Everyone probably recalls that, a couple of years ago, Robar decided to get away from doing firearm refinishing service. Coating Technologies of AZ eventually took over that deal. But, now even they will stop offering their NP3 refinishing services for the firearm market. Not yet shown on their webpage, but one of their partners/distributors, Wright Armory posted the NP3 discontinuance notice recently. Bummer for those NP3 fans.

https://coatingtechnologiesllc.com/firearm-finishes/

https://wrightarmory.com/np3-metal-finishing/

quote:

*** NP3 and NP3+ are being discontinued to the retail market on 10/15/2021***

We were recently notified that Coating Technologies has decided to discontinue coatings to the retail market to focus predominantly on the Aerospace, Defense, and OEM industries moving forward. We will be servicing all orders for NP3 and NP3+ received through the end of business 10/15/21, all orders currently in process will not be affected by this.

We are disappointed to see this awesome finish be discontinued to the retail market. We have begun looking for a suitable replacement for NP3 and NP3+ and we will let our customers know as soon as we find something. For the most up to date info make sure you are subscribed to our email list.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 12131,

Well that sucks. I just spent a decent amount of time comparing options and deciding which features I wanted on the Langdon Beretta I hoped to order by the end of the year and of course I decided that the NP3 upgrade was the way to go.

What's the deal?

They're the only place in the entire gun industry that performs NP3 coating?

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
They're the only place in the entire gun industry that performs NP3 coating?

NP3 is proprietary. Robar was the original company. When they closed their firearm NP3 refinishing division, Coating Technologies LLC (CTL) bought the license, so for past 2 years, individual customers were still able to have their guns NP3 plated by going through CTL's distributors (Wright Armory, Cylinder & Slide, Cajun Gun Works, Amerigun USA, and Vang Comp Systems). But now, CTL has decided to stop doing that for the individuals.

Interestingly, however, according Robar's f***book page that was updated yesterday, CTL will continue do provide the service to manufacturers that choose to utilize the finish. https://www.facebook.com/RobarGuns/

quote:

***Update as of 11 October 2021***

Dear Valued Customers
Coating Technologies LLC (CTL), who does NP3 plating for the aerospace industry, well as NP3 plating on Fireams has recently announced that the NP3 and NP3+ finishes will be discontinued to the retail after market.

The NP3 family of finishes will still be available to manufacturers that choose to utilize the finish from the factory, but unfortunately end users / individual customers will no longer be able to send in a gun or parts of a gun to have it coated with NP3 and NP3+.

There's another proprietary finish that I suspect is the same basic thing called Kephos but I don't know anyone that does it for firearms. That's also getting hard to find.
I suspect it's also too much detailed hand work to do for the price they charge plus the headaches of needing to be an FFL along with the documentation required.

Anyone ever done a detailed comparison of NP3 with Cummins Custom Refinishing [CCR]'s CPII plating? I've had that on one of my pistols for a few years and am happy with it, but- it is a range toy and a .22lr. It isn't seeing any holster time to test for wear like a carry gun would.

quote:

Originally posted by bczrx:
Anyone ever done a detailed comparison of NP3 with Cummins Custom Refinishing [CCR]'s CPII plating?

My HK P2000 in 357 had NP3 on the slide and barrel. My Glock 32 had CPII on the slide and barrel. Both were carry guns and shot alot back in the day. Both were great and held up over the years. Not the same gun but the NP3 barrel on the HK showed more smileys over the same time. I have quite a few Glocks and a SIG with the slides and barrels in CPII and they are holding up very well.

If work would let me, I would send my duty slide and barrel out for CPII.

Makes sense, NP3 being a bit softer, more malleable than regular hard chrome.

Meh, prefer the folks on the forum, CCR. Even on the Berettas I elected to buy a stock one, modify, and send to CCR as I much prefer their finish. Great family business which is rare these days.

IIRC, NP3 isn't chrome at all. It's electroless nickel infused with Teflon. So it would be softer than hard chrome. CPII, and I also think NiBX are also electroless nickel, but infused with Boron Nitride. So they're harder than NP3.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Makes sense, NP3 being a bit softer, more malleable than regular hard chrome.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
Meh, prefer the folks on the forum, CCR. Even on the Berettas I elected to buy a stock one, modify, and send to CCR as I much .

Yeah I picked up a 21 year old 92FS from a coworker. It’s in great shape but I keep looking at CCR’s website trying to decide what color to personalize this one before I gift it to my other sister.

I'm sure there are other finishes out there that will serve everyone well but, there was just something special about that NP3. Part of it was a timeless classic finish that was one of the first that actually worked. Duty guns riding daily along the salt air coastline were actually protected. The old sigs in those days would turn a permanent orange/black from the rust, regardless of how often you wiped it down. The NP3 literally stopped that and was a game changer.

I liked it so much, I had Robar do my entire Noveske N6 from tip to tail in the NP3 finish. Even the internals, so the BCG/Bolt just rock and roll until dirty, requiring only a basic wipe down to get them clean again. Overkill sure. Worth it, it was to me.

Sad. I was very pleased with the Np3 application on my P7! A very nice looking treatment as well as practical.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
They're the only place in the entire gun industry that performs NP3 coating?

NP3 is proprietary. Robar was the original company. When they closed their firearm NP3 refinishing division, Coating Technologies LLC (CTL) bought the license, so for past 2 years, individual customers were still able to have their guns NP3 plated by going through CTL's distributors (Wright Armory, Cylinder & Slide, Cajun Gun Works, Amerigun USA, and Vang Comp Systems). But now, CTL has decided to stop doing that for the individuals.

Interestingly, however, according Robar's f***book page that was updated yesterday, CTL will continue do provide the service to manufacturers that choose to utilize the finish. https://www.facebook.com/RobarGuns/

quote:

***Update as of 11 October 2021***

Dear Valued Customers
Coating Technologies LLC (CTL), who does NP3 plating for the aerospace industry, well as NP3 plating on Fireams has recently announced that the NP3 and NP3+ finishes will be discontinued to the retail after market.

The NP3 family of finishes will still be available to manufacturers that choose to utilize the finish from the factory, but unfortunately end users / individual customers will no longer be able to send in a gun or parts of a gun to have it coated with NP3 and NP3+.

You may want to update the thread title so it's not so misleading, what it sounds like to me is that they're only interested in doing volume/OEM work, not that they're ceasing services on firearms.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:

quote:

Originally posted by bczrx:
Anyone ever done a detailed comparison of NP3 with Cummins Custom Refinishing [CCR]'s CPII plating?

My HK P2000 in 357 had NP3 on the slide and barrel.

I had them NP3 a H&K P2000 40sw about 15 years ago. I think the frame internals were coated too. I regret selling it.