I dyed my PMAGS!

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I posted in the deals section a while back a link to get windowed PMAGS for $12 each. The only catch: they were only available in OD green.

Now being the budget minded buyer I am, color didn't matter much when the price was good. I ended up with 7 of them all together. The green mags looked a little funny in my rifle, but it didn't bother me enough to care.

I've ordered some new parts to spruce up my A2 (flat top receiver, flip up rear sight, and a Primary Arms clonepoint which looks pretty good so far) and was trying to come up with a busytime project until the parts get here.

I was in the shower when it hit me. I had read something a while back about dying PMAGS and other polymer parts using RIT fabric dye. Checked it out online and it seemed simple enough, so off to wallyworld I went.

I picked up a bottle of black and a bottle of blue (the blue prevents the black being so dark it looks purplish), along with some de-natured alcohol and a 5 pack of rubber gloves. Oh, and a brick of .22 and 3 boxes of 5.56! :D

I stripped all the PMAGS down and washed them with soap and water. I was smart enough to take the time to strategize placement of the mags in the pot to ensure they fit and got adequate flow so I didn't get light spots. I got 7 mags in a regular sized stock pot with all the dust covers and everything.

I heated the water to about 160F and poured in the whole bottle of black dye and about 1/3 of the blue. I now had a pot of ink, boy was I in trouble if this stuff spilled!

I let the dye mix then backed the temp down to 140ish and started laying the mags in the pot with stainless steel tongs. The dye will stain everything but stainless steel and new porcelain, even glass! I left the dustcovers and base plates off the mags and dropped them in last. I let them cook, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes or so. Then I took them off the heat and let them sit for another hour in the dye.

BTW, if you spill some, rubbing alcohol will take off FRESH stains!

I carefully set the whole pot in the sink and started running cold water into it while dumping small amounts of the dye at a time. It took a while to get the water to run clean; I also rubbed each mag by (gloved) hand and put it back in the cold water.

Next came the de-natured alcohol. The purpose is to get off any excess dried dye that will "sweat out" on your hands later. I soaked a terrycloth towel in the alcohol and just gave each one a good rubdown. It took off more dye but didn't change the color of the mags any. Time for another trip in the cold water bath.

Last but not least, I put them on a pan lined with paper towels and let them dry in the sun for a couple hours.

I held 2 of the mags in a tight grip as I reloaded them, trying to make my hand sweat. I didn't get any dye on my hands with either. They look great and the dye didn't chage the color of the window except for a very slight tint. Tinted window PMAGS!! The color matches my black 20 round PMAGS perfectly!

Lessons learned:

-Be very careful with the dye! It stains everything!
-Don't drop anything into the pot. Set it in with tongs.
-Treat the immersed parts gently. I got some very light scratch marks from stirring with metal tongs.
-Be very careful with the dye! It stains everything!
-Colors can be changed from lighter to darker, but not darker to lighter.
-This should work on most polymer products and web gear/nylon stuff.

**Review of the Primary Arms Multi-reticle red dot coming soon!**
 
Sounds like a worthwhile endeavor. I did this same exercise some months back with my HK USC. In my case gray to black. Turned out wonderful.

Got any pics of the mags?
 
Here's a pic of the mags before dying:
013-1.jpg

Here's a pic of the mags after dying:
024-1.gif

A perfect match for the rifle!
035.gif

And one for you wallpaper pirates:
039-2.gif
 
The color is really dark; it matches my factory black PMAGS almost exactly.

That's the good part about the dye is that it permeated the plastic a mm or two. I haven't gotten to run any ammo through the new mags yet, but I took one and ran it into/out of the mag well 10-15 times to no ill effect. I put pressure on different sides of the mag so it would drag on the magwell and still made no difference.

I don't remember where I saw the idea, but the guy that did it nicked a mag with a knife to show how deep the color went. Looks deep enough for regular use. He also tried a bunch of different colors with his, including orange and red (why, I'm not sure).

RIT's website has a color chart that will give the mixture for a whole spectrum of colors. The black I mixed was one 8oz bottle of black and about 1/3 bottle of jean blue. Green can also be used to cut the black to prevent the purple tint.
 
Someone in the autoloader section was asking about changing the color on a LCP frame. He got a good deal on a LCP but it has a pink frame. I sent him this thread, maybe dyeing would work on a polymer frame although starting with pink might be tough
 
Very sharp and nice follow-thru on getting 'em ready.

I cold-RIT dyed a plain canvas newspaper delivery bag (remember when KIDS delivered newspapers?) that had a sorta reflective orange-cloth strap ALL orange to use as a game bag a coupla decades ago. I used it a coupla times but finally had to admit it was pink...

Al
 
The Pirate said:
It might be cool to dye one orange to only be used with dummy rounds or something.
Click to expand...
I bet you'd have to bleach or lighten it somehow to get it to look anything other than a real dark auburn. It would be a cool idea though.
 
how come it didn't dye the window...?

and BTW.... does it work on metal? like a RIA 1911 frame..?
Click to expand...


I dont think dying the frame would work but depends on what the frames made of it could be andonized.
 
Doubt it would work to dye metal with.

I think it didn't dye the windows because they aren't porous plastic? They have a VERY slight tint to them, but it's not really noticeable.
 
A lot of work just for a change in color. What's wrong with green? You could have probably traded them for black ones?

I took all of my mags and spray painted them various colors desert brown 3 tone camo, and forest 5 tone camo.
 
Certainly makes for a good "slow day" project. Kept me busy longer than it would to make a couple clicks to order the black ones, and it cost way less. The dye was maybe $5.

leadcounsel: Bet it took me less time to dye mine than to 5 color camo yours.:neener: Nothing wrong with the green, just gotta accessorize, man! It's not an EBR with a big, fat, green mag sticking out of the bottom!

Just remember if anyone wants to try this:

Light to dark is possible, the other way doesn't work.

There are MANY different colors you can make with the different dye colors. RIT even has a color chart on their website.

I would use the tan color mags to do any wild colors. I think the green would change the hue of the final color. ie instead of ending up with a yellow PMAG, you might end up with a yellowish blue; yellow+green=blue. All of this is experimental though, so do what you will at your own risk! It would be cool to find a way to strip the original color from the PMAG to allow easier color changes.
 
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