Gunsmithing Duracoat & Rust

[Panduece]

I will be applying Duracoat to a rifle.
It is a Rem 700 and has the factory finish on action and barrel. I left it in a soft case for 2 nights, and opened it up and BAM! Surface rust the whole length of the barrel and action. Lesson learned.

Next night, I bought Duracoat Shake n Bake. Since I've had light surface rust, and rust never goes away, what would you gentlemen reccomend? The SOP's for curing the metal?

I don't want to either

1) Duracoat, think all is swell, but have rust eating away under the surface

2) Apply properly, yet have to reapply shortly thereafter because rust wasn't properly dealt with

 

[308FMJ]

Re: Duracoat & Rust

Send it to Kampfeld and have it Cerakoted. He does good work and it will last a long time. I'll bet the price is better than you think also!
Kampfeld.com

 

[SuburbanHick]

Re: Duracoat & Rust

alright.... duracoat is a strange animal... I do alot of it locally.... go to lowes/ auto parts stores and get scuff pads and acetone... prep is KEY... dont miss anything... let it soak in acetone for a good 10 min.... scuff it up... let is sit in acetone again for about 5 min and blow everything off with a air hose... make sure to have clean gloves on while doing this or wash your hands with acetone to get all the oils and what not off if you dont have gloves handy(it works but its not a good idea) then spray... bake if possible.... id highly reccomend before all of this, to borrow the wifes oven and see if you cant get it to fit in there. my factory sps varmint fits in mine and throw it in there at 150-175 for about 10 min and let it cure that way... works great...

that being said even the best duracoat job will look great... but it wont compare to cerakote for durability

 

[thespecialist]

Re: Duracoat & Rust

I agree with suburbanhick. I do all of my own Duracoat, Cerakote, and KG Gunkote and the Cerakote is top notch in durability. When you think you have all of the oil off the gun, scuff it and degrease it again. The prep time is the hard part, spraying it takes no time at all.

You'd get the best adhesion if you had access to a blast cabinet and some aluminum oxide media, but it'll work just scuffing it up with a red or green scotchbrite pad. As long as you get the rust off that's on the gun now, and then coat it before any more appears, it'll last.

 

[E. Bryant]

Re: Duracoat & Rust

Surface rust ain't no big deal - just apply light oil (such as WD40, RemOil, diesel/kerosense, whatever) and rub it with some fine steel wool. The rust will typical come off with just a minute or two of elbow grease.

If the surface is pitted, then you'll want to do some media blasting.