I took an X-Acto knife and gouged it into the disconnector rail - several times - it removes metal from the blade, deposits it on the finish, and doesn't scratch the IonBond. This is very close to the same coating they put on milling cutters and if that stuff can cut through 4340 steel and not come off the cutter then it can certainly stand up to a little holster wear!

Each finish has a different application. For competition guns I would personally prefer hard chrome since it seems to slide against itself smoother then the IonBond. For tactical use where the user needs a flat black finish that wears as good as chrome then I think the IonBond can't be beat. If you want a flat black finish for less $$ than IonBond where wear isn't the primary concern then TactiKote will work perfectly.

One other thing - make sure your disconnector and hammer are also IonBond coated as well since they run against this extremely hard surface with every pull of the trigger. 45R against 90R doesn't seem like a good idea.

We took the pistol out and put 500 rounds through it right away to help wear in the IonBond - it didn't seem to wear in at all! There was no difference from shot 1 to shot 500. I suspect this stuff will be very long wearing on the rails. Ryan is correct when he says the finish will soak up oil for a long time - it was thirsty for hours.

IonBond says they can do anything from polished to a rough finish. If you do a 220 grit frame I think it would look very good against a hard chrome slide. Be absolutely sure to NOT blast the rails or it will chew into the slide in short order!!!

I might as well join in the band-wagon. I have seen the finish in some of these guns, and I am properly impressed. Enough to consider offering as an option to our clients. Prior to this I was considering regular "plasma" coating which is procesed similarly, but in my experience does not hold as well, or is as hard.

One thing that is obvious as "OpnBlstr" mentioned above is the "pre"-preparation of the parts prior to treatment. Presently i do not trust any of the commercial refinishers out there to return the parts as I want them, so they are ALWAYS prepped by me and the request is made to "just dip them in ONLY" and never to do any aditional "pre or post" handling. I am thoroughly "anal" about my parts. The rails should nicely "slick and polished" before and after "treatment". The same goes for breechfaces, and any "contact area" with the barrel, disconnector, hammer, sear, etc. Whenever I have left the preparation up to the refinisher, usually I get back something that looks and feels like a "rough brick surface" that now is worse because is as sharp. hard and abrasive as a file, and not like the smooth, slick, shiny surface I had toiled for hours to achieve.

I will give Ryan a call, and if I can get back a finish similar to the one I sent in, just "nicely black", then we will have a deal. That way I can a have a nice balance/blend between bead blasted satin, brushed satin, high polish, etc. I consider the finish in a custom gun to be a work of art that shouldn't be changed by the whim of the refinisher. After all getting back two surfaces that rub together which are harder than a file but rough like sand paper is not my idea of perfection.

Didn't I read somewhere that other COLORS besides black were available too?????

[OpnBlstr]

One thing that is obvious as "OpnBlstr" mentioned above is the "pre"-preparation of the parts prior to treatment. Presently i do not trust any of the commercial refinishers out there to return the parts as I want them, so they are ALWAYS prepped by me and the request is made to "just dip them in ONLY" and never to do any aditional "pre or post" handling.

Absolutely true. I trust Chris at Metaloy completely but too many other platers/finishers have given us problems. We sent two high-end 1911s out for hard chrome last year to another (*NOT Metaloy!!!*) company and they decided to 'clearance' the rails for their chrome. Both came back rattling BADLY. Ruined.

Kevin sent a comp gun to another plater years ago that decided to attack it with the buffing wheel. Needless to say the edges where comp met slide were ruined.

Chris at Metaloy will not touch the rails to add clearance - you shouldn't have to anyway! He will blast and brush if requested but he knows to not abasive blast the rails and breechface or attack it with the buffer.

When you pick a finisher, keep in mind that a good smith will spend 40-60 hours on a pistol to make it perfect. A plater can ruin it in 5 minutes.

[97TexasAggie]

Well, I just got my gun back from IonBond on Saturday. It was my first attempt at building my own and needless to say, Ryan and the guys at IonBond did a first rate job at making my project look great! I've already put 3000 rounds through it and there is zero visible wear on the rails or the barrel. I polished the flats of the slide and bead blasted the rest. All internal components were coated as well. I fully plan on sending them more business. Thanks for the great work Ryan.

 Caspian_007b.jpg   300.14K   1101 downloads
 Caspian_015b.jpg   83.11K   594 downloads

[shadetree]

Well, I just got my gun back from IonBond on Saturday. It was my first attempt at building my own and needless to say, Ryan and the guys at IonBond did a first rate job at making my project look great! I've already put 3000 rounds through it and there is zero visible wear on the rails or the barrel. I polished the flats of the slide and bead blasted the rest. All internal components were coated as well. I fully plan on sending them more business. Thanks for the great work Ryan.

 Caspian_007b.jpg   300.14K   1101 downloads
 Caspian_015b.jpg   83.11K   594 downloads

Nice looking gun. I really like those carbonfiber grips.