Does spray paint leave a weird feel to the gun? - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Does spray paint leave a weird feel to the gun?

Posted: 7/10/2022 7:49:45 PM EDT

Decided to take a stab at painting a rifle using Rustoleum camo paints. Sprayed the base coat, but it has a weird feel and kind of leaves some on my fingers. Been drying over a day, have a fan blowing on it. It is really humid, so maybe a factor?

Posted: 7/10/2022 7:51:07 PM EDT

[#1]

Give it some time. It will go away. Stick it on top of a dehumidifier for a week

Posted: 7/10/2022 8:22:21 PM EDT

[#2]

Just put it away for a solid week and it shouldn't be tacky anymore.

Posted: 7/10/2022 8:36:36 PM EDT

[#3]

I like to separate the upper and lower, then I put them in the back window of my car parked in the sun. I don't do that with the optics. I keep an eye on them to make sure that they don't get too hot. It works well to help cure to paint.

Posted: 7/10/2022 10:12:17 PM EDT

[#4]

I moved it to the basement where the AC is and a dehumidifier is running and have a fan blowing over the area, so hopefully that will help.

Posted: 7/11/2022 2:34:57 AM EDT

[#5]

I have been purchasing old Plano Tackle boxes as of late (The kind that hold the 3700 size tackle trays) and I paint them with plastic specific spray paint. The paint does need time to fully "cure". About a week in a cool dry place with low humidity. The tacky feel will go away by then and the paint will increase a little in durability.

Posted: 7/11/2022 2:41:35 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Decided to take a stab at painting a rifle using Rustoleum camo paints. Sprayed the base coat, but it has a weird feel and kind of leaves some on my fingers. Been drying over a day, have a fan blowing on it. It is really humid, so maybe a factor?

View Quote

If it's tacky, it could be because of the humidity. In my experience, if it's tacky after 24hrs it likely didn't setup right and will remain tacky. I've found that spraying it very lightly and letting it dry is best. It gets really humid where I'm at too, but if I do a light coat, it's dry and not tacky within ten minutes. If it's still tacky in a few days, I'd strip it off with citristrip, and start over. Light coats is key to having it dry properly.

Posted: 7/11/2022 9:15:54 PM EDT

[#7]

Resist the urge to mess with it, give it several days, a good week to cure. I have painted 2 rifles, left them out in my shed for about 5 days in the heat before really handling.

Posted: 7/12/2022 1:32:29 AM EDT

[#8]

In my experience it depends on what you classify as weird. It largely depends on prep and how much paint you are laying on, much like any other surface finish. I however have not found my spray painted weapons to have a weird feel to them. Humidity will definitely be a contributing factor to that tacky feeling it gives off. as other posters have said, try to let it cure for a week. Or alternatively you could bake it and let it sit after doing so. It is entirely up to you and the tooling you have.

Posted: 7/13/2022 9:19:53 AM EDT

[#9]

I might have gotten too heavy-handed on the paint. I have it sitting next the dehumidifier with a fan blowing over it, low 70s in the basement. Doesn't feel tacky, more of a rough texture, might be because of too much paint. Not a big deal, this was more of an experimental one before I do my others.

Posted: 7/13/2022 6:45:20 PM EDT

[#10]

Watch some of the various spray painting videos online, always quick sprays/passes and light coats so you don't get too much build up or drips.

If you want to redo it, Citristrip works really well. I has a spare handguard I had been experimenting with different colors. The Citristrip helped remove 6+ layers of spray paint fairly easily.

Also if you have some rough edges or areas of paint, you can try some 000 or 0000 steel wool to sand it down. You can get it at HD or Lowes in the paint or sanding supplies. Using steel wool sounds weird, but it works.

Posted: 7/13/2022 6:52:29 PM EDT

[#11]

Well, didn't turn out quite like I envisioned. Holding the template over the gun or just laying it on top allowed for too much paint to get to other places. The base was sand color, with deep forest green, army green, and khaki. The khaki and sand look different on the spray can caps, but on the gun wash each other out. I do have some brown and black I can use.

Will need to tighten down the stencils to make it work better.

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Posted: 7/13/2022 10:11:17 PM EDT

[#12]

Thats got a nice look to it, I don't know if I'd use black on it if it were me. The krylon or rustoleum camouflage brown is pretty dark as it is if you use it.

I recently did a rifle wanting kind of a desert tiger stripe look and yeah the Krylon Khaki and sand came out way too light and way too close to each other on mine as well. Unfortunately Aervoe quit making spray paint, they had a coyote that looked good. Another member suggested some Rustoleum satin nutmeg. I got some and was going to try spraying using an overlay stencil but decided to just keep it as is for now as it's kind of grown on me.

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Posted: 7/13/2022 10:19:57 PM EDT

[#13]

Humidity will slow curing. Laying the rifle in the Texas sun for a few hours typically does the trick for me. But yes, there's a weird feeling if it's not fully cured. Once it's cured and moisture is out of it that tacky feeling will go away. Needs more sun/heat.

Posted: 7/14/2022 8:27:19 AM EDT

[#14]

The rough texture feeling may be from over-spray as you said you used your stencil loosely which would allow it happen more easily.

Posted: 7/14/2022 11:57:47 AM EDT

[#15]

In my experience Rustoleum is the softest rattle can paint I’ve used. It never feels cured compared to Aervoe or even Kylon. It’s also the most susceptible to chemical decomposition from oil that I’ve used.

It takes forever to cure, but there are much better paints. The rough texture is over spray.

Posted: 7/14/2022 1:10:38 PM EDT

[#16]

I looked all over for paints in my area: Walmart, Orscheln, Lowes, Home Depot, Ace, etc, no had any of the Krylon camo paints or any other kind, in fact most didn't have hardly any. Lowes told me that weren't going to carry it anymore.

I may just strip this one and have a redo, this was more of a practice run.

Posted: 7/14/2022 6:46:57 PM EDT

[#17]

Okay, took the lessons learned from the other day for lighter sprays and tightening down the stencil. Really need to find a good FDE color, not sure why more don't put such out.

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Posted: 7/28/2022 12:42:28 PM EDT

[#18]

Ronnoc,

gave painting a try on a nerf gun first...also came out with a powdery feel to it.
Was windy outside and it seemed like the rustoleum nozzle has a finer mist to it vs krylon; which means the paint was halfway dry before reaching the surface.
Next test run...will paint in the garage and use more deliberate/closer strokes.

but rather than re-painting the nerf blaster...i just dusted off loose particles with an old tooth brush and then went over it with clear coat.
I just grabbed a random can of krylon clear I had in the garage, unmarked; turned out to be satin.
But since there is no stencil to get in the way...a more even coat was applied and it seemed to seal everything in (no more colors rubbing off on my fingers)

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Does spray paint leave a weird feel to the gun?

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