I recently bought an early Armalite upper. It does not match my new black Oly lower, because it has the lighter gray color finish. I was wondering if any manufacturer still makes a lower receiver that is the gray color rather than the black so common nowadays. I know it's only cosmetic, but it gives me an excuse to build another AR!

I really think you're SOL at the moment. Assuming I am right you have the option to "gray" your new lower or "black" your old Upper. Norrels offers both the chemical (moly-coat) for the DIY types, and offers the services for the guys who want assurance of the best results. I know there's at least a dozen other refinishers if you don't want to get your hands dirty.

Had one of my ARs done by Norrell, came out REALLY nice, I did the SOCOM black but hes got other colors. Check out    www.molyresin.com

John

My agency has some Colt pre-ban carbines with a gray finish, and to me it looks far superior to anodized black.  Does anyone know what this finish is?  I was thinking it was a light parkerizing, but I'm rather uninformed in this area.

Wilson Combat has an Armor Tough finish that is dark gray.  It contrasts well with the black furniture.

You can really only compare the finishes to what Colt used, and still uses, since different manufacturers may use a different type of finish process.  To my knowledge Colt, and I expect Bushmaster, use the same type finish as Colt did in the early days, only now it's dyed to a darker color. As an example, I have a GI surp upper by Colt that was a very late production M16A1 piece.  The upper is marked A  K(Kaiser) and Kaiser didn't start forging uppers for Colt until fairly late.  The color is far closer to the current black, than either my mid 70's made SP1 or the very early Air Force M16 upper that I also have.  The late Colt A1 upper is mounted on a current Bushie lower, and you only notice the color difference in a strong light.  The early M16 upper is on a Rock River lower, and looks completely different, even tho the RR lower is one of the very current production that isn't quite as black as the earlier RR pieces.

Your gray finish is anodized just like the black but instead of dipping the part in black dye it is dipped into a gray dye.

Brownells has finally started selling the alumahyde 2 in dark gray park after being out of stock for a while. Alumahyde is the next best thing to parkerizing imo and is the cheapest at $10.00 a can. That's what I intend to use on one of my lowers to get it to match a 20" A-1 Colt gray upper.

OK - this is going to sound like a dumb question, but...

if I wanted to use these products, would I have to have the original park blasted off, or could I apply the product on top of it?

I would suggest against having your lower refinished if it requires stripping off the anodizing (ie sandblasting).  Aftermarket finishes look great, but hardcoat anodizing is the most durable finish for aluminum.  Molyresin finishes are very soft compared to hardcoat anodizing and will be more susceptible to scrathes, scuffs, and other undesireable blemishes.

Just my opinion...ymmv.

Josh

This all sounds pretty cool ... I think it would be rad to have one that looks like a matt-stainless or a light grey; upper and lower, with black furnature.

Yah, I will probably leave it as it is. It shoots great, and it really isn't that noticeable unless you are scrutinizing it. Good to know about these products for future use, though.

Thanks everyone for your input.

I have a brand new Bushmaster lower sitting here that is gray...definately gray.  I also saw someone was selling one over on the EE:

[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=7&f=21&t=184020[/url]

Very cool, thanks everyone.

You will have to go with one of the spray on/bake on coatings.

The only mfg in recent memory to make a gray lower was Essential Arms, and they went out of business in 1993.  In fact, they took a lot of heat about not making black like everyone else, and toward the end started making black, too.

00_buckshot & Troy:  Thanks for setting me straight on the parkerizing vs. anodizing issue.