Camo Your rifle.

[djl02]

I bought some paint and am getting ready to do and experiment . I have saw some real nice camo jobs on here. Anyone care to share pics with steps that you went through. I'm thinking of some kind of realtree or hard woods camo theme. I have 4 colors to work with,Forest green,olive,pebble and black.
Anyone who has done this,any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[IndyGunworks]

tape off what you dont want coated. spray a good base color (od would be my choice) lay down some leaves spray paint.... add grass (dont remove previous items) spray paint, add camo netting spray paint... flip the gun over and repeat.... give a slight dusting w/ OD to break it up... maybe add a few tiger stripes... walla, not the prettiest but more functional than a pretty job

 

[shooter521]

Paint/camo pattern and method depends on what effect you're after. Do you want the gun to blend in with a specific type of terrain or background, do you just want to break up the outline so it's not readily recognizable as a "gun" from a distance, or do you want it to be a badass piece of modern art?

Here's one I did a few years ago:

Before:

After:

In the wild:

To achieve the pattern, I used 3 colors of Brownells' Alumahyde II. Put down the base color and let it dry, then "mummified" the gun in strips of cloth (torn-up shop rags) and hit it with the second color, then put the strips back on running the opposite direction and hit it with the 3rd.

Pat Rogers recently put up a very good tutorial on a quick-and-easy method for camo painting one's carbine; I'd be happy to re-post it here (with permission) if y'all are interested.

I plan to paint my BCM mid-length gun in the spring, and will do a step-by-step review with pics when I do.

 

[jblomenberg16]

shooter521's looks very nice. Crowandcoyote has done a very good one too. He went with more of a digi-camo look, and IIRC, actually used a sponge-paint technique to add the details.

 

[lovemachine]

I'd be interested in the Pat Rogers tutorial if you'd post it. I've been contemating in doing this same thing.

 

[shooter521]

I'd be interested in the Pat Rogers tutorial if you'd post it.

Ask and you shall receive.

The following is copyright 2010 by Pat Rogers; reprinted with permission.
____________________________

Painting a carbine.
We get a lot of questions about this, and we see a lot of people who spend a lot of money to have their carbine painted.

The reason for painting is to make the gun less visible. Black is the absolute worst color for a gun. It makes the gun more visible in both day or night.
A single earth tone color will partially accomplish this. Blending several of these colors together is better still.

Spending a lot of money for decals that replicate patterns (digital or otherwise) are expensive and certainly make the gun pretty.

However, they may not provide better camouflage than other methods.

Our priorities are:
Make the gun less visible
Minimal amount of time with the gun out of service
Minimal cost
Easy to retouch

We use only Aervoe paint. We find the Aervoe to be more true to color specs and be more durable. Aervoe is available at some of the larger gun supply sites.

If you do not have access to Aervoe use whatever matte colors you can lay hands on.

Prep.

Ignore PEO Soldier- Painting Your Rifle 101. They were smoking crack when they wrote this.

Use SLiP2000 725 cleaner or whatever cleaner you normally use (eg Simple Green etc). If the gun is heavily lubed wipe up the excess inside the upper and lower receivers- this will leak out. Stuff some paper towel in the flash suppressor. Put the lens covers on the optic. If you have a white light on the gun, tape the lens and any rubber (push button, tape switch.
Remove anything you don’t want painted.

Hint- the paint dries faster if the gun is warm. We use sunlight to accomplish that.

Use Aervoe 977 Sand (30277) or other light color tan or khaki for your base coat. Mist the gun with this paint. Use broad strokes to lightly cover the entire gun. Repeat with one or two more light coats. Don’t look for 100% coverage and don’t use heavy coats of paint. Painting the exterior of the barrel will not hurt anything. It will not burn off under normal to hard use.

I use a small strip of camo net as a mask. If not available, you can cut small holes in an old sheet or paper.

Place the camo net over the gun and shoot a light coat of a brown through the net, I use Aervoe 480 Highland, but any similar color will do. Don’t shoot through every hole, and don’t try to cover every square inch of the gun.

Apply the net in a different location and shoot it with Aervoe Marine Corps Green (34052) This is a very dark green.

Apply the net in a different location and shoot it with Aervoe 932 Dark Green (34102)

Once finished, take a can of Aervoe 987B Olive Drab 34088 and lightly overspray the entire gun. Use long, full power strokes from approximately from about 18”. The purpose here is to blend the other colors together.

If available, overspray with a Matte Clear spray. These are generally hard to come by in Matte.
Again, misting will give a flatter finish. Heavy coats will leave a shiny finish.

The entire job- minus prep and drying after the Matte Clear Coat- should take no longer than 20 minutes.

The gun should be shootable within an hour. If you have the ability to leave it in the hot sun to dry for several hours, so much the better.

We have taken guns out and shot them within an hour of painting.

If you are lacking time or a variety of colors, use Sand for a base coat and Olive Drab for splotches and overspray. Brownish colors work almost everywhere (how many green animals have you seen?)

I consider the stencils, dig patterns etc to be time wasters and gun prettiers, and not necessarily better camo for the gun.

Avoid straight lines. If you don't have a camo net use an old sheet and cut some holes in it.

Twenty minutes of time, less than $6.00 worth of paint.

 

[shooter521]

Now, the above is great information with regard to the process and suitable products, but I disagree with Pat on a couple things. I prefer to use stripes rather than blotches, and I don't overspray/blend to the extent that Pat does. I prefer more contrast in the pattern to better break up the outline; from a distance, the carbine in the last pic would just look like a green "gun" instead of a black or gray one.

Also, Pat is a big proponent of the Aervoe epoxy-based spray paints, and not real hot on Alumahyde. I have used both products, and have found Alumahyde to provide superior durability, while Aervoe is (much) less expensive, and provides faster dry times and better/more even coverage. A compromise would be to do your pattern with the Aervoe, then hit it with a final coat of Alumahyde matte clear for durability.

My

 

[lovemachine]

Thanks Shooter!
Honestly, I'm not sure if I like yours or Pats better...
Yours just seems more BA.

 

[shooter521]

Honestly, I'm not sure if I like yours or Pats better...
Yours just seems more BA.

It is.

Now don't you DARE tell Pat I said that!

 

[lovemachine]

It is.

Now don't you DARE tell Pat I said that!

Under ONE condition. I get to see your BA cammo AR in person. I'd like to see it before I consider doing mine.

Great thing about it, I know where you work

 

[shooter521]

Great thing about it, I know where you work

Just LMK when you want to come up, and I can bring the gun to the shop.

 

[paperboy]

Mossberg 22 I did in Tiger Stripe

 

[grimor]

How durable is the paint and do you fond yourself touching it up a lot? in Pat's tutorial it looks like he left everything on the rifle, do you paint it all together? what about when you reconfigure your rails?

just my rambled questions

 

[paperboy]

I painted everything seperate and I havn't touched anything up. I am not concerned if it get scratched or dinged. Also, the stock is wood so I am not sure if painted plastic is any less/more durable.

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

My air rifle

I may get the stones to do this on one of my firearms one day, but this was my opening effort on my Gamo Hunter 440.
I patterned with the straw from some ornamental grasses I cut down last spring. The base coat was the tan pictured, I then placed the straw twice following up with the brown and last the OD green. I tested on some cardboard to get the look I wanted first.
The stock was prepped with some steel wool and the metal bits with brake parts cleaner. I've put the better part of a 500 round tin through it and the finish is holding up well.....better than the starlings and housesparrows that got the lead. The unpainted bits were either removed (butt pad, sites) or masked (trigger guard, scope). The shiny parts are from my greasy paws or face rubbing on the flat paint.

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

My air rifle

Ooops. Double post.

 

[nova512]

my first try on a mosin.

 

[littletommy]

I may get the stones to do this on one of my firearms one day, but this was my opening effort on my Gamo Hunter 440.
I patterned with the straw from some ornamental grasses I cut down last spring. The base coat was the tan pictured, I then placed the straw twice following up with the brown and last the OD green. I tested on some cardboard to get the look I wanted first.
The stock was prepped with some steel wool and the metal bits with brake parts cleaner. I've put the better part of a 500 round tin through it and the finish is holding up well.....better than the starlings and housesparrows that got the lead. The unpainted bits were either removed (butt pad, sites) or masked (trigger guard, scope). The shiny parts are from my greasy paws or face rubbing on the flat paint.

That has so much depth to it, it almost looks 3D! Excellent.

 

[ghille45]

yeah I'm a big krylon fan.

 

[Fenway]

phylodog dusted my rifle and I like the way it turned out.