Armory Sponsor
Posted: 4/6/2008 6:11:52 PM EDT
|
I bought a FAL a couple years ago that had a cheap black paint job on it. Found out it was cheap black paint when the powder solvent started taking the paint off. Anyway, I got the idea to use high temp. ceramic paint on it. I stripped it down to the last pin, spring, etc. so that every spring was removed and all parts that could be removed from the lower receiver, barrel, upper receiver were separated. We stripped it down to bare metal, wiped it a couple times with alcohol and put a couple coats of that high temperature ceramic header paint on all the parts (flat black of course). The instructions on the can said to bake it for 25 to 30 minutes at around 250 F and then let the parts cool. Once cooled bake for 25 to 30 minutes at around 400 F and let it cool. Then for the last back cycle the time was the same but the temps were supposed to be 600 F. The oven only goes to 550 F so that was the temp it baked at. After all the parts were cool (we didn't paint or bake the springs) we lubed it up and put it back together. It worked great. Sighted it in, familiarization fire went fine while my son practiced for his first Appleseed. Appleseed weekend was around 400 rounds. The powder solvent doesnt' seem to faze the baked on ceramic paint and the rifle still looks new after several hundred rounds and several cleanings. Some folks get all excited about the temps. but really, 550 F ain't that hot. 10 rounds of .308 will get the barrel up to about 280 F on a M1A or AR10. |
|
The dang thing wasn't parkerized, just cheap black paint. That's why the bore solvent was taking paint off of it. I'm not sure of the brand. I bought it at the local Advance Auto Parts store. I've also done a couple of ragged looking M14 magazines and they are holding up well. I intend to do my 10/22 (bought it used and it would look better refinished) and my 11/87 SP (it was near enough to a fire once that the finish looks pretty rough on it). I didn't do any sanding or blasting of the surface, just stripped it and degreased it - seems like now we used that paint prep stuff, also from Advance Auto, that you're supposed to wipe the surface down with prior to painting (to remove oil/grease). I let the paint dry, then laid the small pieces on cookie sheets to bake (if you don't let the paint dry good the piece may stick to the pan a little) and the big pieces were just laid on the oven shelf/grill and flipped at temperature changes (make sure it's cool before touching it). I just jumped right in and did the FAL. But I did the smaller parts first so I guess that was my practice for the bigger parts that show the outside work/finish appearance. |
|
High heat Duplicolor worked really well on my Saiga...thanks for the suggestion. It's a really durable finish. http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/swdhead/saiga-20.jpg http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/swdhead/saiga-20-2.jpg |
Armory Sponsor