My "Made in W.Germany" Sig P220 has an awful lot of holster wear on the slide and I was wondering what kind of finish it has and whether it could be refinished. I'm not too concerned about keeping it original since it will just go right back in the holster and get worn out again.
I carry this for bear/moose/wolf protection and I know it isn't really enough gun, but I like to carry and shoot it so much more than my 44 magnum. In known grizzly areas I'll carry the 44 if I'm on foot, but I prefer the P220.

Any gunsmith can re-blue it for you or you can have a better finish put on by CCR.

I don't think the existing finish is blued because it's flat, not glossy.

Traditional “bluing” applies to different types of steel finishes, many of which—perhaps most—are more black than blue. Whether the finished product is glossy to various degrees of matte is dependent upon how the metal was finished before the bluing process. If it was highly polished, the result would be glossy; if not, it wouldn’t be. A West German P220 that wasn’t nickel plated was almost certainly blued.

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Originally posted by sigfreund:
Traditional “bluing” applies to different types of steel finishes, many of which—perhaps most—are more black than blue. Whether the finished product is glossy to various degrees of matte is dependent upon how the metal was finished before the bluing process. If it was highly polished, the result would be glossy; if not, it wouldn’t be. A West German P220 that wasn’t nickel plated was almost certainly blued.

Thanks. I didn't know that. I may try to touch it up with Brownells cold blue for now.

Having owned a West German P220, throughout most of the 90's, there is a good chance that it may have been Sig Sauers proprietary finish of the period called K-Cote.

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Originally posted by Sig Sauer: For Hire:
Having owned a West German P220, throughout most of the 90's, there is a good chance that it may have been Sig Sauers proprietary finish of the period called K-Cote.

Thanks. I forgot about that finish.

Parker Mountain Machine refinished my stainless P226 slide in Black DLC after they milled it and I also sent in a very rough P228 slide for them to do at the same time. The pricing was pretty reasonable and I was pleased with the results on both slides.

Depending upon how bad the finish damage is I might just leave it alone. Honest wear is a part of life. But I totally get wanting to correct neglect or abuse.

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Originally posted by sigfreund:

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Originally posted by Sig Sauer: For Hire:
Having owned a West German P220, throughout most of the 90's, there is a good chance that it may have been Sig Sauers proprietary finish of the period called K-Cote.

Thanks. I forgot about that finish.

A very small percentage of SIG firearms were finished in K-cote. K-cote while being very corrosion resistant also happened to be a very soft finish and could easily be chipped or scratched through they did not keep it for very many years

They later created an applied finish called Infalon which was much more durable

The vast majority of the early folded steel slide SIG P series pistols were actually just blued



After ROBAR closed down and NP3 pretty much disappeared I needed to find an alternative highly corrosion resistant finish for my duty gun. The slide on this P220 has been finished by one of the members of this board, CCR, this is their CP 2 finish it is a nickel Teflon composite that is both highly corrosion resistant as well as self lubricating. I am very very pleased with this finish

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CCR is a one stop shop for refinishing or Gun Smithing services, all work is performed in house. We have serviced firearm owners and manufacturers for 35 years with quality affordable finishes that last. For more information about our CPII Nickel Boron Nitride Plating or our Cera-Hide Proprietary line of coatings please visit us at www.CCRRefinishing.com and Save today!