fix for the Kahr PM9 bright steel mag base?

[DeerNut]

It seems funny to me that my all-black Kahr PM9 comes with a bright shiny mag base. It does not affect funciton (my PM9 is 100% reliable), but it looks ridiculous IMO. Does anyone have a reasonable fix for this to make it less noticable if the wind blows my cover shirt open (or just to make it look like the mag and gun came from the same manufacturer)? I realize I could "Sharpie" it, but that won't last. Some kind of rubberized dip like they use on cresent wrench handles would be cool. I have used the Pearce grip extension but now that its 100 degrees in Tucson I removed it in favor of better concealability with a T shirt. I s'pose I could dremel one down to a nearly flat mag base.

JIM

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Redneck Repairs]

You can buy the rubber dip for tool handles in a can at most hardware stores or online and i belive its available in black tho the can i have is red . Application tho would be a nightmare ( assuming you only did the floorplate ) as it would get into the grooves that the floor plate locks onto the mag body with so you might want to do it in place on the mag and be carefull how deep you dip lol . Rattlecan engine enamel would out last sharpie i suspect , or as you stated the most perminant solution would be to dremil a grip extention , either the pierce or order one of the " wrap around " bottoms that kahr uses for the extra 7 round mag on the pm and cut it down .
Frankly i dont see the fuss about the baseplate myself , but if it bothers you that is the options i could come up with .

[JD]

Maybe some form of cold blue?

What I did in the past for a Colt Mustang mag was take a piece of thin, black, foam-like material and glue it to the base of the magazine. In this particular case, the mag seated with the floor plate being covered by the grip portion of the gun, the added pad made it seat easier.

But in your case it will obscure the bright stainless steel without being as bulky as an extended mag.

[Redneck Repairs]

Maybe some form of cold blue?

Dont believe that will work well on a SS mag base , however the rubber is a good thought .

[Cloudpeak]

Black, self adhesive vinyl tape?

Cloudpeak

[cvhoss]

How about this stuff?

Hoss

[David in FL]

Duracoat?

DuraCoat Firearm Finishes

[Prvt. Toter]

Wheeler Engineering makes a product called CERAMACOAT, get it from midway. You degrease (I used brakeclean) and spray paint. Then bake it in the oven for 30 minutes... Did this about 4 years ago, carried almost daily and has one small scratch so far... the finish is hard as nails and durable.. no chiping, flaking or peeling... Even where the detent ball rides on the frame for the safety is not wearing yet, and I put at least a mag or two through this every month. I would take the base plate off the mag (don't want to bake the spring or follower) and it would work well. I did one mag base on this AMT .380 backup as well: it is aluminum, still holding up, but that is where the scratch is...

Pic with the steel mag base in the gun, aluminum base plate out...

Pic with the cerama coated aluminum base plate..along side the G23c BEFORE I put real sights on it... Now it is sporting some Heinie straight eights.

[DistantHorizon]

Ideally, you could find somebody to parkerize it.

You can buy the stuff from brownells, but it ain't cheap:
BENCHTOP PARKERIZING KIT at Brownells

More DIY parkerizing:
Kitchen Stove Parkerizing

[DeerNut]

Good ideas! I like the ceramacoat and baking lacquer route since this is not important enough to spend $300 on (and looks are just not that important in this case). I am afraid a rubber bumper will tend to snag and stick on a thin cover shirt so I'd like to use a finish of some kind.

Thanks, JIM

[QKShooter]

You cannot Parkerize Stainless - just FYI

[dukalmighty]

maybe scuff it and paint it,it is just a mag

[Rustynuts]

Yep, paint it. I would suggest the scuffing, then get some k-phos and black moly resin. The K-phos is kind of a cold parkerizing, but not really. It's basically phosphoric acid that etches and bonds with the base metal. Not sure it's effect with stainless though. The k-phos allows the paint something easier to bond too. The moly resin needs to be heat cured from 200-300 degrees, so I would take out the mag spring just to be safe.

I just did a slide with the KP and moly resin routine. Then tried to shine back up the hammer slide as I didn't bother taping it. The moly resin laughed at the 800-grit sandpaper I used! Got some of it off, smoothed down the rest with 1500 grit. Going to shoot it like that and see how it fairs. Seems VERY tough! No pics yet.