Stella options with purchase and anodizing

I'm strongly considering stepping up my Stella game here. I've got my "starter set" of 675, 680, and 685, with a 689 front. What I'm looking to do is pick up at least the big bore front, and probably a tactical tip because those are damn cool, and then all five solid backs in polished, with the end goal of having the backs be gloss black. I really like the polished/gloss backs with the dust front I got with my Resurrection kit. It's an awesome look.

Question is, what's my best course of action for obtaining these? I know I can order up the polished backs and send them off to an anodizer, but if I can get them thrown into a batch that's already going to be black, I'd much prefer that. If it's not an option, that's OK too, just hoping to eliminate a step of the process if I can.

We don't have any plans to run parts in polished black. The only things we do in polished black are the triggers and we are fully stocked in those. Batch costs for running a small number of parts at our local anodizer are crazy. :(

No worries! I'll just get the backs and send 'em out for ano at some point.

Once the anodizer makes them black, since the backs come polished right from Inception, do they have to do anything to them to get the glossy finish? I'll admit I don't know the process well enough, even this many years into being around the sport.

Semi-related, I wonder if I could ask them to not anodize the insides of the barrels. Any benefit or hazards from that?

Having raw aluminum on the insides or anywhere else for that matter is prolly not a good idea. I'm sure simon has the specs down so that the internal sized bore is the size it needs to be AFTER anno. Also raw aluminum will tend to oxidize and pit causing a horrible finish after a while.

iirc, to re-ano parts, you need to strip the old ano off in an acid bath, polish the parts, then anodize. So I think the barrels just need to be anodized.

And also iirc, there's some variation in the thickness of the ano layer that varies between anodizers

I think when he said "not anodize the inside" he meant not RE-anodize the inside. As in not strip it at all. (?)

That's always a good solution for barrels since the stripped metal sometimes needs to be polished or buffed again. it's a great idea for barrels. BUT in order to do that you have to find a way to plug the internal bores to prevent the acid solution from getting in there. It wouldn't be hard to plug the barrel back, but the front would be a different story...

When I had my old Marq re-anodized, they attempted to do that with the stock one-piece barrel, and it looks like they just filled the whole barrel with something since simply plugging the ends wouldn't work. It kinda worked; pretty much the whole bore is the original color but there was some leakage at the porting where a little acid got inside and the old anno got stripped and redone. At least it's at the porting, where it matters less than the bore, and it actually looks kinda cool.

Well, originally I was thinking of starting with raw polished backs and leaving the interior raw. However, I don't want to get pitting over time, so I'll just roll with what I can, and maybe run a polish through when they're back. I remember back in the day (engage old fart mode!) running a toothpaste-covered swab on a drill down my barrel, and getting a spectacular shine on the inside.

If you send out raw polished backs and have them done polished black through a reputable anodizer they will come back with an excellent polished internal finish.

The reason I provide them in raw is so they don't get damaged by stripping.

In the past I send out great barrels to have them come back with an excellent external finish but being wrecked in side because they weren't re-polished after stripping.

Ah, that's what I was concerned about. Good to know they'll be taken care of through a good anodizer. :tup:

Now I just have to wait for a particular check that's coming.