What is parkerizing a barrel?

What is parkerizing a barrel?

Parkerizing is a method of protecting a steel surface from corrosion and increasing its resistance to wear through the application of a chemical phosphate conversion coating. Parkerizing is commonly used on firearms as a more effective alternative to bluing, which is an earlier-developed chemical conversion coating.

Is Parkerized the same as phosphate?

Manganese phosphate coating has the highest hardness and superior corrosion and wear resistances than any other phosphate coating. The process of forming manganese phosphate coating is commonly know as Parkerizing.

What is the purpose of a barrel in a gun?

A gun barrel is a metal tube through which hot, rapidly expanding propellant gases convert stored chemical energy to kinetic energy by accelerating a bullet, shot swarm or other mass to a velocity.

How is phosphate coating applied?

A phosphate coating is usually obtained by applying to the steel part a dilute solution of phosphoric acid, possibly with soluble iron, zinc, and/or manganese salts. The solution may be applied by sponging, spraying, or immersion.

What is phosphating treatment?

Phosphating is a chemical process for treating the surface of steel, where barely soluble metal-phosphate layers are formed on the base material. The layers created are porous, absorbent and suitable as a conversion layer for subsequent powder coating without further treatment.

What is bluing a firearm?

Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. This method was adopted by larger firearm companies for large scale, more economical bluing.

Do Parkerized guns rust?

Without the oil or grease, a Parkerized finish will rust faster than more common (and advanced) finishes. Those guns would resist rust in most all conditions — because the Parkerized steel was impregnated with grease.

What is gun phosphate?

Phosphate, also known as manganese phosphate or parkerizing/parkerized, is a MIL SPEC finish for bolt carrier groups in military rifles like the M16 and M4. Phosphating involves submerging the metal parts into a phosphoric acid solution at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

What is phosphate barrel finish?

Barrel Finishes. Mag Phospate or manganese (not “magnesium”) phosphate is coating on the outside of the barrel using a sprayed or immersed salt bath to achieve a somewhat porous finish that then more readily accepts and holds some sort of lubrication to help prevent corrosion. Mag Phosphate is also called Parkerizing.

Do you put plugs in barrel when Parkerizing?

If you are parkerizing a barrel, you should put some plugs in it to keep the parkerizing solution out of the bore. It will etch your bore, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this is not good.

Do you have to degrease a barrel before Parkerizing?

The parts being degreased. You don’t want this tank to be over about 180 degrees or so. There are a few additional things necessary to do before putting the parts in the tank. If you are parkerizing a barrel, you should put some plugs in it to keep the parkerizing solution out of the bore.

What does Parkerizing do to a steel rifle?

Parkerizing is the creation of an iron-phosphate layer on the outer surface of the steel, producing a grey matte finish that helps to protect from corrosion and increases wear resistance. The protection is in two parts. First, the iron-phosphate layer itself is protective. Second,…

Where can I get a Parkerizing solution for my gun?

The parkerizing solution itself is available from Brownells. There are two different kinds, zinc and manganese. The process is the same for both; they just have slightly different appearances (the manganese is typically darker). If you have a particular preference, then go with the type to produce that. Otherwise, it’s not really a big deal.