Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Coated my Barreled Action (Alumahyde II)

Okay, here are a few pictures of my Model 70 that I coated Monday or Tuesday. I ran into a small problem with the bottom metal, I had to strip it and I repainted it yesterday. I will update the photos as everything cures and I get the rifle reassembled. I also did the stock in Alumahyde as well. The action is finished in their Stainless Steel Gray while the stock is finished in their Dark Parkerizing Gray. I know the pics of the barreled action did not turn out too well but the bottom metal pics are decent and the one of the bolt is great (I did not have the bolt in that position during cure, it was reassembled for the picture). If anyone would like pictures of a different angle or perhaps better focus I may be able to oblige.

This is a CM action and bottom metal--I believe it was JDY that asked about applying Alumahyde on a CM action.

All of Brownell's steps for metal prep and painting were taken, except for one--the reason I had to redo the bottom metal. When they say "after 30 minutes of initial spraying, any touch up will need to be done after complete cure and light sanding", they mean it.

There is one question I would like to ask, and that is, how durable is it?

Would it be possible to spray a small piece of scrap, let it cure, and try to sand it off with 220 grit sandpaper?

The reason I ask is, several years ago, I purchased a can of something called Gun-Kote. According to the manufacturer, it was the last word in protective coating, used by Navy Seals, and most everyone else. You first sandblasted the metal, then sprayed on two coats, using an airbrush. Then, you baked it for, IIRC, about an hour or two at about 300 degrees. It supposedly would stand several hours of salt spray.

I tested it, as above, and the sand paper took it off easier than I could sand off normal blueing. The manufacturer advertised that the only way you could remove it after it was cured was to sandblast it off, but this was not true.

This stuff was nowhere near as durable as a thin coat of paint, and cost $30.00 for a small can.

I would be interested in the durability of the Alumahyde.

Well, if it is any judge of the quality (and since I haven't put it through a season of hunting yet), when I screwed up my bottom metal, I had some rather coarse emery cloth and some 320grit sandpaper that was taking a lot of effort to remove everything so that I could re-coat it, I ended up taking a bronze wire wheel on my bench grinder to take everything off to raw metal and even then I was impressed with how well it was holding--and that was 2 days after spraying it. IIRC it is supposed to take 3 days to a full week to completely cure. That may or may not help you but take it for what it is

Another word of advice after I have put a few parts together. I think I would recommend finding the scope rings you like and painting the barreled action with the bases mounted on the rifle. I painted the action and rings/bases separate and when I assembled, I got a little wrinkling/squishing at the outside edges of the bases where it is pushing paint down a little on the curvature of the action. It is not that visible in the photos but I did remove the bases and sand on the edges a little and tried to scrape/sand some of the paint on the action so it didn't look so bad.

Here are a few more shots but I am still waiting on stock and bottom metal.

That answers my question. The stuff I used was not nearly that resistant.

the rifle looks great.how much did the materials cost to do the whole thing if you don't mind me asking ?

Ed

If I remember without checking the website, I think it retails for $13.99 a can and $10 for shipping. Since I ordered two cans two different times (stock came in first), I have about $50 in coatings for this rifle right now.

thanks i was wondering if you needed special solvents to clean air brush ?

thanks Ed

This is the aerosol can delivery type. I do not have an air brush. No special solvents, just clean and degrease.

Did you bead blast the action and barrel? Or just sand off the bluing? Paint over it? Looks like a great idea for a gun finish, especially at that price.

No bead blasting, the barrel was left unfinished from the smith, I sanded most of the finish off the action and went over pretty much everything else with 500grit sandpaper to get an even finished product overall. I feel content as long as it holds up decently.

WE,

That looks great. I'd be very interested to hear how it holds up as well.

I used the "matte clear" Aluma-Hyde II to put a protective coat on a tuperware stock painted w/ Stone Touch. It protects really well, but isn't "matte clear" more like "matte amber" as it appears that somebody peed on my stock!

Xylene can be used to clean equipment or remove fresh Alumahyde II pretty easy. If you get the liquid form for airbrushing you can also use xylene to thin it to the desired consistency.

As far a blasting you want something to cut into the steel to leave an aggressive profile. Basicly this creates small anchor points to assist in adhesion, same thing as roughing a stock inlet to increase epoxy adhesion when bedding a stock. If you blast dont use glass beads, this will actually smooth the metal, you want to use alum oxide or something similiar. If you dont want to blast you can use paper as rough at 220 and it will fill in and coat with one layer.

Okay...sorry this took so long, finally got a few pictures after the assembly. The stock has a few "spots" that show up in the photos-these are just a little oil residue from where I was swabbing the bore and putting a little oil in the action. Man did it really slick up. I was worried that it would be sticky and catch until the finish wore down considerably since this is how it feels from the start...a little oil and I think it may be slicker than before it was coated. And as a little note, it is rather solvent resistant. While cleaning, I lost no paint coverage at the muzzle from solvent contact, and I even spilled some heavy duty carb cleaner on it by accident (Berryman's, good percentage of toluene) and didn't bubble, peel, flake or dissolve the finish. So far so good.





Well, I was going for a "Montana-esque" feel with the looks--bastids at Kimber don't seem to feel LH actions are worth the trouble.

If anybody wants to see a few more shots or different angles I will be glad to upload a few more.

Hm. My post disappeared. Nice job! Particularly your attention to detail. Aluma-Hyde isn't the easiest spray-on to use.