Fastest & most efficient way to remove paint finish..?

Have an AK with a painted receiver. It was painted with off-the-counter BBQ spray and it was 'cured' in the shed for about two weeks. Me and my friend plan on reparkerizing some of our guns. What would be the most efficient way to remove the finish? He has a sand blaster in his shop. Would that do any good? I was thinking of letting it soak in Acetone for a while, but i'd have to buy atleast two big cans, and they're not cheap! What are some routes you guys take to remove paint finishes?

Thanks!

sandblast it

Goof-Off

"Aircraft Remover" for those stubborn jobs.


Takes car paint off with the quickness...

Soda blast it! That's sandblasting but using a course form of baking soda.

By far the best way is to bead blast the metal.
This not only removes the paint, it gives the metal an "orange peel" roughened finish that gives the new finish a "tooth" to bond with and increases the durability.

Or:
Use lacquer thinner.
You don't have to totally submerge the receiver, just take it outside with a narrow container you can get at least part of the receiver in.
Put in some lacquer thinner and use a solvent-proof toothbrush to slop the thinner over the metal.
Usually ordinary paints like BBQ paint will craze and start to come off almost instantly.

Slop the thinner over the areas not submerged and scrub away. (Wear gloves and goggles).
Once you have all the paint off, flush with clean thinner.

Another option is paint remover. The gel type works well and all you have to do is use a REALLY solvent-proof brush to coat the receiver and let it work. Scrub the stubborn areas, then hose off with a hose and detergent.
Following this, I'd take the receiver and put it in a deep sink or bathtub and give it a liberal scrubbing with a good spray-on cleaner to remove any remaining gel and loose paint, then flush really well.

Thanks for the input guys. Where/how does someone get a hold of a bead blaster?

I think for now I'm going to let it soak in a shallow tub with some type of thinner, and just clean the heck out of it. Follow up with some sandblasting, and then clean with some acetone. Not looking foward to working in a cold shop, but it's always fun to work on stuff like that on a weekend anyway

You can get all you need to 'beadblast' also known more commonly as sand blast (in a sandblast unit you can do all the blasting, sand, glass bead or soda blast) from Harbor Freight. You can also get those same things from nearly any tool company, but why pay more? The best is a sandblast cabinet over just a sandblast gun without a cabinet (you lose most of the media when sandblasting without the cabinet). I hope this helps.

this ^

first try regular laquer thinner

Just don't get that stuff on your hands .... or anything else you want to keep. Aircraft Remover has powerful juju.

I use this, Kleen Strip in the spray can to remove the majority of paint (cheap), lacquer thinner with an ample supply of q tips, tooth picks and white rags to get in the cracks and crevices, K-phos as a base coat and then paint. Here's pictures of a Bulgarian 74 stripped and ready to coat and paint. WARNING Be sure to wear rubber gloves and eye protection when using the stripping stuff, burns like a Muther when you get it on your skin, cotton gloves when using the lacquer as to not get finger prints on the metal. I don't show it but I also hose everything down with a spray bottle of denatured alcohol as my last step before painting. It's labor intensive to get all the paint off but the finished product is worth it.

That looks awesome! I hear you on the gloves and eye protection, though. That stuff burns cold as soon as it touches your skin! I'm gonna start out with thinner, and douse it with some kleen strip for awhile and scrub that paint off, hit it with the sandblaster as well.

I used to use Kleen strip then purchased a blast cabinet...much easier and gives the park a good tooth to hold on to....

Kleen strip removed the paint like it was nothing. Very happy on how it turned out.
I was wondering if I should clean the gun after sand blasting it, but i'll leave it on if it helps the parkerizing process.

For anyone who has reparkerized over a parkerized finish.. should I expect a better finish? Will it cover up scratch marks and dings?

And what should I use as a barrel plug so I do not get anything inside the barrel?

Once again, thanks for the info

Clean the metal after bead blasting to remove dust and bead blast media.
I recommend using a good spray degreaser like Simply Green or Greased Lightning, or for that matter, any kitchen cleaner like 409, etc.
Spray it down well then flush with clean water.

I recommend doing this just before the parkerizing process to prevent any water spotting, or flush with distilled water.

The bead blasting will do a good job of "erasing" many scratches and light dings. Don't over do it. Bead blasting isn't intended to be used to remove these, it just helps "soften" them and blend them in.
(Note: Sand blasting is done with real sand and is used to blast clean brick or stone buildings and park statues.
Bead blasting uses tiny glass or synthetic beads to clean and prep metal).

The bore MUST be plugged when parkerizing if the bore is bare steel. A hard chrome lined barrel probably doesn't need to be plugged because parkerizing chemicals can't harm it. However, keep the bead blast stream away from the muzzle and chamber to prevent damaging the hard chrome with the highly abrasive bead spray.
If you decide to play it safe and plug the bore for the parkerizing process, I can recommend several methods.

One is to put a threaded rod down the bore and install parkerizing chemical-proof rubber or plastic plugs on the ends with nuts and washers so you can tighten the plugs down tight to seal the bore.

Another is to drive hard wood or chemical-proof plugs into the muzzle and chamber. These will also give you handles to handle the barreled receiver with.
At the lower temperatures the parkerizing process is done at, there usually isn't enough internal pressure in the bore to blow the plugs out, but be VERY sure they're in there tight. Splattering hot caustic chemicals don't play well with skin and eyes.
Also remember that the chemicals will enter the bore through the gas port in the gas block. Plug it too if you're going to plug at all.

I agree... I use Simply green then blow dryer or air from a compressed only if you have a water filter on the compressor... If not only use a Hair dryer to make sure all the solvents are removed... Yes its best to sand blast or media blast before you park and just that alone will hide most of the imperfections... Bead blasting leaves a orange peel finish which looks good with a parked finish or as some have don't park it then dura cote or gun cote after..... I have done both and don't like to park unless I have enough parts to mix up a batch if not I usually Gun cote or Dura cote.... Personal preference...

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