The firearm I was thinking of when prompted to with this discussion is the H&K VP9 handgun. I have carried this pistol for years for self defense purposes and only ever had to draw it once when living in Baltimore Maryland to defend another person in a tough spot. Thankfully I did not need to use it that day, but I was confident it was going to work when I needed it.
The finish on the slide is a surface conversion coating and is very durable. I have carried this in a Kydex OWB holster for years and this would usually work down a surface coat type of finish pretty fast. Even the bake on finish of the Cerakote job used on my Taurus Judge wore down much faster than this conversion coating. The slide does show some dents and dings to the finish closer to the muzzle but all in all it has held up great over the years. Used for indoor and outdoor training its rust resistant coating has held up great and having practiced drawing from a holster thousands of times I am still amazed at how well it still looks. I believe it is the best finish for the firearms intended purpose because it is exposed to the elements every day and holds up great.
Touch up work using Cerakote can be achieved with the use of an experienced technician but if done by an inexperienced individual you can run into a bunch of issues. The color doesn’t match, spray on finish was too thick or shows evidence of running or dripping. Just talk to your local Cerakote specialist about your firearm and your options for touch up work and you may be surprised at their answer. However, touch up work on the H&K VP9 Slide is going to be a little more difficult. You could use some perma-blue on bare metal sections, but this is a different process than the original conversion coating.
H&K calls their slide coating their Hostile Environment finish which is just a cool marketing term for a really great finish. In fact the way they finish their slides is through a process called Melonite Nitriding that enriches the metal with nitrogen and carbon. This technique gives a deep finish that also increases the density of the metal making it pretty difficult to be work down. Even with daily carry of the firearm and the abuse it takes while conducting training, the slides finish is not easily damaged or worn and this can be directly attributed to the type of finish they apply as a factory standard. An alternative finish would only take an already great finish and turn it into one that breaks down faster. If I had damaged the finish that bad I would look into having the Melonite Nitriding redone because in my experience it is one of the most durable available.
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