Originally posted by Lead Chucker
View Post
I have used blast tanks, sanding, and no roughing of the surface at all on my personal guns to see the difference. I even coated melonited barrels that have a very smooth, hard surface, and couldn't believe that it behaves like a sand-blasted job. My stainless Grendel barrel was the first one I tried without abrasing the surface, and it has not had a single scratch or ding even mark the surface.
I still will abrade/roughen the surface if I am doing it for a friend, since NIC calls for it, and I understand the concept of having a rough surface for better purchase and adhesion of the compound ceramic-epoxy/enamel secret sauce. It's pretty standard surface coating 101 to clean and sand a surface for a uniform and stronger coat.
Yes, you can bake quality scopes at lower temps, and the one in the pics is baked. I contacted Vortex about this when I heard you could do it, and they confirmed it with me, stating the temp limits of 200F. Since I am at higher altitude, I use a bit lower temp than that of 180F, being that lower atmospheric pressure affects gas purged tubes in high heat differently. I even baked my Vortex spotting scope, and my 1-4x GRSC, no issues after several years of pretty hard use.
Comment