Painting my shotgun

T

the rifleer

New member
I have a Mossberg 500. As we all know the receiver is aluminum.

I would like to paint it either a candy red or a blue angel blue. I think that would look good, kinda like how patrick flinigan has his gun painted. Obviously i Need a fairly durable paint that looks good and sticks to aluminum well. I only want to paint the receiver. I want it to be shinny and stick out and make people ask about it. What i don't want is a crappy job that looks like a kid painted it with a sharpie or have it be obvious that i did it my self.

Is there any product out there that can/will do this?

I know that a lot of painting is in the preparation work and allowing proper drying times and that. I', not an expert painter, but i have done things before. I have a spray gun for painting model cars, which i assume will work just fine for painting this.
 
I would prepare the surface by cleaning to bare metal and applying alodine for better paint adhesion.
 
Paint it with any decent enamel. Preheat oven to 170-190 or so and hang it from the oven rack in top grooves. Bake for upwards of an hour. Turn off oven and allow to fully cool. It will be quite durable.
Brent
 
So just any enamel paint? No primer or anything? It doesn't need to be super durable because I'm not going to be carrying it through brush or anything like that, and i wouldn't mind having to repaint it every year or so.

I was thinking about maybe using engine paint because they have the colors that i want and its good for heat.
 
Engine paint should work.

For what it's worth, I painted my Sears/Mossberg 500 cammo about 25 years or so ago. I used a stuff called Bow-Dull, made oddly enough for bows. Worked like a charm. I carred that gun all over deer hunting and it still looks pretty decent.

Sears2.jpg


I don't remember doing anything special to it to tell you the truth, but I may have cleaned the oil off with alcohol or something like that. Then I just sprayed it and let it dry.

Doing one color might be a little trickier. Cammo tends to hide mistakes.
 
When I was in the bidness of painting aluminum we used Richard's Industrial Metal Wash Primer following a quick "acid wash" with "pink stuff" to remove any grease and oils.

The old stand by al primer is zinc chromate. I never baked enamel using it though.
Brent
 
I think it will look good if i do a good job. If i screw it up and do bad then i will buy some of that stuff from brownells and paint it OD green.
 
if it were me personally, I'd wipe it down with alcohol... primer it, wet sand with a fine grit (water shouldn't be a concern with an aluminum receiver) then clean with alcohol and paint whatever color you choose.
 
You might want to look into getting it powder coated. This would add a durable finish and would look very professional.
 
DING DING DING!!! I like LSU's idea! If you have a range of colors you would like, it will drastically drop the price... Find a PC shop that looks busy, take the receiver to them as fully and finely sanded on the out side as possible. Tell them you are flexible and would like them to run it thru a job that is using a color you are satisfied with. If they have to set up, clean up and fire the oven for just one item, it may be costly. Bikers and hotrodders are keeping them fed and the color range has greatly increased in the last 20 years!

And nothing you can apply will touch the durability!!!;)
Brent
 
DING DING DING!!! I like LSU's idea! If you have a range of colors you would like, it will drastically drop the price... Find a PC shop that looks busy, take the receiver to them as fully and finely sanded on the out side as possible. Tell them you are flexible and would like them to run it thru a job that is using a color you are satisfied with. If they have to set up, clean up and fire the oven for just one item, it may be costly. Bikers and hotrodders are keeping them fed and the color range has greatly increased in the last 20 years!
Click to expand...

I recently redid my bike and had the frame sand blasted and coated for 50$. I had it done at an industrial place and it took a little longer than it should have (2 weeks) but it came out great. You could probably take the receiver and barrel to them (with all plastic parts removed, they can't handle the temp) and then have them blast it out for you. You can order your own powder if they don't have a color you want on hand.

I can't recommend powder coating enough, its an attractive and durable finish.
 
What you want to do/use is a product called "Duracoat". Google it and you'll find all you need to know.

It will last and is permanent. All colors are available. It can handle the heat on a barrel. It MUST be applied with an Airbrush using either propellant can or hooked to an air compressor which is the recommended method.

Regular Krylon spray paints and the likes scratch super easy because there's simply not a good bond between the paint and the surface. If you can buy the spray can in a store it won't hold up period.

Even with Duracoat you HAVE to degrease/clean the surface super well!!!!

I've researched this more than I ever wanted or intended to but for the most professional finish you can reasonably do yourself at home, Duracoat is probably it.

Don't spray it too heavy. Light and even is the key and then a second coat later if you wish.

God Bless
Gideon
 
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