I have a ruger mini 14 that came to me in a bucket of other parts. All the parts are there and functional when assembled but the bluing was a total loss and what was left I removed. I would like to refinish it but given that it will be a truck gun and I don't have extra funds available to have it done professionally I am leaning toward paint of some kind. I have read that vht ceramic header paint is good enough for the purpose but my atempt was a failure I'm thinking I didn't let it cure long enough before baking it. But it wiped right off with acetone so I'm back where I started with a bare metal gun. If any of you have done this before I would love to hear your experience of what worked and what didn't. Like I said cheaper is better but I also want it to be somewhat durable and passable looking
Best way to paint a firearm?
- Thread starter Red Beard Forge
- Start date
I have used that paint with good success.
Make sure that the metal is 100% clean. Degrease it, wash it with soapy water and get out
any oil that may be on the surface or just underneath.
Once that is done do not handle it with bare hands.
Prep work is key here.
To apply the paint, I used a heat gun to warm up the metal, sprayed on the paint and then
used the heat gun again to dry the paint. Let it cure for a few days and should be good
to go.
Make sure that the metal is 100% clean. Degrease it, wash it with soapy water and get out
any oil that may be on the surface or just underneath.
Once that is done do not handle it with bare hands.
Prep work is key here.
To apply the paint, I used a heat gun to warm up the metal, sprayed on the paint and then
used the heat gun again to dry the paint. Let it cure for a few days and should be good
to go.
I guess I should have described my prep I rubbed everything down with 000 steel wool and 600 grit wet dry then wiped everything down with acetone and hosed it off with brake clean then sprayed it with three thin coats aprox ten min apart as per the can then let it dry a couple hours before baking at 250 for half an hour and then 400 for another half hour I found that anywhere I handled the parts while they were hot (removing from the oven to cool ) the finish came off and several other places had chips missing as well in the morning. I also wonder what other people do to mask contact areas I used silly putty this time for rails and extractor etc and tape for flat areas but if there is a better way I'd like to hear it
Use a coatingmade for firearms. They tend to go on very thin .001-.002". As for masking I use masking tape or electrical tape then peel it off before baking. Ceracoat also sells high heat masking tape. Duracoat you can use scotch brite to prep but I always bead blast with 100 grit aluminum oxide.
I think I'm going to go redneck with this one as I've already started but I have a couple other project guns that will need refinishing as well ... Where can I buy gun specific coatings in Canada or do I need to order from down south? I went back to the auto parts place I bought the header paint today and their paint "guru" suggested I try vht roll bar and chassis coating which is a high heat one step epoxy coating so I'm going to give it a try as its only $11 and I'm having fun with this I'll let you know how it works out
I'm doing a revolver frame which is alloy that can't be blued. I sent this question to Rust Oleum. They told me to sand the surface to remove the gloss and use Tremclad primer and paint. I'll warm up the frame and use hot water to warm up the spray can 1st. Degreasing is certainly the most important part.
That's awesome steel cap! Going to try that out right now on some smaller parts!
Op, I used the same ceramic header paint clear as a final coat over krylon and its held great on my beater maverick 88. She lives a rough life, most of the time it's flopping around in the truck or getting soaked, bouncing around my boat. Sprayed a khaki base, went to town(maybe even the next town)with sponges and waited 48 hours to apply a lift coat of header paint, waited 24hr and shot a second coat. Still looks pretty fresh.
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Op, I used the same ceramic header paint clear as a final coat over krylon and its held great on my beater maverick 88. She lives a rough life, most of the time it's flopping around in the truck or getting soaked, bouncing around my boat. Sprayed a khaki base, went to town(maybe even the next town)with sponges and waited 48 hours to apply a lift coat of header paint, waited 24hr and shot a second coat. Still looks pretty fresh.
The 600 grit was just a scuffing pass not really polishing just meant to give it a bit more "tooth" than the steel wool I used to remove the bluing. I would have sand blasted it but I'm not set up for that tight now and this was an experiment in doing it as cheaply as possible without specialized tools. So far it looks really good I'll give it a few days to finish curing then test fire it and see how it holds up. I didn't notice in the store but I grabbed satin black rather than flat black roll bar coating but I kinda like the way it came out
Depending on the gem in question, this is an easy solution. I probably wouldn't do it for a fancy gem....
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/813357-Bit-of-tremclad-makes-everything-ok
A paint secret is to make sure you let it cure for a few weeks. The coating becomes much more resilient (still not truly permanent though). Touch ups are no problem though.
