Anybody seen a gun wrap in person?

[snowplow]

Hey guys, I have a gen1 Ruger American in the Pacific Northwest. It's a hard use hunting gun and it's pretty much always wet. These things have terrible rust protection. I'm super diligent about wiping it down and blowing it off with compressed air and all that stuff, but no matter what it still rusts a little bit.

Was sitting there thinking about how this cheap rifle really isn't worth getting cerakoted or anything like that when I glanced over at my daughter's camo shotgun. And then I remembered the gun wraps.

Do any of you have experience with them? I'm sure I could install them well. I'm good at that kind of stuff. But I can't really decide if this would be a genius plan or if it is super cheesy. I also wonder how they feel in your hand, especially since it's wet around here all the time. Anyway, the price is right so I'm thinking about it. If I don't do this I probably won't do anything so that's the other option. I've even considered getting out a can of spray paint.

What do you guys think about this?

 

[_Windrider_]

How much does a wrap cost? Are we talking hydro dipping?

 

[Hawk in WY]

I have a hydro-dipped AR that has been knocked around for 20 years.

It's still looking good.

I'm not sure how much rust resistance it adds, but it did the job I wanted.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I think he's talking about vinyl wraps like those from GunSkins. I've used them on firearm accessories, chassis, and tripods but never on the gun itself but they certainly have templates for it. While they'll probably contribute to keeping corrosion at bay to a degree the issue that I see is that they're mainly intended for covering what's visible on the rifle like the barrel, upper half of the action, etc... That still leaves a lot of area to get wet and start to form surface rust.

I would opt for something like the Duracoat Aerosol spray cans, I've used these several times and the price is about the same as a vinyl wrap kit and if you can operate a spray can you can handle this. A lot of people recommend Alumahyde II but Duracoat is dry to the touch in a couple hours and ready to reassemble for use after 24 hours; it's also chemical and corrosion resistant.

LAUER CUSTOM WEAPONRY DURACOAT AEROSOL | Brownells

Check out the LAUER CUSTOM WEAPONRY available Online at Brownells Today and many more Paint & Finishing products are available in our Tools & Cleaning Department.

www.brownells.com

This was a Mossberg 590 I did in Combat Gray.

 

[snowplow]

Cool. Ya l was talking about the vinyl gun skins. You can tell the cool kid camo shotguns are wrapped with something and l like those so l was hoping it was kinda like that.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Those shotguns are probably hydrodipped, it's a different process from an applied vinyl wrap.

 

[snowplow]

I'm sure some of them probably are but the reason I say that is my daughter 's. Winchester check has a seam along the bottom. It totally looks like it's been wrapped. And it's totally legit. So I was kind of hoping they were one in the same or at least close.

 

[Wannashootit]

Here's the thing...
You've already got corrosion. Put anything over it- before removing it completely by blasting or sanding, you're not solving the problem, and would make it worse by covering with a wrap because it would progress underneath where you won't see it (until you remove the wrap and find a corroded mess).

Cerakoting a stripped barreled action isn't that expensive (I used to charge $85 for a single, stock color). Blasting is the best way to be sure you've got all the corrosion removed, you can sand/scotchbrite if it's not that pervasive and Duracoat for DIY as suggested.

 

[Baron23]

Hydro dip if you want to go that sort of route.

Or, as said above...have that bad boy cerakoted.

 

[flyfisher117]

Shouldn't be that expensive to have it cerakoted a single color. Those gun wraps are silly and no where near as durable.

I've seen a couple of them and was less than impressed.

 

[TheBigCountry]

I mean

How much is a can of Kyrlon these days? 6.97 or some shit? Channel your inner Picasso/Bob Ross and have at it.

Plus, as the paint wears, spray it with a different shade and you have a very cool camo pattern base.

 

[Maggot]

I think he's talking about vinyl wraps like those from GunSkins. I've used them on firearm accessories, chassis, and tripods but never on the gun itself but they certainly have templates for it. While they'll probably contribute to keeping corrosion at bay to a degree the issue that I see is that they're mainly intended for covering what's visible on the rifle like the barrel, upper half of the action, etc... That still leaves a lot of area to get wet and start to form surface rust.

I would opt for something like the Duracoat Aerosol spray cans, I've used these several times and the price is about the same as a vinyl wrap kit and if you can operate a spray can you can handle this. A lot of people recommend Alumahyde II but Duracoat is dry to the touch in a couple hours and ready to reassemble for use after 24 hours; it's also chemical and corrosion resistant.

LAUER CUSTOM WEAPONRY DURACOAT AEROSOL | Brownells

Check out the LAUER CUSTOM WEAPONRY available Online at Brownells Today and many more Paint & Finishing products are available in our Tools & Cleaning Department.

www.brownells.com

This was a Mossberg 590 I did in Combat Gray.

View attachment 8555695

Nice.

 

[snowplow]

I mean

How much is a can of Kyrlon these days? 6.97 or some shit? Channel your inner Picasso/Bob Ross and have at it.

Plus, as the paint wears, spray it with a different shade and you have a very cool camo pattern base.

This is what l was going to do before l found the wraps. I know the wrap won't stop the corrosion. But it would help me to not see it and get annoyed every trip lol. So the question is are the wraps better than spray paint?

 

[Trigger Monkey]

For this specific application I'd say that no, vinyl wraps aren't better than spray paint.

 

[kl3309]

I'm sure some of them probably are but the reason I say that is my daughter 's. Winchester check has a seam along the bottom. It totally looks like it's been wrapped. And it's totally legit. So I was kind of hoping they were one in the same or at least close.

Seam is where the film "tears" and the two edges meet as it wraps around a piece (go to 5:58 to see seam):