Need Advice:Refinishing Remington 870

[RevolvingCylinder]

I have an 870 here which has little bluing left and much rust on the exterior(this was the one I bought a little while ago in this condition). This is a field shotgun and I want a durable and utilitarian finish, preferably in some sort of woodland or OD green. What do I need and where do I start?

[Oldnamvet]

Having used it, I am partial to the duracoat process. First you would need to strip the gun entirely and get as much rust as possible off using oil and steel wool. If you have pitting on the outside, I would use electrolysis with a battery charger (do a search in the gunsmithing section on rust removal) or a small sand or bead blaster to get rust out of the pits. The automotive people have a plastic media that they use since it only gets at rust and doesn't strip away metal. Makes some friends in the local body shop. ;) Then a full and thorough degreasing job, masking off all interior portions of the receiver and barrel, and apply the duracoat in a color of your choice with an air brush. Handle only while wearing rubber or clean cotton gloves after degreasing. Oily residue from the hands can ruin things at this point. Preparation is the key and about 95% of the work. Bad preparation and it will turn out bad. Good preparation and it will look nice and be quite durable.
Duracoat is available from Midway. Airbrushs that will work can be bought cheap from Harbor Freight.

[trueblue1776]

Parkerize, the 870 was born to wear it.

[RevolvingCylinder]

I already have an airbrush and a few body working tools. There really isn't any pitting and I've already done the steel wool and CLP routine. All that is involved next is degreasing and painting? No primer or anything?

I don't know anything about parkerizing though I like the look.

[mnrivrat]

Parkerizing is a bit more involved and requires a heated dip tank. I have done this over a kitchen stove and the work came out just fine. ( no, I am not married ).

A light bead blast before parkerizing is probably the way to go, and is also the recommended prep for Duracoat.

My next project will be a Duracoat finish . Go to www.lauerweaponry.com for information on Duracoat and they sell kits as well as individual Duracoat products. They also sell the phosphate solutions for parkerizing if you choose to go that way.

[RevolvingCylinder]

Looks like Duracoat is the route I want to take. I thought their stuff would be more expensive like most "brand name" stuff in the firearms industry but it's pretty affordable. Thanks for the advice.

[Dave McCracken]

A call or E mail to Brownell's techs may give you some more options. Last I heard, Denny Hansen was still quite happy with a baked on paint job on one of his beaters.

[mnrivrat]

I've heard good things regarding the baked on finishes as well. Duracoat also has a baked on finish product listed on the web site provided in an earlier post.

If you have access to an oven that is large enough to handle your longest part (usualy the barrel) then that is also a good option. Colors are more limited, but greens,tans,white, and black are available as I recall. The Durabake product takes 300 degrees for 15 minutes, or 180 degrees for 3 hours .

As Dave mentioned Brownell's and possibly others have bakes finishes available.