Hello,

I just saw the thread about painting an AR, however I still have a few questions, if I may. First, what is the best paint to use?? and where to buy it? How much the paints cost?? Second, How do you "prepare" the rifle prior painting? Do I need to use thinner or some other solvent to make it grease free?? I have an Aimpoint ML2, can I paint that without any special precautions? (caps closed of course :) ) Is it possible to remove the paint by any means? I have a suppressor and I'd like to paint it as well, will the paint tolerate the heat???

Then the painting techniques,

Should I first paint the base color and then paint the stripes? Are there any areas where to I should pay special attention? Any areas I should especially avoid painting? Any pattern/color recommendations, I live in Finland, we have 4 seasons and majority of the forests are pine tree forests, Also we have quite a bit of rocks, lakes etc. Quite a bit like Canada actually.

All tips & info and recommended colors/patterns welcome!!!

Regards,
Petri

I didnt do any real prep work on mine. Just make sure the outside is oil/grease free. I did my Aimpoint with no problems, just make sure the caps are closed good. The paint I used, is Krylon, $1.97 a can at Walmart. They (Krylon) have a Camo System line, that is ultra flat paint. Pick what coler you want as your base/predominant color and do the whole rifle in that first. Then add other colors for contrast. I'm not sure about the removal. I havent tried to take mine off yet, and it seems pretty impervious to CLP. As for the heat of the supressor, I dont know. I know that on my last truck, I painted my chrome tailpipes with some standard flat black Krylon, and it held up for about 2.5 years. Was just starting to come off in a few places, but I think that was more due to not getting a good prep done on the chrome first.
As for the pattern, dont make it real tight. Broad color areas will break up the outline better.

I highly recommend "bow-flage" spray paints, the kind they make for bow hunters.  

HS Specialties makes a full line of them and they look great (just like any other paint) but the best part is that it's easily removed with Gun Scrubber or similar solvents.  

I have my M4gery painted in their tan color and it looks just like the tan Cal-Guard finish that you see a lot of SF operators using in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Will

For someone in Finland, Wal-mart and Krylon aren't probably very readily available. Most of us on this site will not be familiar with the paints that are available in Europe.


I would think that if you went to an automotive supply store, or perhaps to a larger "hardware" store where they sell tools, you would be able to find good spray on paint. Epoxy type paints  will likely be durable.  

With any adhesion or bonding process, it is usually important to remove oils and grease from the metal before painting.   Use xylene or methanol or another organic solvent to remove oils from the metal, let the xylene evaporate, and then apply paint. Wear rubber gloves and do this out of your house, or you may get very stupid.  

If you want to spend more money, you could look for "moly resin paint" on the Brownells website.  I don't know what their shipping costs from the US are like-- bet it isn't very cheap.  

Re: the supressor-- I have read *no experience* that a lot of paints blister or peel under high heat.  There are paints made for higher temperatures (check your auto parts store) but I am not sure they will be in the colors you want.

I would talk to a machinist or person who works with metal about this.  They might have a good local answer.

Try Brownells alumahide II or the duracoat.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=17640&title=DURACOAT+PAINTING+SYSTEM