Camo Painting

[Set n Hooks]

I was wondering if it would be a smart decision to paint my gun. It's a Mossberg 500. I know exactly what I'd be doing and what to use. I'm just looking for some opinions on whether it would be a smart decision or not. It's black synthetic now. I figured the more concealment of anything that would stick out, the better.

[RumRiverRat]

The Krylon Camo spray paint works very well for this.

I have painted many guns with it.

[BoxMN]

My brother did his Gold last year, and it turned out great. Has held up well, too. I might do mine after this season.

However, I doubt there is much difference between a camo gun and a black synthetic to duck's or even turkey's eyes...

[Gordie]

I did my 870 10 years ago with the duck boat paint that you get at F-F and yea its a bit worn so may be its time do do it again. holds up nicely I also belive if you research last year post there was sme awsome tips and paint jobs on guns.

[MN Greenheads]

I paint my gun each year. It keeps it from rusting too fast.

[Neiko]

I did my 500 a few years ago and it turned out very well with the Krylon paint. I also did my muzzleloader since it turned out so nice.

[lawdog]

anybody got any pics of their homemade camo guns?

[BoxMN]

My brothers pics are gone, but here are his steps onn he did it last year, from an old post here....

1. Materials needed are:

2. I used Rust-O-Leum spray paint.

3. Grey Krylon auto primer

4. Marsh brown (TAN) camo spray paint

5. Olive drab camo spray paint

6. Black camo spray paint

7. Acrylic Clear Matte finish

8. 1 pint – Nutmeg (American Accents)

9. 1 pint – Taupe (American Accents)

10. 1 pint – Hunter Green (American Accents)

11. 1 pint – Black (American Accents)

12. 1- 3/8” bursh (angled)

13. 1 – ¼” brush (angled)

14. Totally disassemble the shotgun so that you end up with the barrel, fore-end, stock, and receiver all separate (I chose not to do the trigger assembly on mine)

15. Sand the finish off the wood (if its synthetic rough it up a bit with 150 grit sandpaper)

16. Use steel wool and solvent to remove any rust from the gun as it WILL work through the paint.

17. Clean the entire surface of all parts with paint thinner to get any leftover gunk off.

18. I went overboard and also cleaned the surfaces with rubbing alcohol followed but another cleaning with acetone.

19. Once cleaned I thurroughly taped off any areas that I didn’t want paint on. For the receiver I taped it from the inside and then stuffed it with paper towels to ensure no overspray got in there.

20. Once cleaned and totally taped I hung each piece from decoy string in the garage.

21. After all pieces were hung I put on rubber gloves and repeated the cleaning steps with rubbing alcohol and acetone (the gloves are to ensure that no oils from your fingers end up on the metal).

22. Once totally cleaned and dry apply 1 THIN coat of primer to all pieces – let it dry for a half hour or so and re-apply. You’re not looking for thickness here, just total coverage.

23. Apply two thin coats of Marsh Brown to all pieces – again looking for coverage. Keep the can at least a foot away and keep it moving so you don’t get the runs.

24. You can take them off the string now.

25. Hold grasses and cat-tails over the top of each piece and use O.D. green as an overspray. This will give the appearance of tan grass with a green background. DON’T GO TOO HEAVY here or you end up with too much of a green look like I did. I would start with keeping as much of the tan showing as you can always darken it with more layers.

26. After you have the green overspray use brown or black to do another layer of overspray. I used black and it looks okay but if I did it again I’d try brown. I used bunches of grassed that were thinner that the cat-tails to give it a bit different shape and again to add depth.

27. Once you feel good about the background layers with the tan and green and black/brown you’re ready to add the details.

28. Use the wider of the two brushes with the taupe and make the long blades of grass. I’d practice this step some. Put as many or as few blades in as you want – I guess it depends on where you hunt.

29. After you have the initial blades done use the thinner brush and the nutmeg color to go back over the first blades with the nutmeg (I’d do about 2/3 of each blade) this give them more depth.

30. I added in some brown blades of grass as well.

31. Also add A FEW long hunter green blades. Don’t do too many – again try to match your background.

32. Now again with the thin brush, add a small amount of black to the bases of about 85% of the hand painted grasses. This again give you more depth and the appearance of shadows (more for us than the ducks).

33. The final step is two or three thin coats of the matte finish. I haven’t used and abused mine yet but from what I’ve read it should hold up will.

It seems like a lot of steps but they go pretty easy. Like I said earlier I’ll post a link if that’s okay cause this guy has pictures to go along with each step. I’ll also try to go back and pull pictures from my camera of each step and get them in here is its helpful.

The toughest part was taking the orbital sander to my stock – once got past that mental block it was pretty easy and fun. I also would maybe not use my primary gun as the guinea pig if I did it again – I’d maybe practice on a paddle or baseball bat or something.

Good luck. Erik

[Set n Hooks]

Its done.. Sorry the pics aren't the best, they were taken off a phone.

[broken_line]

looks pretty good