KG gunkoted Taurus 709 slim

My wife finally got her LTC and has been shopping for her a gun. For the time being, she has been carrying my 709 slim. She kept being drawn to the turquoise colored pistols and the 709 was looking pretty worn from carry and bouncing around in my truck for the past 8-10 years so I figured Id fix her up for the time being.

I had thought about going with cerakote, but after reading about it being difficult to apply and the fact that you have to mix it and cant store the leftover, I decided to go with gunkote. Not to mention it was less than half the price of cerakote!

I had also ran across a youtube video about home electro etching and figured now would be a good time to give it a shot as well. Its a very simple process using simple household items and the results were better than I expected!

I started out by completely disassembling the slide and soaking it, the barrel, and the mag housing in acetone in an ultrasonic cleaner to remove any oils. After that I sand blasted the parts, cut the stencils, and etched the designs into the slide.

After the etching, the parts were placed back into an acetone bath to remove any contamination, hung, and placed in the oven to off gas. Then, using an airbrush, I applied K-Phos which is a phosphate primer. When that was dry (15 mins), I applied the KG 2400 coating. After another 15 mins, it was into the oven for about 2 hrs at 325. Here is the results!



Guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians!

Looks good.

Excellent work.

Does it run?

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seeker_two said:

Excellent work.

Does it run?

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This.

If you’re happy, I’m happy

Cycles by hand, no problem, havent actually shot it, but everything moves free (extractor, firing pin, etc) so I dont see any issues. Gunkote 2400, when applied correctly, is actually thinner than cerakote.

Guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians!

Let us know when you shoot it...

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Gun shot perfect for about 5 rounds all the way up until the extractor went flying. Had nothing to do with the coating and everything to do with the loose screw behind the trigger! Im 95% sure I got the retainer pin in wrong and this allowed the extractor to come free. The pin went sailing into the wild blue younder, never to be seen again so the gun is down till I get my replacement in from Taurus. Luckily I was able to find the extractor.

On a happy note, even though I explained to them exactly what happened and that it was 100% my fault, Taurus is sending me a new pin free of charge!

Guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians!

fishingsetx said:

I had thought about going with cerakote, but after reading about it being difficult to apply and the fact that you have to mix it and cant store the leftover,

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False.

It’s easy to apply. Even cheaper spray guns work well. One trick I did with my old job was use a cheaper end harbor freight gun one time and toss it. They work well first use. They don’t respond well to cleaning. Ceramic is very harsh on the needle tip, too.

You do have to mix it. It’s just a ratio. You can do it. Or go air cure.

Ok...storage. Nic industry will say a year but I have found IMO what goes bad is the hardener. With hot cure as long as you reseal after each use with good tape around the cap, it does still work. Air cure is pre mixed but have had no issues with bottles aged to a year so long as the bottle is sealed alright after use. Separation does happen too and if you’re using this stuff weekly you should turn the bottles over, rotate them.

Nice looking pistol though. Good job

That looks nice. We own one of these as well. I’ve had some issue with FTE but my wife and I both enjoy shooting it. You did a good job. Hope it performs as well as it looks.

Thanks guys,

As for the cerakote, my concerns were 3 fold.

1.) Ease of application. Ive never tried cerakote, but the KG gunkote is extremely easy to use and very forgiving.

2.) No mixing and being able to pour the unused portion back into the container. I didnt have to measure out 3% of 10 ml and try and make that work! Heck, the AR in my other post only took 18 ml to do! I use a gravity feed airbrush so the cups are tiny. To add the "paint" to the cup, I use 15 ml bottles from another project (empty vape juice bottles I ordered off amazon).

3.) Price!!! I had never used either one and didnt want to inveat a fortune. A 4 oz bottle of cerakote runs $35 + $15 shipping! The Gunkote is only $13 a 4 oz bottle and $10 shipping.

Guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians!