Gray furniture between manufacturers

[scottka]

Hey guys,

I posted something about this in the INGO build thread, but I figured I may gain a little more traction in its own thread. I just completed my INGO build with a gray ALG EMR handguard and Magpul Stealth Gray stock and grip. Turns out that the Magpul gray is way darker than their site makes it look, so now I think I'm going to go with a different manufacturer to get a little better color match. It obviously doesn't have to be perfect, but the Magpul gray is pretty far off.

I've driven myself crazy searching sites, google, forums, etc. for pictures of multiple grays together and trying to compare them with the gray of the ALG hand guard, but I haven't been able to convince myself one way or the other. I've been looking at BCM Gunfighter, B5, and MFT gray furniture. I'm currently leaning toward MFT, but I'm not convinced 100%. I did find one picture of what *I think* is a gray ALG hand guard and MFT gray, and it looks pretty decent, but it's in such bright sunlight that I can't convince myself that it's not just washed out or the hand guard is lighter color than mine.

So if anyone happens to have any gray furniture and/or gray ALG hand guard, I'd much appreciate your input, pictures, etc. because I'm driving myself to insanity.

Cue the "AR diva" comments...

Maybe I should just forget it, throw my rifle on the ground, and stomp on it, and hope there are no truck tires in the vicinity so everyone won't think I'm an AR diva.

My build...


The one pic I could find on the web with MFT and what I presume is a gray ALG hand guard...

 

[bstewrat3]

Magpul isn't off, everyone else is.

 

[Cpt Caveman]

Just rattle can them all the same. Problem solved.

 

[Hoosier45]

I ordered all wolf gray furniture from BCM for a future build, and was disappointed in how dark it was. Quality stuff but really wanted a lighter color.

 

[scottka]

Was it just dark gray or did it have that navy blue tinge like the Magpul stuff? Dark gray would be okay, I think, but the navy blue is what really throws my eye.

 

[masterdekoy]

Is the ALG hand guard cerakote? If it's anodized, the color is going to change from batch to batch. It's just kinda how it is. I know magpul does a good job of keeping their colors consistent, but the grey will probably vary a bit between manufacturers. The only way to ensure a match is to coat everything you want at the same time using the same batch of product (cerakote, duracoat, rattle can, etc).

slight color variances never really bugged me, I thought it added to the character of the firearm. But that's just me.

 

[scottka]

I believe it is anodized. Slight color differences won't bother me too badly, I don't believe, but these are pretty drastically different. An INGO member has offered to send me a rail section in gray from BCM, and a buddy of mine happened to have a gray cheek riser from MFT, so they are both sending me a "sample" of gray from each company. From there, I'll decide which way I want to go with the furniture. Very grateful to have generous people here that are willing to send me a piece of their own property with only a promise to send it back. I'll post pictures when I receive them so that anyone in the future will be able to compare them because there isn't squat on the rest of the Internet. Haha. Thanks guys!

 

[scottka]

I was able to compare all of these grays to the ALG EMR rail. Unfortunately, none of them were a great match. First up are the comparison pictures. The small strip is BCM Wolf Gray. The light colored cheek riser is Mission First Tactical Gray. The dark stock is Magpul Stealth gray. The hand guard is an ALG EMR rail in gray.

Upon seeing that none of them matched well, I decided to go with the most plain and light as a "canvas" to use for dyeing. I decided on MFT gray. I bought what I needed and ended up looking like this when assembled.

I used Pearl gray RIT dye to try to darken the furniture a little bit for a better match. This was the progression from the MFT gray to what I dyed it to with RIT Pearl gray.

Here's the freshly dyed MFT against the Magpul Stealth Gray.

After everything was dyed, I put it all back together on the rifle. It's definitely closer that any off the other options were, but it isn't a perfect match yet. I just ordered some iDye Poly in silver/gray. From what I read, it gives a darker gray while avoiding bluish overtones. I'm happy with how this dye turned out, and it was super easy, but I'd like to be able to get a little closer, and it's worth a shot to try it. Let me know what you think.

I'll update when I try out the new dye.

 

[Hoosier45]

Thanks for the pictures. I like the color of the MFT. Might order some furniture for my next build.

 

[scottka]

I wish I had a little piece of it to send back to you because I ended up trimming a couple pieces for the cheek riser to clear the charging handle in the second position and on the pistol grip because it "fills in the gap" but so did my trigger guard that was already on there, but I dyed them as test pieces already.

I really like the stock and grip from them. First time I've bought any of their stuff.

 

[Hoosier45]

It looks like quality stuff. The BCM was close to what I am looking for. The MFT is lighter still, so I think it will be close enough.

 

[masterdekoy]

Looks really good. Glad you were able to find something you were more happy with. Might have to try one of those MFT grips. They look pretty nice.

 

[Boreas]

I'm late to the discussion, but wondering if you found the right dye to match the ALG hand guard? I'm also using a gray ALG with gray MFT furniture and would like a better color match. Any additional information, such as ratio of dye to water and approximate time of the part in the dye would also be appreciated.

 

[SMiller]

I had this problem when I got into FADE, nothing matched, ended up giving up, dumped everything FDE and went back to all black.