Just had my Freedom Arms model 83 done in Black Nitride

[AbitNutz]

I admit it. I was a little worried about finishing my F/A Model 83 in 45 Casull in Black Nitride. I'm not a fan of guns that are light or bright. My model 83 has been around for quite a while and needed something. It was looking a bit "well handled". So I decided to update it. I returned it to F/A and had them change it over to the newer screw in firing pin and change out all the springs, check it all out and give it sort of a mechanical refresh. I then sent it to Magnaport and had the barrel ported...man does that work on a 5" 454 Casull!. The turn around from them was less than a week. I also had them do a reverse crown on the barrel. It turns out that Magnaport is one of the few smiths authorized by F/A to work on their revolvers. Wonderful people to deal with.

I then broke it all down and took it up to H&M Metal Processing. They do all the OEM work...and I mean all of it. I dropped it off on a Friday and it was done on Tuesday. More than that, you can't ask for. I shouldn't have been concerned. The deep matt black is just awesome! It's so nice, I believe F/A should offer it as an option. I should have it all back together in a few days and I'll post some pictures.

[nicholst55]

How much did H&M charge, if you don't mind my asking?

Also, what? No Pictures?

[W.R.Buchanan]

I have a NAA Mini-Master which is about to get it's barrel cutoff to Pug Length IE: 1" That gun was designed originally by Freedom Arms and is all stainless.

I am cutting the barrel of as we can't have a Pug in CA because it is not on the list due to being too short. The owner of NAA suggested cutting the barrel.

I was looking at Cera-Koting the gun myself but the Black Nitride coating is another option I'd like to look at and might be more appropriate for this gun.

We need pics of your gun! Please?

Randy

[W.R.Buchanan]

Pics?

[Whiterabbit]

I'd like to see it too. I've thought about "bluing" my BFR, not sure how handsome it would turn out (or not).

[AbitNutz]

Ok, coming shortly. It's hard to photograph. The matt black finish kinda sucks up the light like a black hole. I tried to do the white out thing on the Magnaport logo but that didn't turn out well at all. I think laser engraving is just too light to make that work out. I've done it to a couple of other guns that I've had Black Nitrided and it worked really well.

[AbitNutz]

Ok, This thing is a pain in the A$$ to take a pic of! It sucks up light like a black hole! Forgive the ugly Pachmayr grips. They're required when you shoot full power 454 loads. Also, you can see the ported barrel. The finish is absolutely clean and even...even though the picture isn't. I really like the gun this way rather than the matte stainless finish. I just noticed that you can see a kinda cloudy/milky area on the barrel where the identification is...that's where I tried to do the white out, white lettering trick and failed to get it all off. I just noticed this in the picture. I guess I'll have to actually clean it instead of wiping it off.

I have several other guns I've had "Black Nitrided" and they turn out like the original polish was. The F/A is a Field Grade so it was a bead blasted matte. If your gun was a high polish, the black will also be that way...but you must tell them not to bead blast it...and leave it polished!

One other thing I really appreciate is that this finish is hard...and I mean hard. It is about 70 Rockwell. The only risk you have when you knock it about is making it shiny.

I had Magnaport do a reverse bevel muzzle crown. I really like that crown. It's tough to damage and looks really unique.

To anyone contemplating buying an F/A. This is not your father's SAA. It is very complex inside. There are a huge amount of parts inside compared to any other SAA. The parts are also intricate and complex machined pieces. There are at least 10 or more parts to the hammer. Some of them I have never encountered in any other SAA. However, the thing is unbelievably well finished. If you hold the gun up to a light, you can not see any light through the barrel to cylinder gap. However it doesn't drag or touch. I haven't figured that one out yet. The gap is .001 or .002 at the most.

I should have put the fancy wood grips on for the picture...those Pachmayr's make it look like a deep, black rubber mallet.


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[lefty o]

interesting. ive got to say personally i like nitride, but prefer it on a polished surface.

[AbitNutz]

Me too, but polishing up a field grade matte pistol is a fortune.

[Blackwater]

For a pistol for the field, I like the matte finish. You can move it without flashing, which can be important sometimes, or at minimum, an asset, just in case the light's coming from the wrong angle for you. Looks very "business like" to me.

[AbitNutz]

Really, I'm starting to sound like I'm defending an ugly sister but ... pictures just do not do it justice. This gun looks menacing...which is good for a gun.

Also, one thing that drives me a little bonkers about most stainless alloys and this is no exception. They tend to be softer than normal carbon steel. Which is good and bad. Good, because if you ding it, you can polish it out without a problem. Bad, because it dings! Trust me, this thing no longer dings. It always felt/weighed like a monolithic piece of depleted uranium...now it could double as a mallet and the only thing that would be damaged is the nail.

It also cleans much easier. Whenever I shoot full house jacketed bullets, especially the light, high velocity variety, I would get a degree of copper fouling, as you would expect. Like anything else, it was a bit of a chore to remove, depending on how many rounds went through it...Now? It hardly fouls at all and cleans up almost instantly. Nothing seems to stick to it.

I blew some past my LabRadar and the Magnaporting cost me about 50 fps on average. It was well worth it! Now it doesn't try and leap out of my hand with 300 gr Hornady XTP's.

[lefty o]

thats what most people dont get about nitride, they all think its a finish, and it isnt. it is a great heat treat and leaves a nice hard skin behind. though some nice finishes can be left behind by nitriding.

[AbitNutz]

The thing is that whatever the finish was before you nitride it, is what you're going to get after. If you had a silky smooth, ultra polished shine before hand, you're going to have the exact same thing afterward [AS LONG AS YOU TELL THEM NOT TO BLAST IT TO A MATTE] only it will be jet black.

The actual texture of the F/A field grade I had done is exactly the same as what I got back...except it's jet black. It's actually a lot more even matte now because they did blast it. It's also going to stay that way because you can ruin a good file trying to change it.

Do not do this treatment if you don't like carbon jet black.

Again, my sister ain't ugly...she's menacing.

[RKJ]

I like it. It does look menacing. The (for lack of a better word) Dull finish is nice.

[Blackwater]

If you don't mind my asking, how much does this run in $?

[alamogunr]

If you don't mind my asking, how much does this run in $?

+1

I was going to ask but Blackwater beat me to it. I'm glad there is another definition of "black gun".

[AbitNutz]

If you don't mind my asking, how much does this run in $?

Sorry for the stupid long reply but I love this place.

That part is hilarious. H&M Metal Processing up in Akron, Ohio. I've had probably 4 or 5 guns done by them...really more than that because I would disassemble a gun and add a pile of various parts, down to tiny set screws. They price it per gun. $200.00 no matter rifle or pistol but I've taken my Savage F/TR with 3 barrels and it was still $200.

So the last time I went up with the F/A, dropped it off on Friday, they called Tuesday and said it was ready. I drove up and the owner...it's a family owned business...asked me how much they charged me the last time. I thought, uh oh. They're going to yell at me for extra parts. I told him $200. I must indeed look like a friendly or more likely, pathetic old guy. He said, Ok, how about $150? I just cracked up and said...Ok, $150.

This place is awesome. It's a big factory that does Ferritic Nitrocarburizing for just about everyone, certainly all the OEM's. They do S&W, etc, etc. I think they do people like me, just to humor me. They're not really set up for us little people. The first time I went to pay they asked me if I had a purchase order. I said no and handed them a credit/debit card. They had no way to process it. I had to fish for a personal check.

You go to the office and you're greeted by a dog and everyone is in bedroom casual. I mean there were a couple of hugely pregnant women there in pajamas! It's family owned and I think they employ every brother, sister, cousin, idiot nephew and deadbeat uncle. It's hilarious! And they do a magnificent job. I've never once had an issue with quality. They always tell me if I ever do have a problem, bring it back and they do it all over for free.

I live in SW Ohio so it's a couple hour drive to go there but I prefer to do that. They do not do any firearms disassembly! All they do is Black Nitride. You must take it apart and put it back together. I've never had them loose or mess up a part, no matter how tiny. You can not Black Nitride any springs. The process cooks them. That rule doesn't seem to apply to things like 1911 extractors. They come out fine and work just like normal.

I can't recommend H&M Metal processing highly enough, both for what they do and how they go about doing it.

[alamogunr]

Thanks for the clarification, Abitnutz. I don't think that I will be sending any guns to H&M. I don't trust myself to disassemble a Freedom Arms(or any other gun) down to the screw and spring level. I can get them apart but reassembling is my weak point. I tend to find something that doesn't fit and throw caution to the wind and force things, always with disastrous results.

I would love to have my FA 83 black nitrided. I bought it used and used Scotch Brite on it because it was, well, used. Plus I have 3 extra cylinders that would need the same treatment although I have seen pictures of blue guns w/stainless cylinders. Different but nice looking.

[AbitNutz]

I was really worried about getting my F/A back together. First, I had to make sure that the firing pin was the newer style, where you can unscrew and remove the pin. It wasn't, so I had to send it back to F/A to have that done. That cost was a very reasonable $116.00. The new one is much better because I understand that the old swaged in style could potentially break when dry firing.

Anyway, between the time I took it apart, picked up the parts from H&M and then started to reassemble it...was over a month. I got sick, did a hospital thing. When I got back to it I really couldn't remember how things went. I should have taken pictures. The hammer is by far the most intimidating. There are like 10 parts to the hammer. It's a like a Chinese puzzle when it goes back together, each piece fits perfectly. However, you could try to assemble it somewhat wrong.

The truth is, that once I was over the initial shock of not remembering what went where and started to use what I know about how guns work, it was a relatively quick process. There is one procedure that must be followed. There are 12 spring in the gun. It is best to bag each one and mark on the bag the number in the diagram that it corresponds to. It's very difficult to tell from the diagram what spring is what. The exploded diagram is extremely helpful but it's not a blueprint.

The wonderful thing about the F/A is that it fits exactly together and no springs are under crazy tension when assembling. There's little danger of firing a spring across the room like there are on many other guns.

It's true, the F/A is not a simple gun but it is a well designed one. I hate the way you have to remove the firing pin on a Ruger Blackhawk. You drive a diagonal running pin out from behind the loading gate, up through the other side recoil shield. I hate tight fitting solid pins. You can always ding something up driving it out. Also, when you put it back in, you can't orientate it correctly so it never ends up flush. Ruger polishes it flush and blue the Blackhawk after they install the pin.

If I were going to disassemble a gun down to its bones, I wouldn't start with any revolver. Automatics are a piece of cake in comparison. 1911's an absolute no brainer.

I am thrilled to death the way my F/A turned out, the Magnaporting and Black Nitride really do it for me. The grips look like hell but they work better than anything else I have found.

[Blackwater]

Thank you sir. I keep thinking about doing one or more of my Marlin leverguns, and maybe some others. How rustproof is it? I'm really not familiar with its properties. Would it pretty well rust-proof a blued gun?