Krylon or hydro dip

[romad97]

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.

[big honkin jeep]

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.

[Mozella]

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.

[DrThunder88]

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:




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

[WinnieTheBoom]

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.