Air Weight Finish

[ingmansinc]

I have a 638 and a 642 that I carry in a pocket holster. The finish on the frame appears to be a protective coating and it is wearing off in some places. Is it possible to remove all of it with perhaps ammonia or some other solution or just leave it alone?

 

[tomcatt51]

They're clear coated. Has always seemed like a horrible finish to me, not very durable. It can be stripped off, you need something that won't attack the aluminum. Left bare, the frame will naturally form an aluminum oxide "skin" that is pretty tough.

 

[ingmansinc]

Any suggestions on the stripping agent tomcatt51.........................Thanks.......John

 

[tomcatt51]

Any suggestions on the stripping agent tomcatt51.........................Thanks.......John

Wish I could say "use this" but I'm not sure exactly what to use. Some brake cleaners will strip it. Some of the choices to try are acetone or MEK. Might go to a paint store and tell them you have clear coated aluminum you want to strip. Test on a spot under the grips.

 

[CCDOC]

I have a 642 with some wear on it. Carried it in a blackhawk for about a year. What about Norrell's moly coat? They say it works well on aluminum frames. I haven't seen a 642 with Norrell's yet. I have been kicking the idea around, but not sure if I could do this myself...

 

[Lobo_79]

Same thing happened to my 637. I used Gun Scrubber to remove the most of the rest of it. In fact the first time I used Polymer Safe Gun Scrubber on my 637 the coating started to peel off like a bad sunburn. At the time there were a lot of others with the same problem. But Gun Scrubber alone wouldn't remove all of it.

So I contacted S&W customer service. They sent me a prepaid shipping label and I returned my gun to have the coating replaced. What I got back was amazing. The new coating was impervious to all cleaning materials. I was happy but I would have been okay with just getting rid of all traces of the original coating. For what it's worth...

 

[ingmansinc]

Thanks to all for your responses, it sounds like S&W maybe the best answer if it is as tough as described, otherwise I can always strip the finish later if it comes off again.

 

[srgvaz]

Years back I was removing some paint off metal and I tried some aircraft paint remover that I bought at Auto Zone and the DAM that stuff really strips down to bare metal. A friend of mine tried it on a parkerized pawn shop find after he re-blued it I couldn't believe it was the same gun. As for the air-weight under warranty if you strip the finish what will you re-finish it with? My guess you'll be better off letting the pro's at S&W take care of this one.