What Can You Tell Me About Electroless Nickel?This is a discussion on What Can You Tell Me About Electroless Nickel? within the Maintenance forums, part of the Firearm Forum category; I recently sent four of my blued steel Mini-14 factory mags [do they come any other way?! ] to Mahovsky's Metalife for plating. They recommended ...
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October 15th, 2012, 08:58 AM
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#1 |
Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: N.C.
Posts: 2,122
| What Can You Tell Me About Electroless Nickel?
I recently sent four of my blued steel Mini-14 factory mags [do they come any other way?!  ] to Mahovsky's Metalife for plating. They recommended their electroless nickel finish. Still waiting on the mags to come back. Now, I didn't think to ask this until later, but isn't there a chance that this particular finish will flake, chip, or peel with normal use? I would ask Mahovsky's, but they often don't answer their phone, or e-mail for that matter.
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October 15th, 2012, 12:04 PM
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#2 |
Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Posts: 292
| There should be no problem with electroless nickle as long as they prepare the base metal properly. There will probably be a copper flash plate done before the nickle goes on. I used to do a lot of plating and metal finishing years ago. The advantage of electroless over electroplating is that no anodes are used so the chances of having voids in the plate on interior parts of the mags are greatly reduced. The nickle is just as tough weather it's electro or electroless....Plating is 95% preparation, and 5% finishing. | |
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October 15th, 2012, 01:06 PM
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#3 |
Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: N.C.
Posts: 2,122
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Thanks, RAC55.....I was kinda thinking that I wouldn't get any replies on this.  | |
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October 15th, 2012, 01:14 PM
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#4 | | Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: NH, USA.
Posts: 10,008
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If I gave you an answer that would make me a politican because I don't know anything about it.
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October 15th, 2012, 03:59 PM
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#5 |
Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: N.C.
Posts: 2,122
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Originally Posted by terry_p  If I gave you an answer that would make me a politican because I don't know anything about it. | I'd vote for ya.  | |
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October 15th, 2012, 07:10 PM
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#6 |
Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Posts: 292
| They do make factory mags out of stainless steel if you are looking to match a stainless rifle, but they are extended mags usually 20 rounds. Promag also makes 10 round stainless mags for the Mini 14. You can pick them up on-line through places like Gunclip Depot. The color cast of the nickle will be a little more yellowish than the stainless on the rifle...unless you had the whole rifle nickle plated. That would be cool! P.S. I just checked out their website and it looks interesting. I have a slide from a Sig P230 that's a little pitted. I might give this outfit a shot at nickle plating my slide. I think it would look nice with the black frame. Quote:
Originally Posted by NCLEO89 I recently sent four of my blued steel Mini-14 factory mags [do they come any other way?! ] to Mahovsky's Metalife for plating. They recommended their electroless nickel finish. Still waiting on the mags to come back. Now, I didn't think to ask this until later, but isn't there a chance that this particular finish will flake, chip, or peel with normal use? I would ask Mahovsky's, but they often don't answer their phone, or e-mail for that matter. |
Last edited by RAC55; October 15th, 2012 at 07:28 PM.
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October 15th, 2012, 08:32 PM
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#7 |
Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: N.C.
Posts: 2,122
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Originally Posted by RAC55 They do make factory mags out of stainless steel if you are looking to match a stainless rifle, but they are extended mags usually 20 rounds. Promag also makes 10 round stainless mags for the Mini 14. You can pick them up on-line through places like Gunclip Depot. The color cast of the nickle will be a little more yellowish than the stainless on the rifle...unless you had the whole rifle nickle plated. That would be cool! P.S. I just checked out their website and it looks interesting. I have a slide from a Sig P230 that's a little pitted. I might give this outfit a shot at nickle plating my slide. I think it would look nice with the black frame. | You guessed it; I'm can't match clothes to save my life [as my wife can attest], but I do like my firearms color-coordinated! Besides, I have no use for blued steel, be it on my accessories or my guns. Blued steel rusts way too easy, and tends to rub off in areas of wear as well. Anyhow, I have yet to encounter Ruger factory Mini-14 mags in stainless. I try to use Ruger mags only, rather than aftermarket ones. It's been my experience that some aftermarket mags work in the Mini, some don't. However, Ruger factory mags always work! Also, I can highly recommend Mahovsky's. I first became aware of them in the late '90s. Gunwriter / Instructor Chuck Taylor wrote an article telling how he's had them plate several of his guns. He then proceeded to bury them in snow, leave them for several days in running streams, etc...with ZERO rust or wear. I sent them my blued Single Six; it came back with their SS Chromium M finish [looks like matte stainless]. My SS STILL looks great 14 years later! Give 'em a try! Thanks again for the info.
Last edited by NCLEO89; October 15th, 2012 at 08:37 PM.
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October 16th, 2012, 12:27 PM
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#8 |
Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: N.C.
Posts: 2,122
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UPDATE: Finally got an answer when I called Mahovsky's. According to them, RAC55 was correct. the Electroless Nickel finish they use will not chip or flake off. They also said that my Mini-14 mags are on their way home. Woo-hoo!
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October 16th, 2012, 01:35 PM
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#9 |
Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: wayne nj
Posts: 5,777
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In the 70s and into the80s colt used electroless nickel instead of stainless and I owned a government model and amustang pocketliteand carried bothforyearswith no problem.
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October 16th, 2012, 05:48 PM
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#10 |
Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: N.C.
Posts: 2,122
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Originally Posted by bwinters In the 70s and into the80s colt used electroless nickel instead of stainless and I owned a government model and amustang pocketliteand carried bothforyearswith no problem. | Thanks for the input, bwinters. Really looking forward to seeing the UPS truck in my driveway!
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October 23rd, 2012, 09:02 AM
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#11 |
Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: PA
Posts: 18
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Like RAC55, I've done time in metal finishing in a former life and EN is a strictly chemical process that uses nickel dissolved in a phosphoric acid bath to deposit nickel on the surface of steel without the use of electricity. The advantages of EN are that the process will deposit the nickel on all exposed clean, bare steel surfaces of the workpiece, inside and out. EN is also self-limiting; the EN plating layer will build to a certain thickness and stop. Finally, EN is intrinsically lubricious, and the ammo should slide up the mags as if lubricated.
As for downsides, like conventional nickel electroplating, EN plating WILL strip through contact with strong acids and alkalis. Keep any product with a pH below 4.0 or above 10.0 away from your EN-plated magazines or the acid/alkali will start stripping the EN plating. EN does scratch and mar, so expect there to be some scratching where the EN plating scrapes against the firearm receiver mag well, etc.
HTH,
Noah
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