I accidently grabbed a can of black spray paint thinking it was gun scrubber.  I sprayed it into my receiver.  The trigger group and the mag well.  I cleaned it out with gun scrubber as soon as I realized my mistake. The problem is that the mags don't dropp free, like before.  Any suggestions?

Twogun,
You can clean it out if you want, but I would
think it would wear off after a few mags are
inserted into the magwell.

Or try some #OOOO steel wool and Sweets or Gun scrubber to polish the Paint out of there.

Hope this helps,
Scott

Now a friend of mine used DOT 3 brake fluid to remove paint off some mil surp gun parts. It removed the paint, but left the parkerizing alone. I am not sure what it would do to anodized aluminum or whatever finish is on your lower, but I have seen a lot of aluminum brake parts that come in contact with DOT 3 with no ill effect. Be sure to wear gloves as DOT 3 sucks all the moisture out of your skin. I have seen DOT 3 used as paint remover on plastic painted parts too! Might want to try a small amount at first on small area, and don't leave it on long.  

I talked to my friend who used the brake fluid method, he stated he used it on some white paint that was on m-16 upper. He used an eye dropper to apply it-watched it while it bubbled up the paint and used a spray degreaser to wash it away with no ill effect.

Using steel wool on aluminum wil ruin the aluminum.  It will splinter into the AL and set up galvanic cells and it will corrode the aluminum without stopping.

You can get paint remover an auto parts stores, just be carefull and clean it all up.

Brake clean.

(Im not tellin how I know that) [B)]

that's pretty funny. it sounds like something i would do.

If it is not in there that thick, and not pink I would probably just let the mags slowly work out the paint. should not take too many trips to the range.

Not sure if this will work for you but I had a gunsmith (I no longer use) use black paint on one of my barrels to cover up a spot where the vice removed the finished. I was able to remove the paint just using rubbing alcohol and an old wash cloth. It's going to take a little effort but it removed the paint, so I could reblue the barrel.

Brake kleen. Worked for me on an upper I purchased awhile back. Might get a white look, just oil good after the cleaning.

MM419

Thanks for the advise gentlemen.

Yes,your friend is correct.Dot 3 brake fluid removes paint off of everything.

Use paint thinner and disregard the brake fluid, it will probably eat through the phosphate finish. Otherwise let it dry and and it should come off by itself. Paint is not designed to hold up to the chemicals we use to clean our firearms and that's why most firearms are not painted. A good soaking in CLP and a wipedown and you should be able to see the color show on a rag. In time you should have no problems. I know this because I once tried to hide a few scratches on my receiver by using enamel paint and it didn't work even after letting it dry for a few days. It came right off when I wiped it down.

In order to remove spray lacquer, you need the right kind of solvent. Brake fluid would work, but I'd hesitate to use it for fear of damaging the finish on the gun.

There's two routes you can try, and I would start with the LEAST aggressive in each case.

1) Use a solvent. Try mineral spirits first, and if that doesn't work, lacquer thinner. Unless you got some gung-ho catalyzed lacquer, this should get rid of it.

2) Use a stripper. I would try the mildest stripper there is, and not venture far beyond that. Check into a citrus based stripper.

In each case, always try an inconspicuous spot on the rifle to see if the chemical will ruin your gun's finish.

A lot of bore cleaning products are also pretty harsh on varnishes/lacquers, and you know they're safe around your gun (but not necessarily the wooden furniture). You could always swab some of that around and see if it works.

Drip CLP into it, and shoot it. It's an AR-15. Unless you have so much in there that it resembles a pantbucket, a little black paint won't hurt anything, and will wear away with successive cleanings.

Otherwise, aerosol brake cleaner will get it out very quickly.


Meplat-