How to remove Duracoat

[fatelk]

I picked up a nice, older S&W revolver yesterday, a 28-1. I got a great deal on it, and here's why: for some reason a previous owner decided to Duracoat it, and did a very poor job.

In a couple places it flecks off with little trouble, but most of it comes off hard. I've had some parts soaking in acetone overnight, but it doesn't do much. Bead blast would take it off, but that would blast the polished metal I'm hoping to reblue. It's a project and I don't mind using some elbow grease. I know I could pay a couple hundred dollars to have a gunsmith do it right, but if I was going to do that I'd have just bought one that wasn't messed up.

[Winger Ed.]

About 20 years ago, everybody went all ga-ga over Duracoat and put it on everything except their breakfast cereal.

It's basically a high end epoxy paint.
Glass Bead blasting will do it, JASCO stripper for epoxy, or Klean strip's 'Aircraft Stripper'.

If it's on plastic parts--- like herpes, it's for life.

[cwtebay]

Like Winger Ed said about the fad is spot on. I bought a single shot 410 about 20 years ago from a classmate for $25. It was flaking also. I disassembled and boiled all of the parts in distilled water. That lifted off a lot, and a plastic windshield scraper took off the majority after repeating twice. I then wrapped the parts in old t-shirts and soaked the works with 99% alcohol untill it peeled. Getting it out of the nooks and crannies (and lettering) needed a dental pick and a nylon brush on a Dremel.
I did get the DuraCoat off to reveal......a gun that needed Dura Coat!! Stripped it and parkerized (poorly - it was a first attempt and it shows!!).

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[fatelk]

I posted about this in the handgun forum, so I'll copy and paste it here too:

Well, that was interesting. I just spent the whole afternoon watching Aquabats on youtube with my 9yo daughter, while carefully and patiently scraping Duracoat from every square millimeter of this old gun. I was hoping that the bluing underneath could be saved, so I didn't want to use harsh chemicals if I didn't have to.

What I used instead was several pieces of scrap brass in various shapes, just junk cases from my scrap bucket. I sharpened it with a file and scraped, and scraped. It came off fairly easy, but took a long time to scrape from every nook and cranny. I then polished it with oil and 000 steel wool.

What I found underneath was quite a surprise. This was a beautiful 28-2 from the early 1970s, in maybe 95% condition? Why in the world would someone coat it? Crazy. I'm amazed (and pleased) that the original bluing survived and looks so nice. I'm pretty happy with my $450 gun.



Added: I don't know exactly what was on this gun- Duracoat, Cerakote, or something else. Acetone didn't touch it, boiling in water didn't affect it, and carburetor cleaner did nothing. Scraping with brass was boring and laborious, but effective.

[William Yanda]

Nice job. Your patience is rewarded.

[contender1]

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

[cwtebay]

I posted about this in the handgun forum, so I'll copy and paste it here too:

Well, that was interesting. I just spent the whole afternoon watching Aquabats on youtube with my 9yo daughter, while carefully and patiently scraping Duracoat from every square millimeter of this old gun. I was hoping that the bluing underneath could be saved, so I didn't want to use harsh chemicals if I didn't have to.

What I used instead was several pieces of scrap brass in various shapes, just junk cases from my scrap bucket. I sharpened it with a file and scraped, and scraped. It came off fairly easy, but took a long time to scrape from every nook and cranny. I then polished it with oil and 000 steel wool.

What I found underneath was quite a surprise. This was a beautiful 28-2 from the early 1970s, in maybe 95% condition? Why in the world would someone coat it? Crazy. I'm amazed (and pleased) that the original bluing survived and looks so nice. I'm pretty happy with my $450 gun.



Added: I don't know exactly what was on this gun- Duracoat, Cerakote, or something else. Acetone didn't touch it, boiling in water didn't affect it, and carburetor cleaner did nothing. Scraping with brass was boring and laborious, but effective.

WOW!!! I would like to see the before pictures too!!
Your liberal application of elbow grease worked wonders!!

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[Winger Ed.]

This was a beautiful 28-2 from the early 1970s, in maybe 95% condition? Why in the world would someone coat it? .

Good job.
Those wonder-coats everybody went all goofy for in the 90s was more or less a real good grade of epoxy paint.
The high end epoxy paint chemical strippers will soak in, soften and make it expand.
Then you can sluff it off with a tooth brush, steel wool, Scotch brite, etc.

Back in the 90s or so, the gun comic books were full of articles singing its praises, and people just went nuts
send things out and putting it on everything.
If you didn't 'follow the science' and use it, all your guns would rot away from corrosion right before your eyes.

There were a few fads back then.
Another one was everyone going crazy over cryo-treated barrels, and if you didn't moly coat your bullets---
you'd be lucky to hit the ground with old fashioned plain ones.

[Shawlerbrook]

Beautiful ! Like finding a hidden treasure.

[ilcop22]

Great work! Years ago, I used duracoat on a 1911. The effort to scrape all of it off was insane. I used a paint stripper to assist the removal. There was no metal etching with the stripper. I believe it was Kleen Strip premium with their wash after I was done.

[fatelk]

WOW!!! I would like to see the before pictures too!!
Your liberal application of elbow grease worked wonders!!

I wish I had thought to take before photos. In retrospect I probably should have looked around for some paint stripper that would have made the job easier, but all well that ends well.

I'm pretty happy with it. It's a great shooter. My son and I took a bunch of empty bean/soup cans to the range and set them out on the 25 yard berm. We were drilling them nearly every shot, using my favorite full-bore .357 Mag 160gr powder coated cast bullets. This big, heavy gun is so tame even with magnum loads. My 15yo son doesn't care for guns that kick yet (give him a couple years), but he shoots this one no problem.

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

Me too!




Added: I actually didn't strip it from the underside of the top strap, the front of the cylinder, the barrel breech, or the recoil shield/inside frame. You don't normally look at those parts so I figured I'd eventually scrape off whatever doesn't wear off. Interestingly, the gun had never been fired since being coated. The coating on the barrel breech and cylinder face disappeared quickly with the first cylinder full of magnums.

[Greg S]

Durscoat (Lowery) is actually a urethane coating developed by Shirwin Williams. Any HD Epoxy/Urethane stripper will loosen it up. Brush it on, wrap in saran wrap and re-aply.