retail component of the NP3 Firearm Finishing Program will be discontinued

[nycnoob]

NP3 Will Be Discontinued On 10/15/2021

All other services will continue with 0 interruption.
(Gunsmithing, Cerakote, Machining, etc.)

Dear Wright Armory Customers,

We regret to inform you that the NP3 and NP3+ finishes we know and love will be discontinued to the retail market. All current orders will be fulfilled as outlined below.

We were informed Friday afternoon by Coating Technologies (the owners and applicators of the NP3 family of finishes) that the retail component of the NP3 Firearm Finishing Program will be discontinued.

No new NP3 orders will be accepted after the close of business on Friday 10/15/2021.

Key Info:

• All orders received prior to the close of business on Friday 10/15/2021 will be processed and completed.
• All existing orders currently in the shop will be processed for NP3 or NP3+ and returned home when completed.
• If your order is already here, this change will not affect how your order is processed.
• If you have ever wanted to have NP3 or NP3+ on your firearms and components act now, this is the last time you will be able to send pieces in to be coated.

The NP3 family of finishes will still be available to manufacturers that choose to utilize the finish from the factory, but unfortunately end users / individual customers will no longer be able to send in a gun or parts of a gun to have it coated with NP3+.
Moving forward we will begin vetting new performance finishes with the intent of finding a suitable replacement for NP3+. When we have found a performance finish that fits this build, we will make it available to you.

We do not take lightly the trust you have placed in us to provide you with the highest quality gunsmithing and performance finishes available and we will do our best to ensure that this trust is well placed.


Sincerely,


Brian Wright
President

Wright Armory

-------------------

I got this in my email on Monday night.
I have no other information then what I posted here.

There is no mention of this on the Coatings Technologies LLC website:

https://coatingtechnologiesllc.com/np3/

[Hot Sauce]

Ugh, total boner killer. I miss the days of sending direct to Robar for anything from PolyT2 to NP3+, we didn't know how good we had it.

It probably is just not economically worthwhile when compared with servicing the aerospace industry. Sucks.

[Sero Sed Serio]

Literally in the Wright Armory now and learned this from an overheard phone call. Going to have to bring another P229 in before the cutoff next week.

[OlongJohnson]

I was planning to have NIB-X done on a few components in 2019, waited just a little too long. WMDGuns shut down their retail services program "to catch up" or something, the shutdown got extended, and then covid happened.

The only coating in this realm that I'm aware of that will be available for retail services once NP3 shuts down will be FailZero NIB. And they have a $200 minimum lot charge.

[Default.mp3]

I was planning to have NIB-X done on a few components in 2019, waited just a little too long. WMDGuns shut down their retail services program "to catch up" or something, the shutdown got extended, and then covid happened.

The only coating in this realm that I'm aware of that will be available for retail services once NP3 shuts down will be FailZero NIB. And they have a $200 minimum lot charge.

Mmm, I'm not sure I would put nickel boron coatings in the same category as PTFE nickel; as best I can tell, it tends to be seen as being an inferior coating for gun internal small parts where lubricity is wanted. That being said, @CCR Refinishing also does coatings for individual guns, CPII being a nickel boron, and CeraHide seems to be similar to Poly T-2.

[CCR Refinishing]

CPII is a true composite plating process. It is an Electroless Nickel / Boron Nitride tank based plating system that incorporates Boron Nitride particles within the matrix of a phosphate system.

NP3 was and Electroless Nickel with Teflon. Both NP3 and CPII offer great protection and lubricity but CPII has a higher RC hardness and extremely low co-efferent of friction

[Chuck Whitlock]

CPII is a true composite plating process. It is an Electroless Nickel / Boron Nitride tank based plating system that incorporates Boron Nitride particles within the matrix of a phosphate system.

NP3 was and Electroless Nickel with Teflon. Both NP3 and CPII offer great protection and lubricity but CPII has a higher RC hardness and extremely low co-efferent of friction

Good to know that there is an alternative out there.

[Screwball]

CPII is a true composite plating process. It is an Electroless Nickel / Boron Nitride tank based plating system that incorporates Boron Nitride particles within the matrix of a phosphate system.

NP3 was and Electroless Nickel with Teflon. Both NP3 and CPII offer great protection and lubricity but CPII has a higher RC hardness and extremely low co-efferent of friction

Question… do you guys have any specific size constraints with what you apply CPII to?

Like maybe a 14” 870 barrel… or an 870 receiver with standard magazine tube?

[Sauer Koch]

It’s an amazing finish, it sucks to hear that, but not surprised. The vibe I got was that it was that the NP3 services were a ‘favor’ to the gun world, something they did on the side, but far from their priority.

It’s a shame that getting this product applied to your gun, was such a PIA. Mine was done right after Robar closed, and had to go through Wright, which I wrote about here. It was aggravating and time consuming, but it’s the most fascinating finish I’ve ever seen/felt; CTI does excellent work!
I guess any future projects will have to be with CCR.