Experiance with Duracoat

[chewy65xx]

Hey there everyone, I'm not new to this forum but I'm a long time lurker first time posting. I've got a couple of questions about duracoat and if anyone has experiences with it their input would be greatly appritiated. Well the firearm thats in question is an old enfield. Not sure the model but it was made in 1916. Found it at a guns show for a price i couldn't pass up so i took it home. Well someone tried to sportorize it and must of got lazy and moved on to other projects. They had the barrel cut down to a tad under 17 inches, recrowned the muzzle, removed the top handgaurd, cut the bottom handgaurd down considerable, drilled and tapped for a scope with the mounts included, and they added their own personal touch to it by embedding a canadian quarter in the stock. The bore is fairly decent with minimum pitting and it shoots fairly well were I can roll a coffee can at a hundred yards regularly. But the metal and wood work leave something left to be desired. The rifle looks like the previous owner left it in a creek bed the whole winter and picked it back up in the spring. The metal is all pitted and the stock has a million dents and dings in it.
So this brings me to what I was going to ask. What would you think about refinishing it with duracoat? On the website it says that its good for all kinds of metal and wood finishes. How well does it actually stick to wood? im probably going to buy all of the things that I need and get to work on it in the near future. The website also says that it's pretty easy to do and that you don't need any special equipment. Is this true too? I think that I'll have to go with a couple of coats on the metal because of all of the wear, but I hope it will turn out all right. Well that about it, anything that anyone has to say is greatly appriciated.

 

[Cougfan2]

Welcome to THR.

 

[krs]

I can't speak to duracoat specifically, but every wood stock that I've ever seen that an owner had painted looked awful.

Wood would have to be glass smooth and the pores completely filled for it to have any chance of coming out halfway decent, and it probably wouldn't anyway.

 

[Ray P]

Box-O-Truth has a good article on refinishing an old SMLE. Not specifically using duracoat; but a very good result none the less.

I have had duracoat done on a pistol with no problems; but the work was done by a gunshop. I have heard the duracoat works best if applied with an airgun.

 

[jorjohn11]

I did all the metal on a smle 2A with duracoat. Looks great. The rifle had a black paint of some kind on it when I got it, I stripped it all off and applied two coats with their colt gray and am impressed with how it turned out. If you can do a decent job with regular spray cans this is just as easy.

 

[bobby68]

wasnt' there a thread here a long time ago where duracoat lost a guys bolt to his 50 cal rifle? Was that THR or some other website? I was hoping to learn if the guy ever got his bolt back.

 

[cmanhome]

Duracoat

I picked up an old Mossberg 20 ga. and decided to redo it as the barrel was very
pitted and in bad shape overall.
I used a metal buffing wheel and finished it off with steel wool down to shiny metal. Then I painted it with Charcoal Grey Metallic, which looked fantastic on the metal , aluminum receiver and all. I let it dry for a couple of days and it seems to be a hard finish, just to be sure I clear coated the whole thing and walla, it looks brand new.
cmanhome

 

[raz-0]

wasnt' there a thread here a long time ago where duracoat lost a guys bolt to his 50 cal rifle? Was that THR or some other website? I was hoping to learn if the guy ever got his bolt back.

The duracoat in question here is a brand of epoxy based paint. It's DIY. It's not a company that refinishes firearms. Lots fo places use it as well as other products though.

 

[wjt1169]

Duracoat

Chewy,

I'm a brand new member to the forum myself. I've used Duracoat quite a bit over the last couple of years and really love the stuff. I got into it when I realized that my Mossberg 500 had developed some rust, and needed re-finishing. I was first going to re-blue it, but then read about Duracoat in a gunsmithing book, and decided to try it out.

In my experience the prep work is the most important step. For that first Moss 500, I simply used steel wool and scotchbrite pads to remove the rust and rough up the surface. You have to rough up the surface to be painted to give the Duracoat "tooth" -- something to adhere well too. They really recommend sand blasting the to-be-painted parts with 120 gritt Aluminum Oxide -- and that's what I do now. BUT the scotchbrite pads worked great for that first project.

Note that for wood parts, you need to sand it with 400 gritt sand paper first. Then completely coat the wood, and let it dry. The Duracoat soaks in and wood fibers rise. So, you then need to sand it again with 600 gritt sand paper, and recoat the piece again.

I bought one of Duracoat's EZ kits that includes an airbrush (Duracoat can only be sprayed on), Trustrip degreaser, bottled airbrush propellant, measuring spoons, and 4 oz. of one color of Duracoat. I chose the color they call SOCOM. This kit really has all you need to do your first project.

The colors are shiped with a bottle of hardner and directions. READ THE DIRECTIONS! Duracoat has two parts: the color and the hardner. You have to mix these in the right porportions before spraying. That's why you need the measuring spoons. (You also need to shake the color bottle for at least 5 minutes before mixing with the hardner.)

When you spray, you need to do several light coats rather than just blast the thing. Do a light coat, wait for the a few minutes, do another coat, wait a few minutes, etc. If you put it on too thick right away, it won't adhere properly and rip or chip off. For my Moss 500, the whole gun was covered using less than two tablespoons of Duracoat.

Duracoat does not require baking either in order to cure. They say you can bake the covered items for an hour at 100 degrees to speed up the process. But I've never bothered.

I've gone hog wild since that first Moss 500. I bought a table top sandblast cabinet for prep work, and a newer airbrush. I've gotten into doing a bunch of their camopacks. I've even made some custom patterns of my own. Their huge color selection really makes it an attractive product. You can mix the colors to make your own custom color. And it can be used on just about any surface.

You should know that Duracoat is very permanent, so consider carefully before covering an antique with the stuff.

I'll attach some pics of some of my work thus far.

Hope this helps.

 

[NCsmitty]

Nicely done wjt1169, although personally I'm not a fan of digital camo. I'd like to add that for more protection, the steel parts benefit from a parkerizing treatment prior to Duracoating. And yes, light coats are the key to a great finish. I run my air regulator at 10psi and have used it on all my Mauser conversions. It is a very durable finish and gets harder after several weeks. More durable than any bluing or stainless material. You have to make sure the surface is CLEAN before applying.

NCsmitty

 

[greyling22]

I'd pay the 60 bucks or so and get an synth stock before I painted one. the that's just my 2 cents. might try checking ebay for replacement wood.

 

[wjt1169]

Duracoat

Thanks NCsmitty.

Duracoat is manufactured by Lauer Weaponry (www.lauerweaponry.com), and they back you up on the parkerizing thing. It's perhaps the best surface to coat with Duracoat. A lot of the ceritfied re-finishers parkerize all metal first.

They also just came out with DuraPhos...a spray on parkerizing like coating that is strictly for pre-treating metal surfaces to be coated with Duracoat.
Haven't tried it yet myself, and haven't heard how well it really works.

www.duracoat-firearm-finishes.com also provides more information about surface prep, etc.

I agree with greyling22 too...get the synth. stock...probably easier to deal with.