I have had several M&P 9's and I loved that finish on the slides. I wonder if S&W ever considered using the same finish on the stainless revolvers. I recently acquired a new model 67 that is stainless and I would love to have it finished like the M&P semi-autos. For all the years that I shot those M&P's that beautiful black slide never showed any marks, scratches or corrosion.

That sure would be nice on my model 67. I wouldn't have to spend so much time cleaning up the tough black residue and stains that I seem to get on the bright satin finish stainless of the Model 67.

Has anyone else ever wished for the same thing?

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Andy

Doubtful it would hold up on a revolver, the new PVD they are using for the dark gun cylinders is strong and flexible although not to the naked eye.

There isn't a semi-automatic out there outside of the gimmick and unpractical Desert Eagles that have to take the abusive force of some revolvers.

And it all starts right there in the cylinder.

Look at this from my outing yesterday, you should have seen it at the range before I gave it a quick wipe down to holster and go home.


Almost 24 hrs. later and my hands are still shaking form all the force put through that beast yesterday.

Even Tennifer would not hold up to that abuse.

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Mulebuk Sam and the Governor

I think I am about to learn something here. What is PVD?

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Andy

S&W made up a number of revolvers with melonite finish on contract for agency sales and as demonstrators.

Revolver sales for LE were, however, dwindling as new orders were for pistols, so the melonite revolvers never caught on with agencies.

Melonite is much better in terms of durability than the blued stainless revolvers they made for Connecticut State Police or the Midnight Black or Black Magic finish they put on that run of 686 revolvers.

S&W proprietary finish they have been using mainly on the J-Frame black revolver cylinders. I started noticing it last year in their description.

The problem is when you try to paint a stainless, natural stainless doesn't need that protection. All you are doing is trying to protect the finish, that finish is 'color' be it Black, Pink or Green.

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Mulebuk Sam and the Governor

Melonite is a treatment process. It is not a paint. I think it would do fairly well on a revolver but only have experience with it on semi autos and it performs very well relative to wear and protection.

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USS ZELLARS
DD-777

It's treatment process to protect color ! Nothing else.
Scrape any Black slide on a semi-automatic or revolver cylinder down to metal and what you are left with is Stainless steel.

It is not used for corrosion protection because Stainless steel in itself is corrosion resistant.

And the only time you hear those names used is on most semi-automatic's that are generally Black or on Black revolvers you never see it or hear about it on my gun color because it's natural Stainless steel. Which is why I have always bought my revolvers in that 'color', I don't want to deal with the finish rubbing off and having to have it refinished. But I will say a Black revolver does look good, that is until I see that nasty bright 'silver colored' ring around the cylinder, it's on mine as well but you can barely see it cause it blends in so good.

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Mulebuk Sam and the Governor

This pretty much exhausts my knowledge on the topic but Melonite is a kind of nitrided finish that is "deposited" on the metal and bonds with it. I believe S&W has changed the name to "Armornite" -- I don't know if there is a difference in the process or the ingredients. I'd love to hear if someone knows.

S&W used black PVD (physical vapor deposition) on the Night Guard revolvers, and I think the finish on the Mdl 442 (and some other small revolvers) is PVD too. The Mdl 442 has a stainless steel cylinder... mine seems to hold up well. Is PVD an alternative to stainless steel "in the white"? Seems like it is, and that it works reasonably well.

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S&W Rover

It's your gun.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I'm glad I don't believe everything I read on the Internet. But I'm taking the high road on this one.

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USS ZELLARS
DD-777

Melonite is much more than just a color treatment. It changes the properties of the metal for a certain depth. I have a melonite treated distributor gear on my Ford distributor. It is treated that way so that it doesn't eat up my billet steel roller cam. I guarantee you a regular cast or steel gear will eat up the cam gear. I can send you a ate up cam if you doubt this. I doubt that my cam gear was melonite treated for the color, and it looks almost the same as a stock gear.

Negatory, Goat Rider!

Melonite is a trade name for a specific technique of salt bath ferritic nitrocarburizing--Tennifer is another trade name for the process.

Salt bath ferritic nitrocarburizing confers a hardened surface (which enhances innate lubricity) and wear resistance, as well as improved corrosion resistance.

There's a ton of info on the web about ferritic nitrocarburizing and it's advantages...

Ferritic nitrocarburizing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glock Ges.m.b.H., an Austrian firearms manufacturer, utilized the Tenifer process until 2010, to protect the barrels and slides of the pistols they manufacture. The finish on a Glock pistol is the third and final hardening process. It is 0.05 mm (0.0020 in) thick and produces a 64 Rockwell C hardness rating via a 500 °C (932 °F) nitride bath. The final matte, non-glare finish meets or exceeds stainless steel specifications, is 85% more corrosion resistant than a hard chrome finish, and is 99.9% salt-water corrosion resistant. After the Tenifer process, a black Parkerized finish is applied and the slide is protected even if the finish were to wear off.


Shooting Illustrated | Finishing Touches

Chrome-lined bores are actually coated and most companies are unable to do this uniformly. Nitriding does not add a coating, rather, it changes the surface properties by diffusing nitrogen and carbon into the metal surface to yield an extremely smooth, uniform and wear-resistant bore. Chrome-lined barrels still need outer surface protection, normally achieved by some manner of Parkerization. Since the hot liquids used in nitriding flow over all exposed surfaces in a bath, the entire barrel gets a very durable layer of protection against corrosion. A barrel that is to be chromed has to be drilled, rifled and chambered slightly oversize to account for the thickness of the chrome lining. Nitriding does not change any dimensions, so it can be applied to finished barrels.

I prefer powder coating myself.
Anything less is bull pucky no matter what Wikipedia says.

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Mulebuk Sam and the Governor

From what I understand, such ( melonite & similar) finishes require totally clean surface preparation, such that it usually on done on virgin metal , and not refinishing on existing guns.

I don't know what the finish is on my 431PD (and 432PD), but is is holding up great. I have carried and shot this 431PD for about 6 months now and it just doesn't show any wear at all. I'm guessing it has about 300-400 rounds of 32 H&R Mag through it now.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

There's a company that does nitriding for send-in work, and the site specifically advised to break-in barrels before sending them in. After the nitriding, the surface would be hardened enough to never break in! I came across the site last winter when reading up on nitriding, and don't have it handy, sorry.

"... enhances innate lubricity..."

Boy, I can think of a few other uses for that! I am going to borrow that wording!