Hello, I have had a few bolt guns built lately and need to come up with a way to clean them up and finish them. I can just drop them off to get cerakoted but thats gonna run about $175+ a rifle and since these are just working guns for the field I don't need a safe queen paint job to impress people. Will a simple krylon job do okay? is there a special way to prep them for spraying? Im open to suggestions and ideas on how to refinish these. Id like to keep it to a 1-2 color scheme and don't generally care for the sponge paint job. 

SO in short I'm searching for ideas and inspiration to do these on my own, please share pics, prcoesses, and ideas. thank you for your help.  
here are some pictures of the builds- 

nothing wrong with krylon but i would pay a little extra and use duracoat. spray can version if you dont have a airbrush. i like your stocks. if it were me id try the dura coat matte blue/ black color on the barrel and bolt handle. to prep the barrels i would remove from the stock. take off  the trigger and hang the barrel using the pin holes to wire the barrel up and down.  roll and wad up some paper towel pieces to plug the breech/bolt area and muzzle about 1/8 inch inside the barrel. spray down the barrels with brake cleaner or wipe down with acetone. no need to sand blast scuff it with some 500-600 grit sand paper and wipe again. i would also heat up the barrel a bit with a hair dryer to drive out oil from the hiding places. then do a final acetone wipe with lint free cloth or brake cleaner spray down.then your ready for painting. make the first coat light and give it 10 minutes to dry then give it 2 or 3 light even wet coats letting it dry a few minutes in between. dont spray too thick.if youy go with krylon or auto type ceramic paints your prep will be same.

The only problem I have with aerosol duracoat is the amount it will take will to coat will be just about the same cost as a cerakote job. Awesome thank you sir, keep em coming fellers. 

I've had rifles that were prepped and sprayed decently and the Krylon has held up. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one that was properly well done. If I was you I would learn how to properly prep and spray and do it myself.

I have done a lot of painting and prepping of fiberglass in my life but steel was were I was lacking. With that said it looks like you go about it in a very similar fashion. What krylon should I look for and where?  

If it was me, i would get 600 grit or so, rough up the metal parts, clean with rubbing alcohol, and put out in the sun for awhile/heat gun them up a bit. Then do fine coats once the previous coat has flashed off until desired thickness. A huge part of the toughness is to let it cure for a week or more. I would keep it away from laquer thinner or anything like that but marine grease or clp won`t hurt it. I use standard kyrlon thats made for all surfaces.

If you want to spray by can I'd suggest spending a bit more that what you would pay for Krylon and look at Brownell's Alumi-Hyde as it would be way more gun solvent friendly.  But it's about $25 a can compared to $5.

Either just krylon them, or send them off to get Cerakoted.  Anything in between will be approaching the cost of Cerakoting, as you said.  I just like doing it myself but these things vary.

The krylon will keep wearing and have to be touched-up, or not.  The other coatings will wear better, from Cerakote, to KG Gukote, to Duracoat.  

So the decision you have to make here is how well do you want the finish to last.  30 bucks of cheap paint will not last long.  The Brownells stuff is much better but will wear.  Duracoat is the best of the non-bake finishes, but it too will wear.  KG Gunkote is the beginning of the bake on finishes and wears pretty good.  Cerakote is the king of the hill and wears very well.

For the cost of getting them Cerakoted one time, I would invest in the paint and supplies to do it myself.  I would probably go with Duracoat here, since you have metal, wood, optics, etc.  Pretty much the middle of the road option.

The problem I have with cerakote is the fact that I have issues with it on guns before. I have had 2 rifles and 1 handgun sprayed and it took a ton of work in order to get them right. Sanding the coating off of areas to make it function was a bitch and pissed me off that I had to sand off a coating I paid to put on in order to get them to work correctly. I have heard there are good people to use but shipping 3 rifles plus getting them coated is going to be overly expensive just for hunting guns.

I have a clean room to spray in but no oven large enough for barreled actions, so air dry it is. Im good with a matte non reflective black coating on them and nothing fancy.

Okay, so go ahead and Krylon them and be happy. You won't get a high performance coating for $8.00/can. The quality of the paint will be what you make it. Go for it.

I would step up to duracoat, just prep right and keep it thin. Scuff the smooth stuff, parkerized or other rough surface just clean well. It works well for me. Wear a respirator, shit is nasty, it's two part. The hardener in it will give you a more durable finish than just krylon.