Krylon or hydro dip

I am finally to the point of getting my newest rifle build ready for paint. My stockade rollover stock arrived a few weeks ago. I bought the money saver option so I have spent the last couple of weekends filling and sanding it and it is now ready to be finished. This rifle will be my elk/mule deer/backpacking rifle. I can't decide whether i should just throuw a krylon DIY camo job on it or have it hydro dipped. I have never had anything dipped so I don't know if it is actually more durable than krylon. If I get it dipped I was thinking either kuiu vias or natural gear.

Personally I'm a cheap son of a gun and like do it myself projects. I'd go with some rattle cans and a good top layer of Testors Dull Coat.

A dipped stock with a good two-part clear coat will be more durable than a rattle-can paint job. And, if it's a camo pattern with a semi-gloss or flat clear coat, it will be able to handle some scratches and dings without effecting the look too much.

On the other hand, a DIY camo job with Krylon will handle some scratches and dings too, but it will be much easier to repair yourself. I haven't tried it, but I saw some darn nice looking camo results on the Internet using pine straw to produce the desired patterns. That would certainly be my approach were I doing a DIY rattle-can camo job. Google it.

Finally, the cost will be about $150 more for the dipped stock, counting the cost of finishing and shipping; so that might be a consideration. But there are some really fantastic looking camo film on the market these days, if you like that sort of appearance. You'll never duplicate that look using any other method.

Roscoeflage!

Any finish will probably do well. I did a rattle can job on the Taxis project, and it's held up pretty well. The most damage in on the muzzle end, which I presume would be hard to maintain with any coating over a bare, polished, stainless barrel. It also has some scrapes along the top of the barrel from where I propped it up against a concrete bench. The stock and receiver are both holding up well a year later.

Recent pics:

http://i.imgur.com/rHnA1aL.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/XvRkjCw.png

Of course if you want the best of both worlds, you can do a homebrew camo dip!

For all of my rifles that I invest some decent money into - barrels, optics, stocks, whatever - I always go with dip because I think it looks cleaner and holds up better. Yeah it's more expensive, but you don't rattle can a brand new sports car even if every panel is a different color...

For all my backup/cheap/for fun rifles, I rattle can the hell out of them because it's fun and really doesn't matter what they look like. Difference of personal opinion I guess, but to me it's heavily dependent on what it's going on.