I'm reasonably certain that I should spray with the handle in place, leaving no paint on the contact surfaces, correct?

Also, I'm planning to mask off the whole rear sight assembly and the channel in the carry handle, good idea or no?

This will be my first time painting a gun, so any tips are appreciated.

Whoa.  Slow down.  

Step ONE of painting a rifle is to look in the mirror and make sure you have a mullet.

(Just a reminder that this is GD).

The lower that I have has already been painted and it isn't coming off, so I figure I'll paint the whole thing.

Post pics when you're done.  We can then provide pointers on how to improve.

Don't be gay

Mine won't look nearly that good.

WRONG.

Step One is to throw it on the ground and spray it. Step Two is to take it to the range and shoot it.

OP, leave the carry-handle in place and spray your first coat. Remove the handle and touch the top rail up. Remount the handle as you see fit and don't worry about the contacting surfaces; they'll remove whatever paint gets in the way. Remember, the saltier the paint job, the more OAF.

Get to it.

Don't use spray paint as lube for masturbation.

Yes it will. Have faith in GD...

Check out refinishing subforum in the armory forum.  

Lots of great examples there.  

Fan of the laundry net method myself.

Sure it will.

Buy tan, primer red, brown, and OD green.

Spray the whole thing tan, spray blobs/stripes of red/brown, lightly hit those blobs/stripes with red/brown.  Use netting if you want.  Then lightly mist the whole thing in OD green to darken the colors.  I wasn't happy until one of the mk12 guys (Haveblue) told me the overspray trick to darken it.

Thanks.
OAF?

Awesome, thanks.

I shoot a coat of "grill paint" on the barrel first. Then darkest to lightest. The rustoleum camp colors have served me well. They also seem very chemical resistant.

I too enjoy the laundry bag or tiny netting scheme. Iirc it cost me $8 for a yard of it at the fabric store. Used maybe a foot of it for a rifle, and a 6"x6" piece for smaller items.

Use some clothes pins or binder clips to keep the netting tight around the object when spraying. Let it sit for about 2 minutes before removing the net. 5 mins between colors.

I also spray my mags and accessories. Just tape off the top of the mag that's covered by the mag well so it doesn't jam up. Definitely tape off your sights, it'll gum up the mechanism really easy. Usually just put some tape on the FSP, not worried about the barley corn guard.

Meh, if you want a really nice paint job I think that’s great but for the average working gun I always think it looks funny when guys mask off parts like sights or flash hiders* all nice and neat or leave part of the gun unpainted like the barrel.  The beat up, Krylon'd rifles in use by soldiers typically look like they are much more effective than most of the fancy patterns you see folks spend considerable time doing.  

Last AR I painted I sprayed it off with degreaser, let it sit in the sun to dry and heat up, closed the dust cover then sprayed the whole thing with OD green Duracoat with my cheap Harbor Freight airbrush.  I didn't mask off anything- I sprayed the sights, the trigger, the stock, the flash hider, everything.  Amazingly everything still works just like it did before only now it's OD green.    I was going to camo it but I figured the OD green was good enough when it bounced out of the back of the Gator without me knowing and I had to walk a little ways back down the road to find it (private property and it wasn't far).  Yeah it's a little beat up again but then it rides behind the seat of the truck, in the back of the Gator and on the tractor so I expect it to look used.  



* I think it looks especially retarded when folks mask off bands on the scope like the magnification ring- I mean really, who looks at the magnification power (I'm not talking about the markings on the turrets)?  Oh yeah, I shot that deer at 300yards with my 3-9x40 scope zoomed to 5x.  Bah, when I'm looking though the scope and I need more magnification I just turn it to where I need it without ever taking my eye from the scope.  I'm no spec-ops guy or sniper though so maybe I'm doing it wrong; the critters on the other end didn't seem to know that though.    Or for some reason folks leave sections around the ends of the scope- meh, mask the glass, put the lens caps on and close them then spray the thing.  Never understood taking out the fire control parts either- are you expecting the paint to somehow get on the contact surfaces?  The same surfaces that would be smooth again if you actually shoot your gun?  Seriously, the paint only gets on the end of the pins and the exposed part of the trigger.

Operator as phuc

Wife got it last christmas.  Probably etsy or fleabay.