Refinishing a gun

[lwh723]

Hi all,

It’s time to refinish my boat paddle (a.k.a. 870 Express). I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions or helpful hints (maybe some links?); I’m planning on doing both the metal and the wood.

Specifically concerning the metal, I would like to do somewhat of a matte finish; I believe there’s something called “browning.†I really don’t care all that much about looks; believe me I don’t think it can be made to look any worse. I just want a finish that won’t be as prone to rust.

Thanks,
Luke

 

[DMK]

Gunkote is not only easy to apply and comes in many colors (including flat black), but it will protect your gun from the elements.

www.kgcoatings.com


Do a search for Gunkote at www.falfiles.com These guys post a lot of pics of very nice finishes on their rifles with this stuff.

Either polyeurothane the wood or just replace it with synthetic.

 

[lwh723]

Thanks for the info. That was my plan to polyeurothane the wood (unless someone had a better idea), but I had no plan for the metal. Unless something else comes up, the gunkote looks like it will do the job very well.

Thanks,
Luke

 

[DMK]

If you do go the Gunkote route, I recommend either parkerizing the metal first (best), or use their K-phos metal prep.

The K-phos is sort of like parkerizing and will not only protect the metal better, but allow the Gunkote a better "bite" on the metal. Another nice thing about K-phos is it allows you to prep the metal after sandblasting or sanding it and then you don't have to Gunkote it right away. I've left pieces with just a K-phos coating for weeks with no rust.

 

[Keith]

I've done a number of rifles and handguns with GunKote, or variants thereof.
You don't have to Parkerize the gun. Beadblasting will work just as well and is much cheaper to have done since most of us don't have a Park tank or a beadblasting tub in our garages. If you do have a friend with a Park tank, then go for it because you'll get a slightly more attractive matte finish than simple bead blasting.

The directions vary depending on the product you use, but there are only two things you can do wrong.

1. Is not de-oiling the metal properly. You must bathe the metal in acetone and then heat it up with a torch to bring oil to the surface - you'll be amazed at how much comes up from an older gun! It will bead up on the surface and must be removed. Repeat the acetone and heating until no more comes up. After doing that you MUST handle the metal with clean cotton gloves. Any residual oil left on the metal will be a place where the coating flakes off.

2. Is applying the paint too heavily. Heat the metal briefly with a torch and apply the paint in a number of VERY thin coats. Reheat the metal between each coat. If you apply the coating too heavily on a single pass, you might as well just start the whole process over again because it will flake off.

If you do this right, this stuff is just great! There are a number of competing products out there, some teflon based and now some molybdenum based, and you can now get black, OD green and several shades of gray. I haven't noticed any real differences between the products - they all work as advertised.

I've put over 1000 rounds through my own Kimber Compact since GunKoting it, and the inside rails on the slide are still black and unworn! I find that amazing!

Keith

 

[Richard Bird]

Are you certain that the oil you see on the surface isn't from your blasting process? If your media has oil contaminate it will cause the piece to bead under heating.
I question whether oil could leach from solid freshly blasted steel.
I certainly have never had any problems with surface contaminates prior to parkerizing when the process is clean.
Are you "de-oiling" prior to blasting? If you're de-oiling after blasting you are contaminating your metal surface and contaminating the blasting media with oil.