I have Robar's Roguard finish on one of my stainless revolvers. It is a fabulous finish, second to none. Some may dislike the fact that it's technically a "paint job", but that fact doesn't bother me a bit. After over a year of continuous usage, the finish still looks like a million dollars (well, maybe a thousand
), with the only visible wear being on the forward face of the cylinder around the charge holes.
Only the revolver "externals" were treated with Roguard - that is to say, the frame, cylinder, barrel and crane. Since the polymer-based finishes add some thickness (not much, maybe a thousandth or two??? if I recall correctly), Robar does not apply this finish to any internal parts because of issues with the action parts fitting together and working properly, which was just as well for me, as the only reason I had the gun refinished in the first place was to alter the external color. Note that small external parts like the ejector rod and cylinder latch are not done, so the gun will have some stainless "accents" that may or may not be attractive depending on your taste.
And what a color it is - very dark indeed, almost a true black, rather than the very dark grays that are the results of some other surface finishes that involve chemically altering, rather than coating, the metal's surface. It does lack the luster of classic bluing, so I'm sure that many purists would find it rather too modern in appearance for their tastes.
Another note about Roguard bears mentioning: Robar makes Roguard available with both a "matte" and "satin" finish. I chose matte, as I really wanted a true matte finish that was not at all reflective. When the gun arrived, it turned out the "matte" option was really more of a satin, with a definite sheen to it, though not by any means was it so shiny that I was disappointed. Just be aware that the matte Roguard is not like the dead flat, unreflective finish that you'll see on guns like Sigs and Kahrs (and the older Glock slides).
I also had Robar
blacken a stainless revolver of mine. By "blacken" I mean a surface treatment of chrome sulfide, which, rather than being a genuine black, turns the gun a very, very dark gray. Close enough. And, unlike the Roguard, this finish was dead flat. There is not a single speck of light reflected from the gun's surface. Also unlike the Roguard treatment, the blackening is done to almost all the parts in the gun, so there is none of the two-tone effect from having the small parts retain the bright stainless look. Everything is black. I haven't had the sideplate off, so I don't know if they did the internal parts such as the hammer and sear, but suspect they did. Since the blackening is chemically-based instead of being a coating, there is no dimensional change, at least none that would ever affect function.
Robar claims that not only does the treatment of a stainless gun with chrome sulfide not decrease the corrosion resistance of the stainless steel, it actually increases it. I don't know how this is, but I take their word for it.
They do bead blast the gun before blackening it (they offer only a matte finish when blackening stainless), and the resulting rougher surface finish compared to the original, standard S&W satin stainless would typically make the gun somewhat more susceptible to corrosion. But then again, there's the supposed corrosion resistance increase of the chrome sulfide itself. So maybe things balance out.
The Roguard job - revolver externals - set me back about $250.00. The blackening was only half that, at $117.00.