Spray on finishes?

[Bret4207]

Does anyone have any opinion on any of the matte spray on finishes? I've never used any and wouldn't be considering it now except the boys didn't take real good car of one of my rifles! It was cold blued 35 years ago to start with, but I'd like to try something different.

 

[Ben]

Earlier I thought you were talking about a spray finish on the wood.
There are some spray finishes that just might work out well on your metal however.

Best,
Ben

 

[L Ross]

I took my "dirty weather rifle" out of its cut down mil-surp stock, degreased it, heated it up with a heat gun, and misted about 4 coats of Rust-O'-Leum semi gloss black on it about, oh 20 years ago. Still black. It is a 1909 Mauser that was augered out with a .30-06 chamber reamer when imported from its original 7.65x53 making it a .303-06. Then later I had Norm Johnson bore it out to a .35 Whelen. If I take it out when raining or snowing I rub a little Johnson's paste wax on it. I probably should brush it with Johnson's One Step just to make folks cry.

I can only imaging that modern products made specifically for firearms would be better.

 

[358156 hp]

The two current leaders appear to be Cerakote and Duracoat. I tend to prefer Duracoat for it's ease of application, but Cerakote came out with an air-dry version in addition to their original heat-cure version that I haven't worked with yet, so that advantage may be gone. Durability for both is really good, but attention to details for both is critical. I still use both, depending on the project requirements. Cerakote has been much easier in the past for me to screw up with.

 

[Rick H]

I camo'ed a beater 12 ga. Mossberg 500 with assorted flat black, flat white, dull brown, grey primer, and OD green Krylon. I did the stock and all. Ugly as sin, but has served me well turkey hunting for the past 20 yrs. or so and it isn't rusting. If a get a bare spot I just add a touch more paint. I keep the innards clean and lubed and it works fine.
Did I say it is ugly as sin? It was never a high quality gun, birch (or some such) stock, pressed checkering that didn't align, rough metal work, but it was cheap and worked. I didn't mind it rattling around in the bottom of a duck boat or canoe and it shot where I pointed it. When I decided to try turkey hunting I just painted it up. It is not something that I am very proud of, but it is functional.

 

[Winelover]

Like anything else...................you get what you pay for. I recommend Cerakote. You can do it yourself. Has to be baked on, though. Holds up very well. Large selection of colors and finishes. Had my Marlin 1894 SS done, professionally. Was too shiny for my taste. Now it's a matte dark gray.

 

[Ian]

Krylon with a matte clear acrylic works if you never get anything stonger than mineral spirits on it.

For wood, just wet-sand it with mineral spirits and 400-grit emery paper followed by a blending with steel wool and vigorously rub a few drops of Tru-Oil on it with your fingers, let dry, and repeat until the sheen is even. For metal, hot-water blue it with Mark Lee Express Blue #2, like I did my Savage 99 resto-mod you've all seen in pictures, or this rusty wrench:



An even easier alternative is strip, thoroughly degrease, and rattle-can it with Duracoat bluing replicator.

 

[Otony]

I built an AR way back around 1986 or so, when it wasn’t as commonly done like today. Used a forend that was basically a 2” aluminum tube that I bought sight unseen from the Shotgun News. Back then a free-float barrel wasn’t something you saw very often.

At some point during the build I realized that this was going to be a scope only poodle shooter, so I cut the front sight tower off, then shaped the resulting gas block with a file and sandpaper. That free-float tube had gotten scratched up pretty badly by a young friend who carelessly laid the rifle on a rough concrete shooting bench. So both it and the gas block got a good dose of hi-temp stove paint, or maybe exhaust header paint, I can’t recall clearly after so many years.

That stuff was/is tough! It was a matte black that basically blended in with the black parkerizing of the other parts, quite by accident I might add! And it held up perfectly. If a paint is going to fail, a hot gas block would be a fast route.

There have been many gun finishes played with since then, but I’ve never forgotten the durability of hi-temp paint. YMMV……

 

[Bret4207]

Thank you guys. I was talking metal, but maybe taking this Rem 788 22-250 and going full hog "Mall Ninja Sniper rifle" is something I will look at. I would prefer actual Parkerizing since the boys aren't real keen on taking care of stuff. Actually, it's MY fault for not being my normal helicopter dad and nagging them mercilessly about wiping down and oiling things up. Anyway, I have some leads now. I will start looking. Thanks again!

 

[Petrol & Powder]

In the world of spray on- bake on products, I've been impressed with Brownells GunKote.
It does require an oven, so you need to have that part worked out before you start. The end finish is very tough and it's easy to get a nice finish.

Parkerizing is an option, and maybe one of the cheaper options.

Everyone and their brother seems to be doing Cerakote these days. I'm not super fond of it, but it does seem to work.

That covers the inexpensive stuff. Moving on to the high end, get your big money out options.
Birdsong Black T and its clones are some seriously tough coatings that look amazing.

NP3 and NP3+ is electroless nickle with teflon. Wright Armory (formerly Robar) is the leader here. NP3 is nothing short of amazing. It is also very expensive.