Last month I was involved with a 10,000 round endurance test by a local rifle mfg (NDA prevents me from disclosing their information at this time), and my rifle as well as one other had the Cryptic Coatings BCG's in the Black Mystic/CVD treatment. My rifle's test was one shot every two seconds for 90 rounds, let barrel cool down to ambient temp, and then wipe down and re-lube with slip2000 every thousand rounds for 10,000 documented rounds. The other rifle with the Cryptic Coatings BCG was a dry test where all parts were degreased prior to testing, and one shot every two seconds for 90 rounds, cool to ambient, for 2,000 documented rounds.

Here is the BCG from my rifle at the documented 10,000 rounds after a quick blast from gun scrubber and a wipe down. There was almost no wear on the contact points.

[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]

Here is the BCG from the 2,000 round dry test.

BEFORE

[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]

AFTER

[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]Cryptic coatings bcg by jprizz237, on Flickr[/IMG]

Even after 2K rounds caked on most of the carbon literally wiped off with a rag. Now there was more wear marks on the dry test than the 10K lubed test, so even with fancy coatings and treatments lubrication is needed, however the PVD/CVD finish was by far the superior treatment. There was also some NiB bcg's being tested and they showed significantly more wear than the PVD/CVD carries, and clean up was barely improved over the phosphate coated ones. To me NiB is a worthless finish, but the NP3 and PVD/CVD show promise.

Overall I personally feel that the CVD/PVD process is the most advanced alternative treatment/finish on the market available. Sure the price is more than some of the other offerings but I was flat out amazed at how easy it cleaned up and how slick it is.