SHOOTERS in Jacksonville, FL, has about 20 KT P3ATs and 10 KT P32s sitting in a stack of boxes (plus like 8 on display). I saw Green/HC, gray/blued, and black/parkerized (for $349, $319 and $299 respectively). He offered to sell me the black/parkerized for $279 ($40 bucks off--but $305 after tax), which means he'd probably let the HC/green go for $309 (or $299). All serial numbers were JJxxx and later. If they'll go down to $259 on the parkerized, I'd probably get it. I'm interested in the $210 one for sale on the boards, but I'd end up paying another $40-50 shipping it off and getting it ceracoated. QUESTION: Is there ANY other benefit to the HC over parkerized other than perhaps a slight edge in rust/corrosion resistance?
I saw those the other day. Owner says he sells pant-loads of the P32s and P3ATs every month. I bought my P3AT from him this year. Blued model for $249 back in June. That's a good shop in my opinion. Most of the fellas behind the counter are fairly friendly. Beats the pants off of some of the other shops in this town.
The hard chrome is a very durable finish that will not wear off as easily as parking, but I think as long as the parkerized finish stays in place it should not rust. However another advantage of the hard chrome finish is that both the barrel and the slide get plated, whereas with parkerizing KT only plates the slide.
Ah, true. I forgot about the barrel--and in this florida humidity (Jacksonville), it might be smart to get the barrel coated too. I may end up just black cera-coat slide and barrel (or nickel plate) of a blued-model, since I like to think the stealth-factor would give me a few more nanoseconds of surprise as I'm raising it to use in defense at night.
The hard chrome is a very durable finish that will not wear off as easily as parking, but I think as long as the parkerized finish stays in place it should not rust. However another advantage of the hard chrome finish is that both the barrel and the slide get plated, whereas with parkerizing KT only plates the slide.[/quote] ??? , My P40's barrel and the slide are parked, came that way. However a Parked finish is not nearly as low maint as HC, it will rust if not cleaned and oiled .
Uh - that's a park'd barrel in that picture... Its hard to tell from the pic, that looks like a coating of "fleck" on it, but after comparing some of my park'd to my non park'd side by side I am not sure that the picture above is park'd - but I'm not convinced its not either. KT park's the slide AND barrel. Some people believe the park'ing lowers velocity by a couple of fps. If you are a "guns should be black" kind of guy then the park'ing is obviously better for you, otherwise, go with what you like. -Scott
I don't think that is a parked barrel in that picture.. here is a better picture of a 1st gen: Barrel clearly not parked. I think they do it on the larger guns but not the pocket pistols.
does cera-coating or some other anti-rust protection also affect fps? note: for all i know, you don't cera-coat barrels. i'm just wondering. i suppose i could BUY a hard chromed barrel for my park'd gun. )
