Gun Paint

looking for some advise on gun paint. Did a forum search and didn't come up with much. Thought I had read about a 12 oz rattle can.

any thoughts?

My nephew spray paints cars and offered to paint my 80% AR-15 lower receiver. Never took him up on the offer because I kinda like the looks of the bare aluminum receiver. I'll check with him on the paint he planned to use. My guess is an
epoxy paint.

At one time most all my long guns were spray painted flat black. I used the cheap cans from Walmart. I suppose an expensive can would work but I was on a tight paint budget.

It had something to do with the inability of my wife to discern one black gun from another black gun. As long as I never had one in each hand she never asked when, where and how much questions. It was just my "old black gun". Not a problem at this point in life but I still have some of those old junkers on the rack.

I do spray camo some of my guns. I have a bubba rifle by the door made from a 91/30 that is cut down. It is sprayed in black/gray/green tones, along with the scope that sits on it. Not to some folks tastes but it shoots very well and the paint has not affected its performance.

A lot of folks do not realize that the German Army of WW2 painted a lot of the rifles they sent to the eastern front rather than bluing them. Lets face it, a rifle going to the eastern front had a life expectancy of a couple of weeks and they needed a lot of them in a hurry. I owned a Chezh Bruno Mauser with the arctic trigger guard, stamped sheet metal parts and a rough plywood stock that was painted from the factory.

Paint, like parkerizing, is less durable than some other finishes but is easy and quick to apply, easy to touch up, and requires less surface prep time.

BTW, I have been debating doing a rattle can camo job on my Cherokee for two or three years. Chrysler never did learn to apply paint and the Jeep is showing metal through the base coat. I did the duck boat a few years back and it turned out well.

If you do the Cherokee then put some reflective stickers on it. I would hate to have you walking the woods day and night looking for your ride only to sit down on the bumper trying to contemplate where the darn thing might be hiding.

thanks for the replies. I've used flat black paint before too but I am wondering if the more expensive product like brownells alumahyde or some such would be better.

Spoke to my nephew just now and he recommends automotive spray paint. The trick is using the right primer such as an
epoxy primer.

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I think you guys are about to go off the rails again.

Go to Walmart, look in the paint section. They have blends from Rust-oleum and other makers that will fill your needs for $4-$6 a can with no shipping cost. The sporting goods section even has special camo paint which is the same thing at a higher price.

And if you make a horrid mistake you can cover it with the next coat.

Did Chris Kyle dwell on what paint to use for this long? Absolutely not! He called Chuck Norris to see what he uses.

I have used Krylon and Rust-oleum with some good results, also did a old 870 shotgun with VHT high heat paint (black) I just pre heated the metal parts prior to painting gas oven 20min. @ 180deg, did that shotgun about 25 years ago still looks pretty good. you could go to some of the ceramic coatings you just have to start adding zeros to $4.95 price tag for rattle cans.