Painting my action

I'm hoping to get my new action and bolt handle painted up in the next week or so, but not sure what route to take. I would like something in either a desert tan or flat black I think -- I've looked into Alumahyde II from Brownells and right now that is probably my number one option. Anyone used this stuff and how does it look and hold up? Also, anyone out there know anything about those high temp engine paints sold in auto stores?? Seems like they may be similar, made tough and abrasion resistant for high temps and resistant to dirt/oil and what not. Anybody know more about this option, either from attempting using this method or knowing more about the engine paints (aerosol) and how they work/what they are made of? This will be just cosmetic and on the exterior, won't be doing the bolt body or anything like that, just the outside of the receiver, bolt handle, rear baffle, and BAS.

I did one with Cerama Coat from Midway.

It hasn't seen much use yet, but it looks great.

Try Norrell's Moly Resin. It is a heat cure finish and looks and lasts great.

Duracoat is good, but is an air cure finish and requires 3 weeks or so to fully cure.

Good Luck!!

I did a rifle in Alumahyde ll several years ago, and an vary pleased in how it turned out, the stuff is vary tough, and goes on even, and you really cant tell it was sprayed, I used Matt Black for the barrel and action.
Mike.

It's been my experience with many of these products is the most important caveat is "get the item clean". The preparation is usually more time consuming than the application. Make sure your items are clean and completely degreased.

uj

Uncle Jack is right, thats vary important. I removed it from the stock, of course, and hung it on a wire in my gun room, wiped it down real good with Lacquer Thinner, (LT) let it dry and gave it two coats of Matt Black.
After two years I got a bad spot under the muzzle, from Copper remover draining down and laying there, so I just hit it with light 400grit w/d paper, wiped it off with LT and sprayed it again, and you cant tell its last 2" were redone. I keep 4 or 5 cans in the gun room, all different colors, and will use it again, its the best stuff I ever used.
I forgot, I also redid and old 410 shotgun, it was even rusty in places, so a little sanding, then sprayed it also in Matt Black, but not the wood stock. I redid the stock with sanding and lacquer, and it hasn't looked so good in the 55 years Ive owned it.
I wont use any thing else. I do recommend it.
Mike.

I can't say I have ever used engine paint to paint on any actions, but I have used tons of it in my younger days. Uncle jack is right. prep is very important. I have painted many engines with the duplicolor 1500 degree engine paint, and the one in my Chevy pickup still looks great 50,000 miles later, so I would say that properly applied that it should work great on a rifle. It has stood up to oil, water, high temp, and a periodic under the hood solvent cleaning (not to mention mud, sand, and gravel dust). If you try it lemme know how it turns out.

If you want a bake on coat, the Norrel's Moly Coat or the Cerakote are supposed to be really good and take a severe beating. Moly coat is easier to apply. The Cerakote is better, but the prep. is about the same as doing a custom paintjob on something. No moisture/oil in lines, correct pressure needed, needs to be spot on in prep. Both need to be applied with an airbrush. You can get one from a hobby store or a cheap one from Northern Tool or Harbor Freight, but they may start to clog and spit a lot. A middle road airbrush is best, check out the badgers or if you'll use them frequently, Iwata. You can buy the canned air so you won't need to be sure your air compressor has filtration.

I believe it is Duracoat that offers an air dry and I've read people like it better than Gunkote. They also have a bake on. The ambient dry is supposed to be pretty good but not as resilient as the bake on and they also offer it in a rattle can. If you go for a bake on coat, beware putting it in your personal oven as I've read people having the stuff inside their oven and their wife getting pretty angry.

I personally have no experience other than reading posts on this subject. I was going to do a Saiga 12 gauge. If it were me, I would probably go with Norrel's versus an auto paint. Get a cheap toaster oven for curing and buy a cheap airbrush from Harbor Freight.

I have used Brownells' Gunkote in a aerosol can with great success.

The biggest thing is to make sure you do the prep meticulously with any coating in order for it to work good.

This is what I do as part of prep. I do the following regardless if I media blast or not. I generally media blast everything but still do the following to make sure the parts are grease free.

I mix a 50% solution of water and Simple Green
I apply heat to the solution and just as it is starting to boil I remove it from the heat to allow the temp to equalize
I put the pats in and let it set for about 10 minutes, stirring often
I boil a pot of plain water then remove from heat again to equalize the temp
I put the parts in the water to rinse
I repeat the rinse once more

Use gloves to handle the parts from now on to prevent any skin oils from getting on teh parts. Upon removing the parts they should dry on their own because the moisture evaporates off the hot metal parts. If not you might need to blow them off with air but this is very unlikely unless it is a small part. The parts will begin to show signs of rust within 15-20 minutes if media blasted and cleaned. If it is just cleaned then it depends on the protective finish on there already.

If using a bake on finish place the parts in the oven to preheat the parts to the point where they are just to hot to handle. I apply the coating then put ther parts back in the oven for the "bake" for the required time.

Just my process that has worked very well for me over the years.
Dolomite