Hey all,

So I am going to be Duracoating a few rifles coming up. There are lots of how to's online, but the question I can't seem to find is between coats. I will be using a Paasche VL airbrush and master compressor with inline water trap. It should be getting here these next few days. I've ordered several colors to play around with. I understand prep work is everything, and I plan on working first on a Rem700 SPS that I have, its already a matte black, and will be painted black. Theres a few spots that like to collect a touch of surface rust, so I'm just going to refinish the entire rifle, possibly when I do another color taping off the lugs and doing the bolt body and handle. Not sure about that yet. After popping the trigger off, I plan on using foaming engine degreaser, 600 grit sand paper, then set up an old aluminum gutter capped on both ends and letting the rifle soak in acetone for a few hours to penetrate any little nook and cranny, to eliminate any chance of oil under the coating.

After allowing to dry, I will hang up and mix my paint/hardener at 12:1, shake the daylights out of it, add about 10% reducer to help with the learning curve, and a light coat. So this is where I get a bit confused. 20 minutes between thin coats, do I have to mix each time I'm going to spray? Shake the paint container until it is mixed again? Add more reducer? I'll let it hang for cure overnight, depending on the humidity, and then let it finish curing after I put it back together.

Thanks for the help, not a painter, just starting to get into it. Will practice spray pattern and airbrush control on a piece of 500 plate I have for a target, just to get the hang of it. Thanks again

SHM