Puttin' Lipstick on the Pig

[thibaultfelix40]

Is it bubbaed or is it customized?

 

[Derry 1946]

Looks good to me, certainly much improved. It's reminiscent of the 1960's Star Trek "tracer phaser" guns.

 

[adams484]

Not gonna win any beauty pagents but it's no longer pink and I don't feel embarassed to display it at the range. The LC9s is small, light and has a very nice trigger and all in all I'm pleased with a new gun that only cost $239.99. Just had to put some lipstick on the pig.

LOL... Not bad looking now but I would have sprung for the Coyote Tan or Desert Sand but that color is not bad. At least it covered that horrible raspberry. But you know they were targeting women with that color. They are a nice gun for the money though I hear.

I have been wanting one of those for a backup carry or one to give up when the gun grabbers come a knocking. Sorry I sold all the expensive guns but you can take this one and go away.

 

[Waveform]

Thanks for all the supportive comments. I think if taken in it's context (cheap pistol purchase made less embarrassing on a shoestring budget) it turned out well. A small bottle of Cerakote costs close to $50 with the shipping so I made up my mind I was gonna stick with what I had on hand left over from other projects. It was either Burnt Bronze, Snow White, Robin's Egg Blue or a flat black that's so flat it reminds me of a chalkboard. I'm not especially cheap but I liked the challenge of keeping this a $239.99 pistol.

I will say the LC9s has a very nice trigger - smooth and easy with a crisp break. So far it has eaten everything I fed it, which has been the cheapest 9MM I can find. I tend to shoot it a little low. Maybe it's the sight regulation but more likely it's just me. It groups well enough for a little gun.

I picked up an inexpensive Blackhawk! pocket holster and have carried it loaded with some Hornady Critical Duty. Rides comfortably in the pocket of my cargo shorts. It may share the pocket carry role some with my 637 (which I love dearly.)

This is not an heirloom gun to be cherished and handed down through the generations. 40 years from now guys on gun forums aren't gonna wax nostalgic about these plastic semis "Look at the craftsmanship in that nylon filled injection molded frame!" It's a functional tool that serves a purpose, is still fun to shoot and fits into our disposable material world. I happen to like the look of Burnt Bronze and black so I'm happy with it and ultimately that's all that really matters.

 

[BC38]

That turned out quite good, and the color is certainly MUCH better than the original. I'd probably have gone with the flat black, but that's just 'cause "colored" guns aren't my thing. I'm wondering how cerakote holds up on plastic. Have you had some experience with this? Is it pretty durable?

 

[Smithpride]

Fear the man that is man enough to carry a PINK gun!

 

[Waveform]

That turned out quite good, and the color is certainly MUCH better than the original. I'd probably have gone with the flat black, but that's just 'cause "colored" guns aren't my thing. I'm wondering how cerakote holds up on plastic. Have you had some experience with this? Is it pretty durable?

I don't have any long term first hand experience with Cerakote on plastic so I can't speak from personal experience. But it is a common use for the material and it's an extremely hard and durable finish. It's not as simple as just spraying on a coat of Krylon from a can. There is degreasing and the suface etched with aluminium oxide media (blast). Cerakote (Type H) is a two part coating that is oven cured and I expect as long as the bond is good between the Cerakote and the frame (technically glass filled nylon) it should be durable. Time will tell. The good news is you can always do it again. This gun strips down to the bare frame in just a matter of minutes. Degrease, blast, mix color, apply and bake takes about 3 hours from start to finish so a refinish job is not a big deal.

 

[amazingflapjack]

Ruger deal...

I'm way more of revolver guy than a semi-auto guy and most of my revolvers are pretty traditional wood & blue or stainless steel. I do have a few semi-autos but they're mostly 1911s and that's pretty traditional too. I go to my local indoor range and I'm usually the only guy shooting a revolver in a line of black semis. I didn't even own a 9MM and everybody has a 9MM, right? So I wonder...am I missing something? Everywhere I look I see Nanos, Shields, LC9s. Inexpensive plastic wonder nines.

Then Palmetto State Armory has a quick blowout deal on brand new Ruger LC9s, the striker fired version of the LC9, for only $239.99. 240 bucks for a brand new pistol that I hear is a pretty decent little shooter. There's a catch however.

It's ugly.

It's PINK! OK, technically they call it "Raspberry" but it's still plenty pink to me. It's almost like the folks at Ruger sat around thinking up ways to make a gun that's already aesthetically challenged even uglier. "Hey! Let's make it pink!"

But I didn't wanna spend much money to get into the wonder nine game and I happen to have some leftover Cerakote on hand so.....

As soon as I got it home I proceeded to tear it down in preparation for making the pink color go away.



I wasn't about to spring for any new color from Cerakote. The whole idea was to keep this as cheap as possible so I grabbed the leftover Burnt Bronze I had from last year's AR project and used that.



Not gonna win any beauty pagents but it's no longer pink and I don't feel embarassed to display it at the range. The LC9s is small, light and has a very nice trigger and all in all I'm pleased with a new gun that only cost $239.99. Just had to put some lipstick on the pig.

CDNN has some nice deals on Ruger 9's right now. JSYK.

 

[CH4]

Dislike Ruger autos, especially pink ones. However, I'd cave for that price and paint it black.

 

[sigp220.45]

I think it looks great!

 

[adams484]

Here is a picture of some of mine...

I know this is a "I made it look normal..." post but I was wondering if you had trouble getting the Burnt Bronze to cover the raspberry? I have had issues with that color because I have a tendency to over shoot it and getting runs trying to cover blasted metal. But I haven't painted any plastic yet with Cerakote.

Attached a a few pics of some of my Cerakoting. The middle is Burnt Bronze on the slide and in the last pic with the 3 guns on top of it, the frame on the Ruger, is Patriot Brown which is close and doesn't have the metal flake but covers so much easier.

P.S. Please don't laugh to hard at the OD Green. Seemed like a good idea when I tried it but I am glad it is on my old beaters. Actually I wouldn't have painted any of them but they were in need of a refinish and Cerakote is the easiest and in my opinion one of the toughest finishes out there when the application instructions are followed. The slides were all painted inside and out and had to be refit a little but are smooth as silk now. Cerakote actually slides smoother. These are my test guns for Cerakote and the S&W 915 is often my daily carry. I should be from the "Show Me State" as I have to see it for myself before I believe the hype.

 

[driz]

Fear the man that is man enough to carry a PINK gun!

Could you imagine buying one of those and carrying it for a duty gun? Ohhhhh myyyyyy. I bought a Glock 23 back in 1990 so I could get rid of that horribly heavy CS-1 revolver they used to issue. Of course all the tough guys carried 45's which I had my fill of as an Army MP so I got the smallest lightest .40 I could get that met the specs needed. Wow, some guy thought up the name "girly gun". That haunted me daily for about 15 years. Those guys went so far that they put some Colombian we arrested for a load of coke up to badgering me about that 23. Talk about get no respect. Rodney Dangerfield has got nothing on me. No way this guy is ever going to get a pink gun. I couldn't stand to get famous like that ever again

 

[Marshwheeling]

Nice job, inappropriate choice of metaphor.

I have seen lipstick in raspberry, but never in burnt bronze. Amo have to say you took the lipstick off the pig.

 

[Waveform]

I know this is a "I made it look normal..." post but I was wondering if you had trouble getting the Burnt Bronze to cover the raspberry? I have had issues with that color because I have a tendency to over shoot it and getting runs trying to cover blasted metal. But I haven't painted any plastic yet with Cerakote.

I've had good success using an airbrush to apply the color and I didn't have any issues with this frame beyond the normal challenge of trying to cover everywhere without touching what you're spraying. The recesses, nooks and crannies were tough and better lighting would be a help. I do this in my garage and the light isn't the best for seeing exactly what you're doing. But coverage was even and uniform with no drips, sags or runs. Maybe I got lucky. I know I have a lot more control with the airbrush than I do with a HVLP spray gun. The tradeoff being it takes longer to apply since the material is metered out much more slowly.

 

[Waveform]

Nice job, inappropriate choice of metaphor.

I have seen lipstick in raspberry, but never in burnt bronze. Amo have to say you took the lipstick off the pig.

But it's still a pig, lipstick or no.

Ironically I posted a little photo story about this project over on one of the Ruger forums and got three posts in reply saying it was "the new definition of UGLY." Not the before look but the after. I try not to take too much of the forum talk to heart but that kinda stung. That's really what gave me the inspiration to title this thread here "Puttin' Lipstick on the Pig" - if the post-Cerakote outcome is ugly then there's really no hope for this pig.

But I kinda like my pig. And I may be only one with a pig just like it.

 

[Waveform]

Glamour shot?

e

The camera flash makes it look a lot more sparkly than it does in normal light. It looks more like a dull bronze color in person.

 

[RobertJ.]

I'm not a fan of Ruger autos, plastic, or bizarre colors, but that is a big improvement! I could live with it.

The guns that are being produced now are for a whole different crowd than when I started shooting!

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Was at Academy last night and they had pink guns, purple revolvers, Blue revolvers, and basically the gun cabinet looked like a bunch of toy guns
I long for the days where the guns were displayed in the cardboard boxes. I know we have better stuff today but can't they make it look a little less cheap, gaudy and only suitable for use by a New Orleans pimp? I mean even te long guns looked cheap with all that black plastic furniture. Hell, I'd settle for stained birch at this point I just wanted to go home and hug my stuff-not bragging mind you but my stuff is way better than what they had in their display cases
As far as your Ruger-function is what function does. I still think it's ugly but a great improvement. And nobody can fauly Ruger for not turning our a good functioning firearm. Me-I's a just gone to Lowes and got a can of black Bar B Que spray paint

PS: You DO realize that you have completely ruined any collector value in your gun don't you?

 

[Talan2000]

I own an LC9s Pro. It's a fabulous gun. It doesn't matter one bit what color the plastic frame is - especially on a concealed carry firearm. As noted, anybody looking at it from the wrong end won't be laughing at raspberry or bronze.

 

[RV4driver]

I've sold a couple of Raspberry guns to lady students. There are some that LOVE them, and it's better than pink, which is everywhere.
However, most ladies in my classes wouldn't think of having one in a girly color. It's usually the MUCH younger ladies that go pink or raspberry. I also sold a bright yellow Taurus 738 to a lady friend. She loved the color, but couldn't get the gun to be reliable.
I think the burnt bronze is a substantial upgrade to your gun!
And to the poster that was considering an LC9, make sure it's the -s model, not the original. NO comparison as to trigger quality.