Cerakote is awesome and is the best applied finish out there. The downside is your prep needs to be perfect. You cannot touch it with your bare fingers after it's been blasted or it will not adhere to the spot you touched. There is no touch up, you smudge it, smear it, or get something on it, you must blast and start over. When you get it right, it's the most durable finish out there. Another thing, once cured it won't stick to itself. Camo jobs need to be done at the same time. You'll need to flash dry it between each coat and then cure all at once.
Gunkote is easy to use and goes on thin like Cerakote. It's moly based instead of ceramic like Cerakote. It's more forgiving with if you mess up when spraying but any inperfections should be fixed before you cure it. It's only one part so you can't mess up any ratios and no measuring or mixing, just shake it like hell and away you go. Gunkote does need to be sprayed onto a hot part to minimize runs and it'll flash instantly that way. If you miss a spot after curing, just hit that spot and bake again.
Duracoat, is automitive paint. It's 3 parts that need to be mixed and IMO is a fricken mess. There are some who love it but i'm not ihe of them. One advantage is like car piant, it can be had in any color and you can put sparkles and prisims in the paint for a unique finish. It is toxic as hell and it says it reacts with any silicone. I don't know what hapoend but it says not to have any in,the room at all when using Duracoat.
Ok, said that I've been researching this for use upon razors and beyond.
Thus far, the above quote appears to succinctly summarise what most of the interwebs has to say upon this topic.
To simplify it even further...
Duracoat = D.I.Y or want a wide choice of colours
GunKote = Some durability and is not as thick
Cerakote = best durability and thinnest coating
1) Do I have access to an airbrush, or must I use rattle cans?
2) Do I have the ability to bake the parts? (Will my wife let me? Will my barreled action fit in my oven?)
3) Do the parts have very close clearances that may bind with thicker finishes?
4) Do I want/need a very broad color palette?
If you can't bake stuff, GunKote is out.
If you don't have an airbrush, Duracoat is out.
If you need 4 shades of green, 5 shades of brown, and Remchester Black, then Duracoat is probably the best choice.
If you require tight tolerances, Duracoat is out.
Duracoat is easily removed, others require mediablasting, in particular Ceracoat.
Duracoat is toxic as hell and reacts to silicone as well.
I am looking into Australian agents for Cerakote and stocking up upon a few slims to be test this upon.
