Just got my upper and lower back from my friend who painted them for me.  Credibility wise - he is an automotive painter, mixed it according to the instructions, and painted it with a several hundred dollar (thoudsand?) spray gun in a downdraft booth.  Looked nice and covered well, but when I went to assemble it, the color on my  Magpul FDE furniture does not match the "Magpul FDE" Duracoat I paid for.  The actual magpul parts are several shades darker than the "Magpul FDE" duracoat I used for the receiver - I would say a much paler  brown.

I now have $150 worth of furniture that does not match $300 worth of receiver parts that I paid duracoat $50 to have match.  I am not at all pleased and hopefully by posting here will prevent others from wasting their $.

Duracoat may make a good coating product - just don't plan on it matching anything.  Why anyone would name a color "Magpul FDE" when it is not even close to matching that color is beyond me, and very, very upsetting, as I feel I have "ruined" the appearance of my parts - at least to some extent.

Save your money and buy elsewhere.  Plenty of other good choices out there for 10-20% as much money.

So you didn't spray it on a sample piece to check first?

It's a shame but I thought it was common knowledge  that its not a good match. I have seen the correct recipe for mixing duracoat to actually match Magpul FDE posted here on ARFCOM several times. I bet if you search you could find it. again doesn't help you much now :(

Funny thing is I have looked around all over the internet for pictures and video and even threads on the Magpul FDE Duracoat over a period of a year or more and found nothing other than 2 or 3 very nice looking rifles - with no mention of a color match issue mind you.

No I did not try it on a sample first.  I don't have any "spare anodized aluminum" and a different surface and base color would give a different look anyway.  I have been asking my friend to paint them for about 2 months now, so I wasn't about to get too specific about procedure - I really only had that hour or so to prep and spray it - and you just can't tell when it's wet.  The only web pictures I have found all look quite good with no mention of color matching issues.  One would think that "Magpul FDE" means Magpul FDE, not "some earthy color that will not match anything you own nor anything that is reflected in the title/name of this paint color" - even though that may be tough to put on a label.

If anyone is looking for one I have a Barrett .50 Caliber M107 rifle for sale.  It actually has a wood stock and shoots 22LR, but I won't tell you that until you pay me for it and it arrives at your door...

All those magpul, vltor, etc. colors need to be tweaked unfortunately.

Bummer.  Super shitty that they call the color that when it's nowhere close to what it should be.  Can you painter tint the duracoat with some black and respray it?  With some tests for correct tint first, of course?

That is my plan.  I have some "combat black" which I hope is close.  All set with any of their other stuff from now on.  If they won't disclose upfront that the stuff doesn't match I'll buy Brownells stuff for 20% of the price with no need for special equipment or chemicals...  Live and learn.  Hopefully this will save others from wasting their money.

pics?

I believe I saw two pictures in the FDE rifle picture thread and it was clear that the DC did not match the polymer in shade.  

Will post some - where do we upload pics to here?  Or do I need to do it and link to them?

Dude....be GLAD that it doesn't match 100%. My biggest gripe with people is when they just lay their rifle in a spray booth and paint it tip to toe in ONE color..

Does your car look like that? Sprayed tires, windshield, ...every piece the same color? Nope. Give it some contrast. I bet it looks awesome and you are just being ridiculous.

I wouldn't be too upset, alot of people here have been in your shoes and made great looking rifles

I was thinking the same thing, I bet it looks cool!

pics?

pic's

You might get a better response in the Refinishing forum.  Seems like a little more reducer was the answer.

Before I did my rifle, I did my research here on ar15.com.... what I found out is what you found out the hard way

There is much discussion here about the duracoat FDE not matching. I did find out also what does match, and used that:

Brownells AlumaHyde II in "coyote"... it is am EXACT match for magpul's FDE parts.

I was gonna say the same thing.

I like duracoat, but matching is trial and error unfortunately.

I'm just talking off the top of my head here, I don't know how much you love the Magpul FDE.





If you're going to fire up the paint sprayer again, why try to trial and error tint the color to match the furniture?





Why not just paint the furniture to match the color already on the aluminum.  That'd probably be a pretty close match.  







Am I missing something really subtle/cool here?  I thought Duracoat would stick to plastic furniture.



I understand the pissed off feeling, but just go for it, and do the next one differently.

In the OP's defense, I posted over a year ago (i think, can't remember, not searching), that I sprayed a test piece and waited a day.  It matched perfectly wet, and dry the next day, so I went ahead and sprayed the rifle.  Well after a few days of curing, the color changed a bit.  It doesn't quite match the Magpul furniture, but it's not enough to keep me up at night.  I graduated that rifle to be my truck rifle.  

I have a similar question as well, but it's about matching the Magpul olive drab. Who makes a match for that? Not trying to hijack. I asked this one last night and got zero responses.