At Black Collar Arms we have had the pleasure of creating some really awesome custom Pork Sword Pistols for our customers. We’ve done a bunch of really unique Cerakote jobs (example 1, example 2), a few trick anodizing jobs (example 1, example 2), and, now, a head-to-toe completely chromed out pistol. To be clear, we don’t do Cerakote, anodizing, or chrome plating in-house so we really can’t take credit for this part of the work . . .

But we’re certainly very happy to have found skilled vendors capable of bringing our ideas and our customers’ ideas to life.

In the case of this chrome plating work, which was a customer request, Manchaca Suppressors & Rifle Works just south of Austin, TX here put the metal to the metal. This isn’t paint, it’s actual chrome plating like you’d do on a bumper or an exhaust pipe. And if you aren’t from here, that’s pronounced “man-shack.”

To plate the aluminum Pork Sword Chassis and Handguard, plus the aluminum optic rail, bolt knob, magazine catch, etc., Manchaca Suppressors first copper plates these parts. Copper will bond to aluminum during the plating process. Once that’s done and polished mirror smooth, they can then nickel chrome plate the parts as they do with all of the steel components.

Then, of course, comes what I can only assume is hours of polishing to provide a blemish-free mirror finish.

A little shift in focus and the Pork Sword nearly disappears, showing more of what’s behind the camera than what’s in front of it.

Focus on the Chassis.

Focus on stuff in the reflection.

Handguard and barrel (the chrome is sooo deep and amazingly flawless, like a pool of mercury, on the spiral fluted X-Caliber barrel).

Reflection.

If you haven’t photographed a chromed out firearm, I don’t recommend it. It’s a pain in the butt.

All-in, having these parts chrome plated ran $1,400. That’s Black Collar’s actual cost, which we just passed directly onto this customer.

Certainly not for the faint of heart or light of wallet. But, dang, does it stand out!

Somehow defying the laws of physics, the mirror chrome plating is both fragile and durable simultaneously.

When brought to a flawlessly flat, mirrored polish like this, it will shows scuffs and the finest of scratches very easily. For instance, if it has dust on it and you rub it with a cloth, you’ll probably dull the finish. In that case you may not see actual scratches, but it’ll dull the shine. Its status as a flawless mirror requires gentle care.

On the other hand, the chrome plating is hard and durable. Aside from sharp impacts against a hardened object, it’s extremely unlikely to chip, ding, or otherwise wear. In fact, it looks pretty darn good after a couple years of legitimate use.

For example, Capitol Armory has a fully gold-plated AK-47, also plated by Manchaca Suppressors, and it has been shot quite extensively over the course of a few years. It has been to public shooting range days and has not been treated more gently than a typical gun. The mirrored gold plate shows scuffs and fine lines, but it looks fantastic. It’s fancy, shiny, and over-the-top, but it looks well used in the best possible way. And those imperfections aren’t even visible from more than six-or-so feet away anyway.

When it comes to this Pork Sword Pistol, I don’t actually know what the customer has in mind. Will it live a life mounted on the wall, being dusted occasionally by Jeeves with his white cotton gloves before he checks the fireplace mantel to ensure it’s clean? Or will it find itself out on hunts and riding in side-by-sides?

No idea. I do know that this 12-inch 6.5 Creedmoor is incredibly accurate and capable. This is a sub-half-MOA gun — five shots at 100 yards, not three — and it’ll send a 147 grain ELD match about 1,150 yards before it first goes subsonic. Deer out to 600 yards? Absolutely. Steel targets with half-MOA or better accuracy out to 1,000 yards? Yes.

Will this particular Black Collar Arms Pork Sword Pistol enjoy those activities? No idea. But we darn sure enjoyed building it!

 

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39 COMMENTS

    • Disagree. Because you can – go for it! Answer to no one and just shoot!

    • Life and liberty we all pretty much understand the same way. Pursuit of happiness, however, is fundamentally and essentially individualistic. We all pursue happiness, but the form that pursuit takes can be as far apart as a Monet and a Velvet Elvis.

  3. nickel has a bluish tint. back when every industrial zone had a backalley chrome shop it was copper, nickel then chrome. and an exchange for eleven engine covers for a z-1 was a hunnertfitty. then the epa began regulating the dip acid disposal…
    frank stankovitch (forking by frank, any model over or under, three years before easy rider debuted http://www.frankmain.qpg.com/) trailered a gold plated chopper to daytona bike week. took a bet that it wouldn’t start. it started, and began dripping whatever karat he had on there.
    how does that ak hold up? alloyed?

  4. Jeremy,

    How does the plating affect clearance / assembly tolerances?

    Not my cup ‘o tea…but, I’d gladly shoot one given the chance.

  6. the photos make it look like a plastic toy.
    did you try snapping that wide open and stopped all the way down?
    is your middle name bokeh?

  9. That looks dumber than anything I’ve ever seen a newbie, tacticool student bring to Front Sight, and I saw a lot of dumb in 4 years.

  13. I immediately thought of cylons.

    Bold move by them to accept that job since chrome would show ANY imperfections. This really shows the high quality of these firearms.

  14. It the “Pimp Cup” of rifles.
    Martha Stewart placed an order but couldn’t legally fill out a 4473.

  15. It’s 109 here today. Take that thing to the range and it’ll burn your palms off and inflict permanent eye damage. Suppressors are illegal, so with that shorty barrel, better double up on ear pro too.

    • Actually the gun seems to stay extremely cool to the touch, even in the Texas sun. It’ll blind you though for sure haha

    • Black guns will absorb the light and convert it to heat. A perfectly reflective object wouldn’t be heated by radiation — only convection and conduction.

  18. Did they pay for it in cash covered in white powder? Were they carrying a matching 38 super?

  20. Makes about as much sense as a leg holster. You could always tell the newbies to SWAT. They were the ones with the new leg holsters. Ever try to run with a leg holster. It ends up in your crotch or on your backside. This firearm is all about bling and yes, someone will buy it!

    • I’ve found when using a leg holster it helps to skip. At first I thought skipping would detract from my scary operator look however I had many inquiries as to where I’d received my special scary operator secret agent man speznatz voodoo training. I told them it was self taught after years of banging my balls with a 1911. Before long the rest of the scary looking operators operating with leg holsters were banging their balls with 1911’s and skipping around too.

  21. Needs pearl handled grips.
    .
    I quit hunting with stainless steel, shiny shiny catches eyes.

    • I have stainless. I don’t hunt with it either. But it don’t shine near as much as this chrome thingie.

  23. huge mistake here. They got the rifling on the outside of the barrel -not the inside.

  24. All chrome plating does is trap heat, polishing and then Brite Dip anodizing would have been a better choice.

    • You are incorrect, Sir.

      While Chromium is a poor electrical conductor, it is an excellent thermal conductor. Insulators trap heat, conductors do the opposite.

  25. Looks to be something a Cylon would be wielding in the original Battlestar Galactica series. Not exactly my flavor as an old racer once told me, chrome don’t make it go fast. But, I have seen worse.

  27. I think it looks great and I think you guys did a great job with the build. Fuk what these haters that couldn’t afford the chrome job on this gun have to say, Kel-tec Peasants.

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