Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing NP3 vs Cerrakote

Who has used both and how do they compare? Thanks

they are proverbial apples vs oranges. NP3 is a nickel matrix with teflon introduced. It is not as hard or scratch resistant as Cerakote. It is very slippery though and is largely self-lubricating.

It is fantastic on bolts and internals. I prefer Cerakote on barrels and actions. NP3 is one color, a dark colored silver. Cerakote is a virtual kaleidoscope of color choices.

It is typical at Robar companies to order a gun with a combination of NP3 and Rogard (colored) You could do the same with Cerakote- maybe Robar even does it now- I dunno. Send the bolt and trigger group to Robar for NP3 and the rest to whomever for Cerakote.

It is true that Robar will offer a combination of coatings on a firearm but only on separate parts of a disassembled firearm... i.e. they would not be able to NP3 coat a barrel and Roguard the action of a barreled action or NP3 a bolt body/lugs and Roguard the bolt handle as their coatings are applied by a chemical/bath submersion system.

I realize that their Rogard and NP3 are bath processes but I thought that maybe they had jumped on the Cerakote bandwagon too.

All the rifles that I have had done there were NP3 Bolts and trigger groups with Rogard on the barreled action, rings, bases, floorplate etc.