Durability of parkerized finishes? [Archive] - Glock Talk


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01-16-2011, 12:46
Do they vary by company, or are they pretty standard across the board?
There's a couple of guns I have my eye on for my eventual 1911 purchase, and the contrast of parkerized frame and slide with a shiny stainless barrel and bushing looks stunning.
For example:
(That one has an aluminum frame, but just used as an example, the one I'm looking at is a Loaded with a steel frame, if that makes any difference).

Though i see galleries of pictures of these things, some look like they hold up quite well, some have a lot of marks on them. I'm not going to cry if it wears a little bit, but I don't want it to look beat to death either. And this gun would be a range gun, not ever holstered or carried (can't do that unfortunately). Though I do sometimes get sweaty hands. :whistling:

In your experience has parkerized stood the test of time?

01-16-2011, 13:22
I have a couple parked guns and the finish holds up fine but you need to clean and oil them regularly after trips to the range or they will rust.

The test of time: I have an old parked gun from the 60's that has seen allot of range time and looked fine....until i forgot to clean it last year after a trip to the range.....it has now been stripped reparked and cerakoted.

01-16-2011, 14:48
Parking is basically an acid bath and not really a "finish" per se.

They can rust easily, because there's not really a protective finish on the steel.

01-16-2011, 16:04
I oil my Springfield Loaded Parkerized weekly. I've been carrying it more since I had some work done on it. I love the way it looks (wear marks) from handling, holstering, etc.

01-16-2011, 17:12
bac can you blue a parkerized gun, in that case?
thurn, pics!

01-16-2011, 20:48
bac can you blue a parkerized gun, in that case?
thurn, pics!

Sure, if you strip off the park first.

01-16-2011, 21:09
I am not a huge fan of park'ing. When i got my Spartan, the whole idea was to refinish it utilizing either Cerakote or GunKote. I wore the park off and did exactly what i intended.

Jim S.
01-17-2011, 16:13
In your experience has parkerized stood the test of time?

Everything we had in the military was parkerized.
It held up fine to a lot of abuse. Unless the finish is worn down to the bare metal it doesn't normally rust.
It holds oil very well too.
It doesn't take a lot of maintenance either other than wiping it down with an oily rag or even just a dry rag most of the time.
Not all parkerized finishes are created equal.
Many gun manufacturers have gotten cheap and use some crap chemicals that I have seen peel off and wear way too fast.
Depends on who it is that is putting the gun out.
My two Springers have pretty decent parkerized finishes on them.

01-17-2011, 16:26
I will recommend Cerakote!