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AHH MAN IT'S TAN!


JGshooter

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I've been thinking that it would be something new for me to build my next .308 AR as a tan gun, I figured I'd powder coat the upper/lower,rail before assembly and use tan furniture. The only thing that's holding me back is the idea that the gun would look like poop if the powdercoat wasn't durable and started to chip off when I mounted things on the rail and started shooting the gun. Anyone tried it yet that can tell me how well the finish stands up?

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I had considered the tan DD Lite rail, but have a different rail in mind for this one, I'd love to anodize the parts but the last time I looked into it, all of the platers in my area that I showed the upper/lower to, (without even getting into replating the rail) told me that in order to strip the hardcoat off to reanodize in tan, I would end up with dimensionally different parts because the stripping would remove material from the parts.  It sounds as though I'm heading in the same direction again. I can do any of these things but the risk is all on me, and this puts me in the same place as before where I don't want to risk high end .308 parts to test out these processes. I think I'm going to need to buy some lower end AR 15 parts, upper/lower,rail and try out all of the coating processes I'm curious about. So maybe a tan AR 15 with a Melonite coated barrel, and maybe some sort of coating on the BCG as well.

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When I had my PMAGs painted, I noticed the duracoat made the parts considerably thicker. I wouldn't duracoat rails at all. Maybe there's a thinner coat that's possible, that I'm not aware of. I know that the plastic was actually painted with "DuraFlex". The guy did a phenomenal job matching Magpul OD. I'll do a full write up on the painted mags soon.

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JGshooter - would you like to get rid of that EO?  I'd take it.  Let me know, man, and we'll figure it out.  <thumbsup>

I have spent years experimenting with "off the shelf" spray paints and their applicability as bake-on gun and/or accessory finishes. Really fancy stuff like Rustolium works OK, but you'd be surprised what works even better and moreover, what it costs.

There are two options which work equally well and better then anything else I've tried. Neither are going to be as strong as purpose firearm spray finishes like Duracote, but still strong enough to hold up to decent amount of wear. I'd compare overall to maybe bluing, give or take a little. If done right, it can be applied pretty thin too.

The two are different brands but require the same method of application and treatment.

The first is that cheap $1 spray paint sold at Wal Mart. The stuff found in a blue and white can. Use only flat. Gloss doesn't work so well. The other is Testors model spray paint. Again, only flat should be used.

I spray it on very carefully and bake in an oven at 300f for 3 hours. If baked for 2 hours, the finish will be about half as durable as a 3 hour bake (maybe even less) and 4 hours runs the risk of chipping. Higher and lower temperatures create similar issues. 3 hours at 300f produces the best results I've been able to find.

It's not perfect and surely no substitute for duracoat where duracoat will work but probably the best thing you're going to find in your local hardware store.

I've done some rails with it in the past and never had any issues with thickness.

If you intend to try this, experiment on something less important, like a can or dollar store spoon before going in to the thick of things.

BTW. I have a toaster oven dedicated only to bake-on finishes. Probably not a good idea to use the same oven you bake your pizzas in.

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Putting paint on plastic covered electronics that will actually hold up is very tricky, mainly due to the fact that you can't use very high heat. It's not an impossible task though as long as you are willing to live with some....eh....aesthetic disappointments.

First, I am assuming you are talking about your optic, not the rail. If so, there's probably no reason why NOT to use duracoat and that's probably your best bet. While Duracoat can have it's curing process completed in a day through baking, it's chemically designed to be useable within a day and be rock solid within a month, which is much easier to live with on things like optics then say...handgun frames.

If you are unwilling to go that rout, a plastic spray paint might do the trick if coated with spray wood lacquer. Keep in mind though that wood lacquer will eventually get this ugly beer gold shade to it which will alter the color of the finish in a way you probably won't like. This however CAN be used to your advantage in some cases though. I personally like the color it generates when put on over olive drab and if you spray it on over desert tan, it will eventually turn to a dark earth color almost identical to that of magpul furniture.  Obviously, if the finish is black, this beer gold color has no effect.

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