[Graybeard]

Once a long time ago back about 1983 or maybe 1984 right after I had bought a new Remington Model 7 I decided I wanted it to be a gun that required little in the way of up keep. So I decided to paint it to prevent rust and glare.

I'm often asked about the procedure I used and in fact just finished writing it up again to answer a question on the Gunsmithing Forum. So while it is fresh on my mind and I have it copied I'm gonna paste it here for all to see and in the future I can just refer folks to here.

Here is what I wrote on the Gunsmithing Forum just a few minutes ago:


I used Rustoleum paint. I took the stock off and bolt out. Stuffed the inside of receiver full of kleenex as I did the end of barrel. Either use modeling clay or masking tape to cover any and all other places you do not want paint to stick. I used acetone to clean and remove all traces of oils and grease.

I then sprayed first using rust colored primer and let it set and dry thoroughly. I then used flat black which was the final finish I wanted. After this was dry to the touch I removed all the kleenex, clay and tape and put it all back together. I think the secret to the success of my project was what I then did next.

I took it to show my best friend Billy Doss (now deceased) what I had done. This was on a HOT summer day and the rifle stayed in the gun rack in my truck with windows closed all day with truck standing in the sun. Got REAL WARM inside and seemed to back the paint on.

That was almost 20 years ago now. The rifle still has about 90%+ coverage of the original paint still on it. The only places some is missing it where the barrel contacted the gun rack in the truck and around the trigger guard and bolt handle, those from wear from use. It has never required any care to the outside and has not a single trace of rust in almost 20 years since the painting job.

It works great and you can use any color or combination of colors you wish. Just be sure to clean all oils and grease from it to include any finger prints. Use Rustoleum as it is designed to prevent rust. Bake it on afterward as I did in the hot vehicle on a hot sunny day and you should have excellent success with it as I have.

GB

 

[jeffg]

Recently, I cammo'd my AR15 with auto paint. I cut out "lightning bolts" in some file folders, and used them for spray stencils. I decided on urban camo, so I alternated between black, white and gray to get the vertical tiger stipe pattern I wanted. Works great. It all comes off with automotive brake part cleaner spray.

 

[rickyp]

lets see a picture of the rifle

 

[jeffg]

Here we go, found another way to post. The urban camo seems to do well every where, it could use a little more white in the winter.

http://www.anycities.com/user1/irondog54/Ar15 deck.jpg
http://www.anycities.com/user1/irondog54/Ar15 snowshoes.jpg

 

[jeffg]

Sorry for the above goof-up, I will try something else. Does any one know why hunting-pictures.com is down?

 

[Tom W.]

I did it with an SKS I bought. Got A Ramline Sporter stock for it, and it just didn't seem right with that shiney bolt. Got a can of Rustoleum barbeque flat black and went to painting.. didn't hurt a thing, and looks a whole lot better!

 

[Moose in KY]

GreyBeard,

Did your Model 7 have a wood stock?

I have a NEF shotgun that I would like to weatherproof.

Thanks

 

[grendel]

Had to have been about 18 years ago I did the same thing with an new Mauser Mark X in .270. One extra step I did was to spray paint a coat of Zink Chromate first then the "Flat Primer Black" coat. Cammo on top has needed touching up from time to time but other then a few scratches, the only place that has worn down to blue is the bolt handle.

Grendel

 

[glanceblamm]

Saw a used Ruger M77 at a gun show. Had been painted black, wood stock & all.
Know what though? it looked pretty good.

 

[HuntingGuy]

Good ideare GB

 

[scibaer]

Other then heating up the barrel in my truck, how would I bake the paint on my barrel ? .. when i used to paint bow parts in this way, i set the parts in water and boil them, pull them out and they'd dry nearly instantly, wait to let them cool some, and paint, it would bake on that way.. but not to sure about heating my barrel up .. got any ideas for this ? ..
Glenn

 

[Graybeard]

Boy this old thread doesn't get brought back up very often and it looks like I missed it the last few times.

Scibaer if your barrel will fit into your oven you could warm it in there to 200 degrees or so. If not you might lay it in the summer sun on a dark surface and it should get hot enough but then the summer sun won't be around for a few more days will it? ;D

Moose in KY, yes it has the wood stock.

grendel, Zinc Chromate is normally used for aluminum. I guess it wouldn't hurt for use on steel but that's not its normal mission I don't think. I just used the Rustoleum primer instead as it's mission in life is to go on steel and protect it.

 

[scibaer]

right, so summer sun,lol to my dissappointment.. the oven is not an option, mama would kill me. i may turn up my hot water heater, run the tub and heat the barrel like that.. not the best , but the best i could come up with ... or maybe use 2 heat lamps.. now theres an idea !

 

[montveil]

I live in the mountains of NC and we do get snow on and off.
When I want to dampen the black I just run a couple of pieces of masking tape up the sides. It is not white but it does break the siloutte of the black barrel. Actually a little black showing through aids in the break up also.
It is easily removed whemn the snow clears

 

[land_owner]

Graybeard...While in the service of the USCG, in the early 70's, we used a form of zinc (that I thought was chromate) on all steel surfaces and bulkheads of Uncle Sam's Yacht Club. We called it Blue Death. It came in 6 gallon pails with an internal gallon of acid that had to be mixed with the paint before using. It was almost as thin as solvent, had an unmistakable smell, and would chemically burn you if not removed with mineral spirits in short order from exposed skin. Another manufacturer provided the "classic" yellow-green colored pre-mixed chromate that is much more identifiable today. It was all a bear to get off of a bulkhead with a needle gun and wire wheel.

We also used 55 gallon open drums of the now "dreaded" trichloroethylene. Stick your arm in, get a bare hand full on your rag, wipe down surfaces prior to painting. Three years of this, two to three hours per day, half dozen days per month and I don't exhibit cancer, three eyes, or deformed children 30 years after. Guess some genetics are hardier than others.

...which, while I am thinging about it, makes me remember that historically lab reports came back with zero or 0.00 or None Detected as the result. Then advancing technology moved the number of places to the right of the decimal point and zero vanished. We can now detect more and more minute traces of substances in almost everything. Practically sixteen decimal places worth!

What to do with that small number? OSHA does not know. Make rats eat enough to kill them so we have something to put on the MSDS pages. Who thought that up? Make good press on the herbicide and insecticide bottles.

Heed the warnings. Mental and physical health conditions are NOT reversible. Once gone, it stays gone. You will never know, but your loved ones will. Not spoken from first hand experience thank goodness.

 

[rockbilly]

A young COP friend is using some type of paint (finish) that is like paint, and very hard after it is put on. He is glass beading the gun, spraying the finish on, then putting it in an oven and baking it for 30-40 minutes. The stuff he is using is OD in color, and according to him, last indefinate. He is on the SWAT Team and uses the gun daily, for training, or actual situations.

 

[jeffg]

I have been meaning to fix the photo of my AR, here it is...JeffG

 

[superjay01]

JeffG, nice looking paint job on your AR, makes me think I should try a camo job on one of my guns.

 

[ddelle338]

Bought one of those $300. Savages from Wal-Mart. Nice little gun, shoots great! But I hate synthetic stocks. So I decide to paint it up. I bought some of that Krylon plastic paint. Used a kind of tan for the base, then flat black for leaf and stick patterns. Then coated it with a clear satin. While I was doing this I decided to paint all the metal also. I found a paint called “Steel-it” or “Steels-it” or something to that effect. It uses stainless steel powder for the silver pigment in it. After a good cleaning and masking. I used one of the wife’s old combination curling/hair dryer, hung the barrel from the rafters and tied the dryer under the action, blowing up through and around the whole thing, left her cook for a couple of hours before I shot it with the first coat. It left a nice satin stainless steel coating that is very wear resistant.

 

[44 Man]

I have done this several times to get the glare off stainless guns or change a scope from silver to black. I work at a Harley Dealer and one of our distributors offers a paint called PJ Satin Black Case Paint, meant for the aluminum of motorcycle engines. It is not shiny or flat, but rather a very appealing 'satin' finish. I bought a little Savage in 22 Mag and after fixing the trigger, I found it was very accurate. (I'll never knock .22 Mag accuracy again! This gun would shoot 1" 3 shot groups at 100 yds! Of course I weighed and sorted the ammo by weight.) Anyway, I painted Both the stock and barrel and action after spraying it down with carb cleaner. It worked great! I also picked up a bull barrel Marlin 60 in .22. That gun had a synthetic stock and a black anodized receiver. I decided I didn't like the looks of the blued barrel with everything else black so I painted it also. I put Simmons 2X7 .22 scopes on both guns. That Marlin proved to be very accurate also. It's the only gun I have ever owned that just LOVES CCI stingers! So that is all I feed it anymore. I really would like to do the same treatment on my FA83 Stalker but have never gotten up the nerve! 44 Man