American Handgunner Nov/Dec 1981

won't guarantee nickel plating on a magnumgun."Many factory nickel plating jobs are theresult of a two-stage project-first the gunis copper plated, then the nickel is put onover the copper. "It's stronger, but I stilldon't think it's strong enough," Cogansays.Electroless nickel, he says, is a whole differentanimal. "Electroless, like Nitexwhodoes Colt',s .work-has the samebonding characteristics as chrome," Cogansays, "and it's more resistant to salt thanchrome."Ifit has any drawbacks, he says, they aretwo-fold. Electroless nickel is a softer surfacethan chrome, with a Rockwell HardnessRating in the high 30s as opposed tochrome's Rockwell 60."Electroless also plates everywhere, andthat includes the inside of the barrel andthe inside of the cylinders," Cogan says."That means that you've added usuallyabout .002" ofnickel to the bore and cylinders.To me, if the gun manufacturer hadwanted that bore to be .002 smaller, hewould have made it that size:'Obviously, Cogan's favorite finish is47