Painting an AR,and maybe a suppressor? (PICS)

[hydro556]

I have sprayed, with Duracoat, a couple of bolt guns and they turned out fine. Basically, the paint jobs turned out as good as the prep work I did before hand.

It has been a long time since I sprayed anything but I still have my airbrush and stuff. Now I have another gun that needs paint, only this time it is a semi auto and I am looking for some advice, to have the best shot of making it turn out well.

The gun is an 8.2" Noveske 300Blk and it will ultimately mount an AAC 7.62SDN-6. I think it will be great for hunting the local whitetail. In most of the (few) places I have to hunt, it is hard to find a tree to climb that would have a shot of more than 200 yards, so I think this compact and quiet package would be ideal.

So, I want to paint it for my local area. Some shade of green. The thing is that the gun will spend far more time at the range seeing a fair number of rounds, so it will get hotter than the bolt guns I have painted in the past. Previously I sprayed regular Duracoat, air cured. But I am not sure that that will hold up to the heat of sustained fire. I dont do mag dumps, etc, but it still gets hot. Just not sure if it is hot enough to compromise the coating.

Just wanting general advice on what coating I should use to get a good durable(as in spray once and it lasts for years, dont want rattle can on this one) finish on my AR.

Also, for those of you who have done it I have a question about painting the hand guard. The barrel is a matte stainless and it would be a bitch to coat evenly without dis-assembly. Do any of you just slide a tube over the barrel and muzzle device to mask it? That is what I am thinking of doing, then just spraying the whole gun foliage or OD green. Maybe some tan or brown in there to break it up.

General advice? (Trying to do this one myself,I know we have some talented guys out there(Dimensions), but just not in the budget right now)


EDIT- It is an NSR rail.

 

[bdcmh]

Re: Painting an AR,and maybe a suppressor? (PICS)

If it were me I would disassemble and paint the parts individually then reassemble. Short of that I would take the handguard off and mask the barrel.

I would not paint the suppressor. I have had some barrels heat up during rapid fire but the paint held up. However, I have had suppressors get extremely hot and I am not sure how the paint would hold up to that heat. I also would not pain the suppressor mount.

 

[hydro556]

Re: Painting an AR,and maybe a suppressor? (PICS)

I am leaning toward the same thoughts pertaining to the suppressor. They just get hot as hell fast as hell.

I am sure there are coatings that could hold up, but for me it is probably best left as it comes from the factory.

I am not going to disassemble unless it is just mandatory. Pretty sure I can slide a tube down there and cover the barrel and muzzle device and then spray it.

If I go this route, I can pretty much remove the concerns about heat. Surely, air cured Duracoat, or Cerakote or KG Gunkote etc, will all be effective in this role, right?

The only concern I have in this method is being able to do the proper prep work.

 

[bdcmh]

Re: Painting an AR,and maybe a suppressor? (PICS)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: hydro556</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If I go this route, I can pretty much remove the concerns about heat. Surely, air cured Duracoat, or Cerakote or KG Gunkote etc, will all be effective in this role, right?
</div></div>

I have used Duracoat in that role and it has worked perfectly so you will be fine.


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: hydro556</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The only concern I have in this method is being able to do the proper prep work.

</div></div>

I typically degrease a few times and do a light sandblast which is why I disassemble everything. It takes a little more time but the finish always looks good and is durable.

 

[smschulz]

Re: Painting an AR,and maybe a suppressor? (PICS)

Disassemble.
Properly prepare > AO 125 blast, degrease.
Cerakote.

The other extreme end is to use a cheap rattlecan Krylon all assembled.

The first is the optimum quality job and the latter is the cheapest, fastest.

 

[sgtbutt]

Re: Painting an AR,and maybe a suppressor? (PICS)

As far as painting with Duracoat, slide your tube off mask the barrel etc etc. For what it's worth I Duracoated my 11.5 SBR and have had no problem with paint and on one occassion there was about 300 rounds of M855 put through it in about 15 minutes and no concern of paint.

Your suppressor mount I wouldn't paint. I wouldn't want to put any unnecessary paint chips into the can. As far as if you want to camo your can I would buy one of the various brands of wraps out there in Coyote and hit that with some Krylon.

A guy in my unit built his own can off of a Form 1 and he burned his krylon off and now has it coated with hi temp engine paint. I would leave the can and mount alone but would not have any problem with painting anything else.