I purchased a WASR 10/63 from a guy for a decent deal about a month ago.  The problem is that it looks like he refinished the gun in an olive green paint of some kind.  It looks ok, but I was wanting to return the gun back to black.  What would the best way be to strip it down and refinish it back to black.  What would be the process?

Best way =

1. Disassemble, Clean and Degrease; you can use engine degreaser or gas......
2. Sand Blast with Aluminum Oxide
3. Degrease again and make sure the oil is gone
(i prefer)
4. Moly Resin (flat black or semi gloss)
or
4. Parkerize then add Moly Resin or Gun Koate
or
4. Parkerize and Paint

If you want a nice blue job
1. same
2. Glass Bead blast
3. Same
4. Cold Blue or Hot blue

Then we have this
1. same
2. Find some type of paint striper and take the paint off
3. same
4. Cold or Hot blue rifle
or
4. make a surface with a light grit sand paper and moly resin or paint.

Removal depends on what he did the re-finish with.

Krylon?  Brake cleaner and/or acetone should work without harming the oxide finish that should be underneather.

Aluma-Hyde II or Dura-Coat?  Epoxy remover should do it.

Gun Kote?  Only abrasive blasting (or sandpaper) will remove Gun Kote.

If you're not sure, just blast the hole thing with aluminum oxide, thoroughly degrease, and re-finish with Aluma-Hyde II or Gun Kote.  Both are fairly easy to apply and don't require special equipment.  Gun Kote must be baked, AH2 can air-cure.  

Check out the refinishing forum in the Armory section.