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Well I got alittle gutsy and decided to paint my newly built ar-15 pistol. couple of reasons, the upper and lowers didnt match well, and i just didnt like the solid black look of it. it looked like a freaking heavy chunk of black metal. and the profile was very easily identifiable as a "evil black rifle". Also I generally wanted the gun to blend in better in a variety of environments, such as winter, dry summer, and even urban settings. This initially had me thinking some sort of gray color scheme would work well, esp in the winter and urban settings. I have always like the burnt bronze look, however it was hard to find a easy DIY paint that was a good burnt bronze shade. I just couldnt picture the gray, so I ended up going with the tried and true FDE, which has always been a favorite of mine. It also will work well in all of the environments im likely to see as the fde color really just kinda blends in and blurs out, unless its on a really dark background like solid black or blue. So, I went ahead and "pulled the trigger" and went with FDE.
alot of "tutorials" or you tube how to vids on painting ar-15's basically sum it up as cover up the important holes and spray paint on it. I wanted to do something alittle more "professional" looking in my opinion, (i fully realize that this is just rustoleum rattle can and not a professional gun coating) so i almost completely broke down the rifle leaving just a few bits attached that I could tape off. the goal was to paint the upper, lower and handguard, and have all the other stuff remain the original black/ parkerized finish. like the main components were painted from the factory, then the gun assembled. this to me gives it that oem look I was going for, not some back yard rattle can job( which it is!)
anyways, i cleaned off the surfaces well and taped up the important bits. .sprayed 2-3 nice light coats on all parts. careful not to overspray. its still in the tail end of the 24 hour drying, and i may let it sit to cure for a few more days just to make sure the paint is good and hard before re assembling everything.
now we shall see how long this finish lasts. I may do this again but next time use some of the brownells alumahyde II in dark earth color. I was going to do that this time around but apparently its much harder to remove and i was nervous about that in case i messed it up. I've painted small gun parts before but never anything like this.
pics in the next post
alot of "tutorials" or you tube how to vids on painting ar-15's basically sum it up as cover up the important holes and spray paint on it. I wanted to do something alittle more "professional" looking in my opinion, (i fully realize that this is just rustoleum rattle can and not a professional gun coating) so i almost completely broke down the rifle leaving just a few bits attached that I could tape off. the goal was to paint the upper, lower and handguard, and have all the other stuff remain the original black/ parkerized finish. like the main components were painted from the factory, then the gun assembled. this to me gives it that oem look I was going for, not some back yard rattle can job( which it is!)
anyways, i cleaned off the surfaces well and taped up the important bits. .sprayed 2-3 nice light coats on all parts. careful not to overspray. its still in the tail end of the 24 hour drying, and i may let it sit to cure for a few more days just to make sure the paint is good and hard before re assembling everything.
now we shall see how long this finish lasts. I may do this again but next time use some of the brownells alumahyde II in dark earth color. I was going to do that this time around but apparently its much harder to remove and i was nervous about that in case i messed it up. I've painted small gun parts before but never anything like this.
pics in the next post
