USRKBA

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

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Here is some practical experience using Duracoat finishes “Duraheat 2.0” product.  Pictured below are 2 practically identical .30 suppressors, with a titanium tube and rear end cap and a carbon steel front end cap.  

 The instructions provided with the product are pretty easy to follow, but ... a little misleading.  degrease, rough up / sand the finish, but do not degrease again after sanding.  so far so good.  Shake / mix and step 4:  “apply ..with an airbrush, HVLP or other spray gun.

Only if you use a spray gun you will run out rapidly before you finish whatever you’re coating. 

it says you can put on 2, 1 mil thick coats 8 hours apart.  This is achievable with an airbrush.  it says that curing will occur in 8 hours but for best performance heat to 350 for 20 minutes.  wait 8 more hours before subjecting to heat, do not subject to extreme heat during the first use.

Here’s another thing to avoid:  Solvents. I inadvertently used a paper towel on one of the suppressors pictured below - the top one - that I’d previously used mineral spirits to clean some other part.  The paper towel was almost dry, but it completely removed the duraheat from the tube, requiring it to be completely stripped and starting from scratch. 

After curing, the suppressors were checked for bore alignment through several mountings an dismounts.  Once confirmed they were taken to a local range for a function test; each suppressor had 6 rounds put through it, 3 rounds at a time.

Once they had passed this test the suppressors were taken to the range, and using the targets from the first range trip the POI shift was measured and confirmed.  At the 2nd range test, the Duraheat product failed completely after only 20 rounds of 5.56mm, fired in slow, aimed fire at a pace of only 1 round per second.  The pictures below illustrate the product simply melted off. Obviously when I attempted to remove the 2nd suppressor from the rifle it simply rubbed off in my hands.  You can also see how fragile the coating is from the nicks in both cans.  The top suppressor has only been shot with no more than 10 rounds at a time until the finish can be stripped.  The nicks have come from basic handling from 2 trips to the range; they’re holstered in pouches within a bag, so they are not bouncing around loose. The scars on the lower can are from the melted “Duraheat” finish, rubbing off against surrounding objects when the suppressor was removed from the rifle after the 20 shot string. 

Based on the performance of the suppressor pictured below, the top one was only used lightly. Even with reduced firing, the finish felt ‘tacky’ and I expect it will also fail. 

 

 

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