Nickel as a gun finish? Does it hold up? Chipping?

[S&WM&P40]

How does nickel fair as a firearm finish? I'm thinking about stripping down the slide on my 1911 and nickel plating it. Lay down a base coat of bass plating first and then nickel over the brass.

Anyone own any nickel plated firearms? How are they holding up? I want to go for the two tone look.

Seeing as how I'm buying all the stuff to polish the feed ramp, I'm looking for other things to do to the firearm. That make it look cool/add in functionality.

[Horkos]

Never owned myself but Ive heard they are prone to chipping. Heard high polished stainless was better, just as shiney but with out the chipping.

[S&WM&P40]

Never owned myself but Ive heard they are prone to chipping. Heard high polished stainless was better, just as shiney but with out the chipping.

I would love a stainless steel slide, but I can't turn a none stainless steel slide into one. They are two different metals, stainless was my goal till I learned that.

[nraynes]

As stated before they chip, a lot. If you nick it, drop it, catch it on something, bang it against something ect. I had one chip by a shell casing falling on it. (top eject gun and wind caught just right) granted it was a hot load and an old old gun but still.

[nraynes]

If you want two tone do a combo of hot blueing and heat tempering. I do this when I blacksmith hooks and crap and it looks great.

[jelo45110]

I had a nickel plated Colt Commander for a few years. I carried it all the time and shot probably 5000 rounds through it with no problems. It was a series 70 and I ended up selling it for what at the time I thought was a good profit. I wish I had that gun now cause it would be worth a whole lot more today.

[JimPage]

I've seen some pretty impressive nickel plated guns. Word of caution: Don't use WD40 on nickel. It will take the nickel off - not instantly, but over time. Don't use it on stainless either. It will attack the nickel part of stainless alloy.

[jtg452]

Nickel will stand up fine-if it is properly applied. I'd stick with an outfit that has a good ,long standing rep for doing quality work. another alternative is the NP3 finish like Robar offers. It's a combination of nickel and teflon coatings.

[G50AE]

Tenifer with a nice black phosphate coating is the best finish for a pistol, IMHO.

[Dancamptv]

I have a S&W model 13-2 in nickel and it still looks great, like the day I bought it new back in 1978. It's been shot ALOT.