re: Cerakote cost?

DH77,
Brownell's has some good videos on Youtube.
-Properly preparing the surface is very important. After being painted, the surface will naturally cure to a hard finish if left alone in sun.
-I usually end up doing my projects during the winter when there's little/no sun. I found a bunch of references on the 'net of folks curing the painted surface in their oven (?350 deg) overnight. After that I hang it in a small room (for a couple weeks) heated by an electric heater so the room's pretty warm. This may be a little overkill, but it's worked well for me.
-My handguns actions/barrels fit well in a typical oven. I hang the object in the oven by wire attached to a non-painted area. Once it's dried well enough to handle w/o smudging the paint, I then paint the areas where it was hanging by wire.
-Don't handle the unpainted/painted surface w/ bare hands. I wear rubber gloves to avoid getting oil on the surface.
-Buy the extra nozzles and clean out nozzles on Brownell's site. The paint is THICK and easily clogs the nozzles bad, leading to clumps of paint on your gun and/or a wasted can.
-Apply multiple, LIGHT coats of paint. This stuff is THICK.
-One can covers action/barrel of multiple XP's.
Good luck and share some pics w/ us.

-If I'm painting during cold weather, I warm up the can a little w/ a hair blower.