Painting Shotgun

[pfcperry18]

Hi guys. I want to repaint my H&R Pump shotgun. It has a black finish on it, but it's flaking and scratching off everywhere. I'd like to do an Arctic Camo paint job on it. I was told for the stock and forearm (synthetic) to sand it some, primer, paint then clear them. If I do that, I also want to paint the barrel and receiver to match.

Someone said for the barrel, use high heat paint (i.e, header paint). Would I do the barrel and receiver parts the same way as the stock or a different process? It's not going to be a great paint job. It will most likely start to come off after a year or so. That can just be touched up real quick, though.

 

[Dave McCracken]

In your shoes, I'd contact Brownell's and talk to tech services. They list a variety of finishes and know the best techniques.

 

[CmpsdNoMore]

A few years ago my Mossberg 500 had some rust on it due to being stored while traveling and then being unable to get to it for awhile. The rust wasn't bad and I was able to clean it off with some very light steel wool and oil. This situation made me think about going the dura/cerakote route, but I didn't have a lot of money to spend.

My shotgun is a "working" shotgun and I don't baby it. Since I didn't want to spend a lot of money I figured I would do the paint job on the cheap and if I had to I would do a touch up or get a better finish when I had the money.

I got some sandpaper, degreaser, camo spray paint and a matte clear coat. I didn't need a camo pattern, but you can find methods online of how to do them fairly easily. In Retrospect, I wish I would have brought the items somewhere to have them bead/sand blasted so that the roughness would be the same on everything. It was not a serious issue, though.

I decided to paint my short (SD) barrel, the receiver and the magazine tube dark green and the part that attached the barrel to the magazine tube black. I also painted the shell lifter and the action bars black. Though, the paint on the action bars made them too wide so it took awhile to be able to use them without action being rough.

I sanded everything down and then made sure that it was degreased, washed and dried. After taping the sections that I didn't want painted and plugging the barrel, I hung the items outside on a clothesline and did three coats, allowing 15 minutes to dry for the first and a little longer for the second. After the paint dried I did two coats of the clear coat, allowing time to dry.

The finish came out MUCH better than I thought it would. The only part where the paint came off is where the action bars rub against the magazine tube. I don't take it out much, but it has withstood 5 - 8 times of running small "stages" I set up, two times pheasant hunting and multiple times carrying while walking through the woods.

The total cost was somewhere around $35 for everything, plus most of the spray cans are at least half full. I'm planning on painting my slug barrel this summer and I wish it was easier to rough up under the rib of my 28" barrel because I would probably paint that, too.

 

[blarby]

Pics or it didnt happen !

 

[CmpsdNoMore]

I know I took a bunch while I was doing it. I'll see if I can find them.

 

[JHenry]

My brother usedsome sort of textured paint on an old single shot he bought on the cheap. He didnt need to bake it but it was really solid, only thing was it was rather thick and might cause fitting problems if applied on pump actions or semi autos

 

[Virginian]

When I hunted a lot around salt water I used zinc chromate primer and automotive or Rustoleum spray paint. I did not sand anything first, just degreased thoroughly. Worked fine. After I did some machining on my BPS 10 to lighten it, I did the same thing on the bare metal and it also worked fine on that. You do not need header or other high heat paint. When was the last time you burned your hand on your hunting shotgun's barrel?

 

[pfcperry18]

Thanks for the info, guys. My gun isn't only for hunting, if it matters any. I use it for bird hunting, trap and skeet & sporting clays. The barrel does get pretty warm if it's just me shooting or if there's only a couple other people on the firing line.

So some Rustoleum spray paint will work fine for a cheap paint job? Should I primer and clear coat it?

 

[CmpsdNoMore]

I didn't do a primer, but the color of paint I used was dark. If you were going to do tan or a lighter color you may just have to do multiple coats.

 

[Rail Driver]

I recently painted an AK white, and have painted others as well. The grip safety on my 1911 wears black paint, and the frame has matte clearcoat over unfinished steel (bead blasted). I've had good luck with rustoleum BBQ paint (comes in black and white that I know of, there might be other colors available I just haven't seen them at walmart).



The pistol has held up for the past week or so as my EDC in a kydex or a leather holster depending on the day. The AK just hangs on my rack but I like to fondle my guns daily so it gets some handling and has held up just fine as well.

 

[AK103K]

You dont need a specialty paints, and actually, things like Testors model paints, will let you remove them completely later if you wish. Testors also has a "Military Flats" line, they will let you match just about any pattern you want, color wise.

I painted these back in the 80s with Testors. The Mossberg is still wearing the ASAT, I just recently stripped the 1100....



This is the 1100 now...


This was my last, an M&P15 in Multicam...




The main thing is to degrease everything well with something like Gun Scrubber. Spray the base with the lightest color in the pattern first. The go light to dark with the rest, be it with a brush or spray pattern. I usually spray the whole gun with a couple of coats with Testors clear flat lacquer when its done. It helps even and flatten the whole paint job, and adds a level of protection.

Brownells has a couple of videos on painting that are a big help. Look under their "Aluma Hyde II" paints and there should be a link.

Ive used Aluma Hyde II on a number of things, and its a good paint for gun finishes, but its pretty much permanent. You also have to follow the directions to the letter, and let the paint cure for a week or more or you can have problems. If youre going to use it, make sure its what you want.

 

[BruiseLee]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned DuraCoat. NutNFancy has a bunch of videos on it on YouTube. He has tested it throughly and gives it high marks. I bought a kit to refinish my Ruger MK II, but I must confess I haven't gotten around to using it yet. I've spoke to the company at the SHOT Show, they seem like a great company.

http://www.duracoat-firearm-finishes.com/

 

[Coltdriver]

I used Krylons winter colors to get this camo job done with a Savage I had. The wood stock on that thing was so ugly it was crying for paint!

Used pieces off of a natural ocean sponge from Wal Mart along with the four cans of paint, a white, a black and two shades of gray. I sanded the stock and applied their primer first. Makes a big difference. To get texture on the grip areas I taped off the areas I wanted textured, sprayed them white, then sprinkled sand on them. The sand ended up buried under layers of paint. Worked great and never did come off.

Did a beater 870 in the Krylon browns. Also worked great, was very durable and I still have that one. I have got it plenty hot shooting and never had a problem with discoloration or flaking.

 

[Strykervet]

I Duracoated a G17 and a Mossberg 500 a couple months back. So far, so good. They've been to the range, had a couple of boo boos, and all is good, not a scratch. Wears better than the orginal park on the shotgun.

I'll be camo'ing an FAL soon, but I'm working up a champat style digital camo. I saw one on 7.62 Precision's site and that stuff looks like the bees knees.

In the Army, we used "Bowflage". I don't think you can get it anymore. It was a removable spray paint, but it wasn't that easy to remove.

A lot of guy just use Krylon now. I've been there, done that too.