action finish

[model 12 toby]

what do you guys suggest for an action finish. O.D. green is my color of choice. will dura bake work well? It's just a savage target action. was matte but it's not going to match my stock. tried aluma hyde but it didn't seem to be very good for the action.

 

[fullersson]

Everyone seems to be leaning towards Cerakote these days. I don't have an oven big enough for barrels and larger items so I just tried some of the air cure Cerakote from Brownell's. It gave a real nice finish but I haven't used it enough to say how durable it is. The day after I sprayed the barrel I put it in the vise to torque it to the action and it didn't even leave a mark on the barrel.

I took the barrel off to blast it. I moved from the blasting cabinet to the paint area and didn't even think about installing the barrel before Cerakoting it. A few hours later I thought about having to install it and was worried that the Cerakote would be damaged because the direction for the air cure say that it takes 5 days for the stuff to cure. I went ahead and installed it the next day figuring I would have to a least touch it up (maybe redo it) but like I said not even a scratch. I was pretty impressed by that.

 

[model 12 toby]

hell yeah. the alumahyde did seem to work really well on my fiberglass stock but some of the metal parts it didn't work very well. I can use my oven in my house i think with that ceracoat.

 

[fullersson]

Just a suggestion but you may want to wait until the family is gone. I don't know what kind of fumes that oven cure Cerakote gives off but it may not be good for small children.

 

[model 12 toby]

i heard it. that's for sure. might have to open lots of windows then move it out to my garage when the time is up. is gun kote better than cerakote for an action?

 

[fullersson]

Not that I'm aware of. Cerakote is supposed to be the best thing on the market right now.

 

[apakesha]

Warning!!!! You mentioned fumes with the two part Cerakote? Under no circumstances do you want to smell the catalyst!! I did it a couple of years ago just to see what it smelled like. I took a little sniff just to see what it smelled like. It was one of the worst pains to the sinuses that I have ever experienced. Don't do it. Very painful.

 

[fullersson]

Apakesha,

Thanks for the warning. I work in the fire service and I know that you aren't supposed to smell things like that but sometimes curiosity gets the best of me and I do it any way. Thanks, Brian Brown.

 

[model 12 toby]

is the regular spray can work as well? pretty sure I seen the stuff you doing mix?

 

[apakesha]

Cerakote is pretty much bulletproof. I just took apart a double barrel 12 ga shotgun that I coated last year. One of the firing pins wasn't firing the shotshell. I took it apart using a brass punch to remove the assembly pins and used a steel hammer to drive them home when assembling. I took it apart and assembled it about 4 or 5 times before I got it to work right. In the end and the coated pins do not show any wear or marks from the process.
The gun parts have to be sandblasted using aluminum oxide. NIC Industries does not reccommend the use of silica blasting media. They say it won't bond well using silica sand. The the parts are put in an oven for about 20-30 minutes at 160 f to remove oils from handling. Then it is sprayed using a HLVP spray gun with a 1mm nozzle. You don't want to do this in the house. You also want to wear a respirator. The two part paint has to be mixed according to instructions with the correct ratio of catalyst to paint to work correctly. Then it is put back into the oven for two hrs to cure.
We have a 4' x 4' x 6' walk-in oven with a rolling rack that makes it great for hanging parts with wire. A kitchen oven in the house is not reccommended because of fumes given off. If you are going to use a kitchen oven get one that someone is replacing with a new one and put it in the garage or utility shed. Leave all the doors open for ventilation. It does not smell good at all. A gas oven is also not recommended because of the open flame. Use an electric oven. Also a kitchen oven has limited use because of the size. You might not be able to do long barrels.