Ive heard of Norrells, Alumahyde, and Durakote,  Where do I find them and could people give some advice and experience on how-to's and how-not-to-do's? Thanks for any info.

Duracoat

Norrells

Alumahyde

Thanks Madness for the links! Any advice on which will hold up better? I have a cheap air brush but I fear that my oven is a bit cheaper so dont think i can keep temp to constant. Is that extremely nessesary for a good finish?

Quoted: Thanks Madness for the links! Any advice on which will hold up better? I have a cheap air brush but I fear that my oven is a bit cheaper so dont think i can keep temp to constant. Is that extremely nessesary for a good finish?

I've never personally done any refinishing, so I'm no help there. Member "Stickman" seems to be the resident expert on refinishing. You might contact him for pointers:

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=8&f=15&t=200765

I have refinshed several firearms with Norrells Moly after reading Stickman's write ups. It is a very easy and forgiving product as long as you follow the directions. The biggest thing with any of the products listed is your prep work. Everything can never be too clean before refinishing.

Quoted: Quoted: Thanks Madness for the links! Any advice on which will hold up better? I have a cheap air brush but I fear that my oven is a bit cheaper so dont think i can keep temp to constant. Is that extremely nessesary for a good finish? I've never personally done any refinishing, so I'm no help there. Member "Stickman" seems to be the resident expert on refinishing. You might contact him for pointers: www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=8&f=15&t=200765

I'll admit I've been called a "member" a few times.......

Your oven needs to have the temperature verified with an oven thermometer.  It is typical for most ovens, even good ones, to be off by 20-50 degrees.  Having the wrong temperature will kill the curing process.

Pre-Ban.com AR15 Refinishing Guide

The above guide was something I threw together awhile back, and it seems to have been worthwhile for a few people.  I make no claims of it being perfection, but it should be a generic guide for refinishing AR-15s with Norrells, or most other similar products.

Thanks for the great info that has been provided! This is hopefully going to be a very "fun" build and hopefully the results will be worthy of a pic on the home build thread.

If you use Duracoat you can forget about oven temp, baking is OK but not required.  It does have its set-backs though.  It'll be OK to handle in a few hours but will not completely cure for a few weeks.  That said, I've shot/cleaned guns only 24 hrs after coating with no probs.   As everyove has said though, prep is the real key to sucess.  Good luck, and have fun!

I read Stickman's how to thread, had an airbrush (and I know how to use it!), and ordered some Norrell's OD and black.  I had heard of Norrell's Moly Resin for about 20 years, and it had a great reputation.  I had just gotten a Cavalry Arms OD lower, and had parts to build the upper, and decided to go all the way.  Great finish the first time.

Norrell's can be purchased online at www.molyresin.com.  

The Norrell's OD is a perfect match with Armalite and Cavalry Arms OD furniture.



This one had a black upper and gray lower, now a perfect match:



Here is another I did:





And I couldn't stop myself, here's one with a Cavalry Arms OD lower:



The color really does match well, but the texture of the surface is different, and the metal parts with Moly Resin reflects the flash more:



(Edited to add:  Do you see the flaw?  Look directly above the C in the Cavalry Arms name on the lower.  That tiny ding.  This flattop upper and the other flattoop at the top with the Armalite furniture were both purhased from LAR as "blemished".  I finally figured out that little ding was the blemish.  The anodizing was black and even, and it was hard to see before coating, even now, only because of the flash.  The other receiver with the green furniture at the top of this post, I never did find the blemish.)

I've been doing the flash hiders black because they will get black stains anyway.


Go on and order some flat black, too.  I did the front sight post, flash hiders, and a few other parts in black.  The ones above with the DPMS "Mangonel" flip up rear sight now have Eotech 512's on them.  I plan to disassemble the flip up, do the aperture part in black, the rest in OD.

To stretch the OD, and use more of the black, I've been doing the barrel nuts, delta snap ring and spring, and barrel portion under the handguard in black, as well as the flash hider and front sight post.  Only the handguard cap, front sight base, and forward portion of the barrel were done in OD.  I did the black first, bake it, then masked off the flash hider, and sprayed the OD.  

On some of the uppers I've done, I did the forward assist in OD, another in black.  It's kind of cool with the OD and parts black mixed.

I don't think any of these coatings will stick to DPMS receivers, or Mega, which are teflon coated.

Here is another OD Green build, we intentionally left the barrel coated in black to break things up a bit.

Quoted: Here is another OD Green build, we intentionally left the barrel coated in black to break things up a bit. www.coloradoshooting.org/16.jpg

I think I will do mine like that also.

Stickman, Your stuff is the Best, I love your  Pic's

My Camera Sucks !

Thanks Bandit, its all part of my "green is good" theory......

Hey Stickman...  Nice "Yasser Arafat"  Table cloth.        h.gif    Oh..  nice lowers too.

Quoted: Hey Stickman...  Nice "Yasser Arafat"  Table cloth.            Oh..  nice lowers too.

You never got deployed to the desert?

Nope.

Then you need to get out more.

Quoted: Thanks Bandit, its all part of my "green is good" theory...... www.airforcesecuritypolice.com/invisionboard/uploads/post-3-1102534976.jpg

No, Thank you

Wow, 200th Post

"It's not easy being green..."  - Kermit the Frog

I'm very much enjoying playing with the Norrell's.  I've finally gotten confident enough with the airbrush to start "painting" parts and baking them.  I practiced first on a couple of pieces of pipe I had laying around.

Here's a pipe I practiced on and the barrel it inspired

Which one puts off the least odors during the spray/cure process?  Say for the apartment dweller with no garage, backyard, or basement.  

I finished a M4 barrel with DuraCoat in my apartment earlier this week.  It's got a smell no doubt, but with the proper precautions it's nothing to worry about.  I was working underneath  my stove fan so that was pulling some of the fumes away.  I also just left my door open to help the fumes escape.  I'm sure it wasn't the best thing to do, but it's the only option I had.