I have an 870 that had some work done by scattergun technologies before I bought it. Shotgun is 10 or 12 years old  Traklok sights, surefire forend dome head safety, non binding follower.

I am getting light surface rust if I don't keep the gun well oiled.


Is cleaning the rust and stripping the gun and then painting with black rustoleum a bad idea?

Why no get a duraocoat do it youself kits they produce great results.

Durakote or Cerakote is probably a much better option which will give you great  results, and will hold up a lot longer than the rustoleum.

I have one I painted Remington green with walnut riot stocks it always gets good comments.  best part about paint is your only a can of gunscrubber and a can of spray paint from  new color.  total cost 8 dollars.

Potential resale will be higher with cerakote or something like that.

I won't ever sell this gun.

The older type oil based Rustoleum paint in the can, can be baked in an oven.
This greatly increases the durability.

I found that the flat black is TOO flat.  When new it looks great, by as you handle the gun, the paint looses some of it's flatness where handled and you get an ugly blotchy look with the handled areas having a slight shiny look.

Both the satin-gloss or gloss paint is way TOO shiny, and looks bad.

My "fix" was to mix a little gloss paint with the flat black.  This reduced the flat just enough to prevent the blotching caused by handling, and looks like the paint used on the AK rifles.
To do this, mix some gloss into some flat and paint some scrap metal as a test it for how it looks when dry, until you get a mix you like.

As for stripping the guns finish, this is unnecessary unless you can bead blast the metal.  Bead blasting will give the metal a "tooth" that paints will adhere too much better and increases durability.
If you can't bead blast, or it's already done, just give the metal a GOOD cleaning and apply the paint over the original finish.  

I used an airbrush to apply a medium heavy coat, allowed the coat a few minutes to start to set up, then applied more.  You want as thick a coat as you can get without any runs or sags.
Thin the paint as needed with mineral spirits.
Allow the coat to air dry for 30 minutes or so to allow some of the solvents to out-gas, then put into the oven and turn on the heat.  
Not pre-heating the oven allows easier positioning of the gun if the oven isn't hot, and gives the paint a little more time to out-gas and set up.

Before painting, clean the oven to remove any grease that might fume and ruin the finish, and figure out how you're going to get the gun positioned in the oven without disturbing the fresh paint.
Before baking, use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven temp setting are accurate, and check for hot spots by moving the thermometer to various places in the oven.

I baked Rustoleum at 300 to 325 degrees for one to one and one-half hours, which seemed to work well and won't harm the shell releases and ejector springs heat treating.

I would strongly suggest you bake when your significant other is going to be gone for some hours.
They seem to have issues with using the oven for these purposes, and the fumes really smell up the house.
You need plenty of time to get the place aired out.

Women hearing about you doing this in her oven are known to be somewhat upset:
"You did WHAT in MY OVEN"?????
This sounds remarkably like a dull chain saw hitting a rusty tree spike.

Just pay to have it Cerakoted.

If your going to pay for finishing instead of painting, I would say parkerize

If you're looking to do a cheap paintjob that will last you a while don't use Rustoleum. Get some of this stuff at Wal-Mart or an autoparts store. Dupli-Color engine paint with ceramic.

+1
I have just a standard express 7shot 18.5 I rattle canned black with some rust oleum as the Remington "bead blast" blue has a silly dark purplish hue and I wanted a cheap and infinitely recoatable finish, no point in duracoating or cerakoting a 300ish dollar truck gun

On the longevity it's done ok so far it's a dark color so scratches and dings really don't show, I was reluctant to spray a gun in cheap paint but I am glad I did it's no safe queen and I refuse to treat it as such.

Any of the spray paints will come off easily if you get Gun Scrubber, insect repellent, various solvents on the gun. Spend $35 for one of the DuraCoat Shake and Spray kits and you'll have a much more durable finish. No more difficult to apply than a spray paint, you can put on a really nice finish if you take the pains to properly clean the gun and prep it well

That kit looks neat! Will it work on a Mossberg 500a with the Aluminum receiver? I have a riot model that needs to be refinished.

Craig

The aluminum surface needs to be clean and kinda rough, matte, etc. for the Duracoat to adhere best. The kit includes an abrasive pad to rough up the surface, but a trip through a blasting cabinet would be much better.

I painted a smith and Wesson 916A with rattle can a few years ago, after about 3 years the paint has started chipping off. I would not rattle can it, JMHO.

I did 3 coats of rustoleum flat black textured, other than a few runs it looks great and I like the sligth texture to the finish.

I will test fire next saturday!

My issue I had with painting with spray paint was binding.  It would add to much thickness to areas and would essentially scrape off when moving parts.  In this case I would want to protect the magazine tube, but the act of pumping the forend will scrape off the finish and/or bind it up.

Duracoat and Cerakote lay a much thinner layer and will not just scrape off like spray paint.

Any firearm I own that could develop rust without heavy oiling gets cerakoted.  I recently just bought a used 1100.  First thing that it will get is barrel modifications (So you will be hearing from me Guncat in the next month or so) and then it's off to get refnished in Cerakote.

We have been painting the exterior of our duck guns with rustoleum for decades. It works just fine. Prep it properly and it will not " just scratch off"