Mosin Nagant Digital Camo Project

[acarnahan]

I wanted to give duracoat a shot so I decided to pickup a Mosin since they are affordable. Here's the pics I took of my project. I completed the project in four days working a few hours in my garage each night. All told I'd say under 20hrs total work including dry times. I've got pics of the original rifle, sanded, coated in each color (ACU Tan, ACU Gray, ACU Green) and the final product.

Having pealed off all the stencils, I didn't take enough time making sure the stencil placements were perfectly square but from 5ft away you don't notice it.

Update: I did two sanding jobs. First was sanding it with a corse sandpaper that I think was in the 200 grit range. Once that was done, I had some 440 grit which is very fine that I went over the entire rifle again. If you haven't painted, you really want to have a smooth surface (400+ grit) just before you degrease & paint it. Duracoat doesn't seem to need primer, just a clean surface. I bought their kit that came with the two stage airbrush. Two stage means you can adjust the flow of paint/duracoat however once I set it to the amount I wanted to come out, I never changed it so the single stage would have been fine & can save you $30 or so.

 

[acarnahan]

I printed the stencils onto wax paper covered in blue painters tape & cut them out. Make sure you you cover both sides of the wax paper before sending it through a printer.

 

[TGUNTER]

That looks good, I would like to try that but just haven't talked myself into it yet

 

[sgreen3]

Very cool, Would have never thought of doing that to a mosin. Looks very good! Nice work!!!!!!!!!!

 

[edsinger]

You could SELL those, nice job!

 

[tyler34]

I printed the stencils onto wax paper covered in blue painters tape & cut them out. Make sure you you cover both sides of the wax paper before sending it through a printer.

that's the way to do it I did my 10 22 stock that way and it made it infinitely easier.

 

[IndyS12]

Good work on that camo. It's pretty refreshing to see stuff like this done to Nagants. Do you have plans to do this same treatment to anything else?

 

[littletommy]

Very nice! I wish I had the patience to do something like that.

 

[ljadayton]

That looks really really REALLY cool!! Good job!!

 

[N_K_1984]

cool! so what's next?

 

[acarnahan]

I've got an SGL21 that I may do the handguard & buttstock. I'd like to get better on cheaper firearms before I start duracoating something more expensive. I did some ammo boxes in "Sniper Green" which turned out to be very close to the original color. Given time, I'm sure I do more and I'll try to document the procedure better.

As I said, one of the key things for digital camo would be to take extreme care in placing the stencils so they are square to a level rifle. The next camo I try may not be digital for that reason. Also the ACU colors are nice, but they have some woodland camo sets or I may pick my own colors to go with. Still figuring out what I want to try next and what firearm to try it on.

 

[db1959]

Very nice job!

 

[JStark6213]

That is sweet, props for doing that on your own... Not normally a fan of people modifying their Mosins but to each is own, and I can honestly say that this is AWESOME!

 

[2cool9031]

Nice job!! I know by experience that stuff can sometimes be very time consuming, but in the end very rewarding.

 

[acarnahan]

Not normally a fan of people modifying their Mosins but to each is own

I struggled with this myself and I'm checking out the local shops to get another Mosin to remain original. For me it came down to cost, I didn't want to get it wrong with something expensive, so at $110 for the rifle I figured I could give it a shot and if it turned out bad, I'd just sand it back down & put a clear coat on it. That was my justification if it helps anyone else.

 

[Que]

I didn't post on this thread because I didn't have a Mosin, until today. Even after becoming an owner, I didn't want to post because I thought I would absolutely hate it. I must admit, you have produced a quality result and one to be admired. Somehow you have retained the nostalgia of the WWII appearance even though the camo is a modern application.

I think you just got lucky this one time. I'll bring my Mosin to you and let's see if you can do it again. I would bet that you can't do it again. Nah, you can't do it again. I bet you can't. Yeah, I bet you can't.

 

[us_agent]

I think you did a good job. Looks pretty cool. All I've ever done was single colors.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Que finally gave in. Lol. I think every person should own at least one of these. They are a blast to shoot and cheap too. OP, it looks good. Now shoot the bejesus out of it.

 

[Que]

Que finally gave in. Lol. I think every person should own at least one of these. They are a blast to shoot and cheap too. OP, it looks good. Now shoot the bejesus out of it.

It's SJ's fault! He let me shoot his Mosin at the INS shoot last week and I was hooked. If I ever find an M44, I will have it done in the fashion the OP did his.

 

[Fenway]

I can appreciate the effort there. Thanks for sharing