I took the plunge and did a naval jelly job on an entire barrel assembly. I have always been hesitant as I didn't want to get splotchy areas, and wasn't confident it would work period.

I got this BCM 11.5" barrel with perm attached faux moderator at the local show this past weekend. It is new, and it was only $160. I posted another thread about my scores from the weekend. I thought the color looked kinda grey, but it turned out to be pretty black.

It was an almost black color, not quite black, but not acceptable for my GAU-5/A/A build. So, I thought I'd at least try the naval jelly trick on the barrel extension, as it won't be visible once installed, just in case it didn't work out. Well, it worked out. Pretty nice actually.


Here's the particular product I have been using for the retro grey look, with excellent results. I typically use a toothbrush to apply it, gets it in the cracks real good.


Once I got the courage up, I went ahead and coated the rear half of the barrel, from the handguard retainer back.


Only had to leave it on for about a minute, maybe two. Once that part cleaned off good, I went ahead and did the FSB and barrel up to the "grenade ring". Cleaned it up and it looked pretty good and grey. Going good so far. You can see the contrast between the moderator and the rest of the barrel assy.


After that, I went ahead and did the moderator.


Got her all cleaned up and was very pleased with the initial results.


Upon a good drying period, and further inspection, I could tell that she was REALLY dry, and needed something.


So I gave her a nice bath in some of the best grease on the planet....


After a good wipe down, she is looking pretty damn good! No splotches, streaks, or unevenness. Couldn't be happier!!



Here she is next to my 653 barrel, you can see how grey she turned out. Maybe a little lighter than an original, but it will be perfect for the build I'm doing. It's going on a light grey upper and lower worn through to gold (havent done those yet), so I think it will complement them nicely.


All in all it went pretty well. YMMV.

Nice job!
It looks great, can't wait to see the build when it's done

Same jelly I have been using - mostly on lower parts as you would suspect.  I have been very pleased with the results.  Actually have used it to darken up some older steel parts to look more grey.  Works well for that too.  

Gutsy move on the whole barrel, but looks like it turned out well.

Turned out better than I would have thought.  Gutsy move!  HBar will probably shoot alright too.

Thanks! Oh, and it's a lightweight barrel, .625 FSB. It's a 1:7 though, so I'm excited about that.

What's this trick?  I'm unfamiliar.  
 

It was discovered quiet a while back that certain STEEL parts that had a black finish would react well with Naval Jelly turning the black parts gray.To date,most folks have only used it on fire control group parts.The OP took a risk and did his entire barrel and it shows it work and worked quite well!!.You only need to have the Jelly stay applied on the object for about 30 seconds to maybe a minute. This trick ONLY works on steel parts,not anodized aluminum. Now the caution statement,,some aftermarket companies fire control parts are not gray under the black and the naval jelly may strip it to bare metal.
ETA  NICE job M1.

I see, thanks.



 

OP - although it may seem a little lighter than original, NIW, after a few cleanings, limited time in the field, I think that's exactly how it would look. Great post - valuable to new black barrel owners for sure, but also good for BTDT builds. I have a 10" barrel I plan to try this on.

Thanks Morg, that's kinda what I was thinking. It actually made the corners lighter, looking like edge wear, so it's perctect for my build with medium-ish wear, won't really have to mess with it a whole lot.

I'm interested to see how yours turns out.

Where'd you get the moderator?

I bought the barrel complete with the moderator already pinned/welded. IIRC, the guy who I bought it from said that Tony's (?) in Ohio did the custom work on it.

The moderator and grenade ring are all one piece. I was torn between the 12.75" barrel with Bricks setup and this 11.5" barrel with the 5.5" mod, but the price made my mind up. No way I could have a barrel chopped, threaded, crowned, pinned, welded, and parked for anywhere near $160, you really can't even find lightweight barrels for less than $200 new, so not a whole lot of room for complaining.

It'll likely be a while before I can get the rifle built up, I am tight on cash at the moment. I have all the parts for the GAU-5/A/A, just need to get a lower, and refinish the upper and lower to match. I'll keep y'alls posted on my progress.

I am surprised that Naval Jelly took off the finish...Naval Jelly doesn't affect Parkerized parts; just blued parts...  

(That has been my experience)...  

I had also picked up one of those barrels at about that price a while back.  Was also told it came from Tony's.

This is an interesting post.  I have left some Naval Jelly on some small parts in a zip lock bag.  I found that if it stayed on too long, it pitted and corroded the metal (I used a few pins and a mag catch).  I have since then always been really careful with the stuff.  Nice controlled outcome by the OP.

Has anyone tried this with a parts kit?

Yes. All of us. It works great on the steel parts - that's where he got the idea.

Nice job, it turned out great

Just wondering what the jelly would do to the aluminum  parts I really like the grey tone over dark black but would like to get all the parts to somewhat match.

Do not use naval jelly on your aluminum parts!! You will wreck the anodizing if you do. This trick only works on steel parts.

You will either have to have the aluminum parts anodized to match, paint or coat them with something, or search for original grey parts.

Thanks for the heads up.
Does anyone have any recommendations for an experienced anodizer  that will work with small batches and has a good track record for color matching?

John Thomas

Navel Jelly is our friend on the retro forum.