Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Dura Touch Camo stocks

Has any one experienced the Dura Touch Camo Stocks going " sticky"?

I was in a little gunshop in Northern WI, about the time Winchester was being bought out by FN. The shop had the last of the New haven Winchesters he would get.
He bought a bunch from a distributor at a good close out. I don't get too excited about camo or synthetic stocks , but I have several.

I liked the Winchesters and made an offer for them. I bought all he had , except for duplicate cals.

Now 2 of them have gotten horribly " sticky". I am sure the rest will follow.

I am well aware of the care these stocks needed, as far as solvents , etc and was very careful with them. I taped a reminder to the inside of one of my safes where these rifles were stored.

Looking for a solution.

Winchester will "fix" the existnbg stocks if I send them back, on their dime,they will not replace them, but rather hard coat them.

Any one experience this?

Three weeks ago I bought a NIB/Old Stock Winchester SX3 off Gunbroker. It was a limited run from a few years ago with the grey "Perma-Cote' metal finish and black Dura-Touch stocks. I wanted it for a sea duck hunt I have planned. The gun still has all the factory stickers but straight out of the box it was tacky to the point that if you ran a cloth across the stocks, the cloth fibers would stick to it. Now it wasn't as bad as some Dura-Touch guns that have been hunted for years, but it was bad enough straight out of the box that I knew it would only get worse. I work in a gun shop and all the new Dura-Touch guns we see now just feel rubbery, without the stickiness. I called the service department and they were very apologetic. They sent me a pre-paid label and said they would make it right. I can't ask for much more than that and they have it now. I don't care if they re-do the existing stocks or replace them as long as they are right when it returns. I will say this, I've never cared for Dura-Touch but took a chance. I will not buy another Dura-Touch gun in the future.

Yes. Mine got horrible and I didn't want to mess with it so I rubbed a bunch of baby powder into it. It worked good enough.
I keep saying that I'm going to remove it all with some denatured alcohol but haven't done it yet.

Had a Browning BPS 12 GA "NWTF" turkey gun, built in 2006. I hunted with the shotgun about four years before it became sticky - got stickier and stickier with time. Buddy of mine wanted it, so I sold it to him - his nephew has one of the stock dipping tanks. Nephew cleaned the old camo off and dipped (about four years ago) - perfectly fine now - but your option is to clean and re-dip using a non-Dura Touch finish or replace with a non-Dura Touch stock. It will never get better or "dry out" with the Dura Touch on it. I still buy Brownings but will never buy another Dura Touch finished gun. Browning will tell you that you got solvent on the gun (I cleaned the camo stock with water when I owned the gun!) The metal on mine never got sticky, only the stock - problem is between the Dura Touch finish and the plastic the stock is made of.

Thanks guys.
Winchester will hard coat the stocks.

My SX3 Waterfowl went gummy on me. Called Winchester/Browning Service...………….they sent me a prepaid label and I shipped it to them. They received it March 5th. They still have it. So I don't know WHAT they are actually doing. According to the CS rep, they are totally reconditioning the gun. If I ever see it again, I'll post an update.

Thanks for your input Yoder,

Since march ...that is a long time.

Winchester wanted rifles sent in complete. I told them I was NOT pulling the scopes off and I had the stocks off now. I will only send stocks in.
I don't know if I will do that now.

I can buy new Winchester original stocks ...maybe get them and coat 'em.

I have a super x2 unversal hunter that I bought in 2006. Within a couple of years the camo started coming off the pistol grip area. My fault because I use the gun for turkey hunting in south Alabama and bug spray is pretty much mandatory. I had some on my hand and within a matter of a day the pistol grip was down to the primer/undercoat.

Then the stock started getting sticky all over. I could take it out of the gun safe and put it out where the air could get to it and it would dry/harden up enough to use it. That worked for a year or two. The duratouch is just on the stock not the metal work. The metal work looks like it did day one. I contacted winchester and they pretty much told me that I could send it in and if they determined it was their fault, they would fix it, or if my fault, I could pay for new stocks and shipping both ways.

So I stripped the forearm and buttstock of all paint. And painted it with krylon in a pattern that blends with the camo pattern on the metal work. The stock on mine was black after all the coating and whitish primer was stripped off and I could have used it like that but it didn't look right.

I won't buy another product with duratouch, or a similar product applied to it unless it is a screaming deal, and then with the knowledge that it will at some point get sticky and have to be re-done.

Bob.

Right on , Bob
Thanks for input.

Called BrownChester Service yesterday to see just what was going on. Originally, when I shipped them the gun, my projected "completion date", as listed on my online service tracker page, was August 7th. Then, one day, that date just mysteriously disappeared from the page. Anyhoooo………...the fellow I talked to yesterday said they are "currently working on February and March guns".


Glad a 3.5" SX3 Waterfowl isn't something anyone would need for, say...…...early goose season in September, or something. Next thing to 7 months for service and still waiting...…………….

Thanks , Mister Bean,

That is poor service...too long.

Kinda thinkin that myself...……….

Last rifle (M70 338 WM) that I sent to Browning took four months to get back. Aside from the long wait time and not being able to use my new rifle (however, I do own several rifles) I can state that Browning Arms Co. took care of me very well. They ended up shipping me a new rifle when they couldn't fix the one I sent in (which was manufactured before they took over WRA). However, all communications had to be initiated by me each time - BAC never updated me after the first postcard acknowledging receipt.

I did some searching on the internet and experimenting on my stock and found nail polish remover works the best at removing the dura-touch coating. I think it will still be a mess to strip the entire stock.

Just updating...…………….. 8 months today and online support tracking shows the gun STILL not completed.

SCREW early goose season !!! The general goose season is now in and...………….

Good thing this is actually my TURKEY gun. Maaaaaaayyyyyybe I'll have it for April or May.

Jagoffs !!

I just finished mine up. The paint came off in a few spots but I just touched it up and then clear coated the whole thing. My coating job was a little rough so I smoothed it out with some super fine steel wool. I'm really happy how it turned out for less than the cost of shipping it back. It's too bad the duratouch didn't last because I liked it a lot when it was new but I'll never get it again.

My SX3 that I sent back in early September FINALLY came back today. It was not here for the hunt I bought it for in December, which was a disaster anyway. They replaced the stocks with plain un-coated synthetics, which I am ok with because even if they re-did the Dura-Touch, it would probably screw up again in the future. My gripe is that it took nearly 5 months to slap new stocks on it....Oh well, I'll have it for next year.

Up date on my M 70's.

Winchester finished the first one in a timely fashion 4-5 weeks. Very good job....remove the soft crap.

I have since sent the other stock in and received the postcard. I had a good conversation with the head of customer service before sending .

I think it will be soon finished. I could not touch the removal with anything I tried.

My Browning 300 WSM Ti rifle’s duratouch stock went sticky on me. Browning had me ship the whole rifle to them and the replaced the stock and bedded the action. Shipped it back to me at no charge. Can’t beat that.

My Cynergy O/U 12 gauge shotgun with the duratouch stock went sticky as well. It was a slightly used gun when I got it. They had me send the whole shotgun because they wanted to make sure of the camo match, since it’s completely camoed. They called me awhile later saying that they weren’t satisfied with the camo match and offered me a brand new in the box shotgun in my choice of camo. I politely accepted. Can’t beat that x2.

Now, I have a Remington Ti rifle that someone did a duratouch type finish on the original stock. It was fine a couple years ago, but guess what happened?
Yep, done went sticky on me.

I am looking for someone to ship this stock to and have them remove the finish and maybe dip it or paint it for me.

Here's the update on MY dealings with the Dura Touch circus...………..

10 months and 1 week after my Super X3 Waterfowl arrived at Browning/Winchester Service, it came back through my door. March 3rd, 2018 to January 13, 2019. Not bad, huh ???

I have, basically a new (non-Dura Touch) gun all factory fresh and paid ZERO to have it done. Time frame SUCKED !!! Price tag was tolerable.

But I don't like being lied to...………...

As I tracked my service order, back last spring I realized the entire gun was going to be re-camo'ed. So I called B/W Service and asked the gentleman if (since my SX3 is a Waterfowl model and I'd rather have a turkey camo pattern) they could do my gun in Mossy Oak Bottomland. He said they couldn't because when they undertook this re-furb project they decided to keep the guns all original...…….."to preserve their collector's value". Now, I ain't no rocket scientist except Monday thru Friday...…...but SX3's ain't gonna have any "collector's value" for the next 100 years. But, whatever...……


So my gun arrives...…….... It's now Mossy Oak Blades. It was Mossy Oak Wetlands when it left here. So much for preserving the "collector's value", huh ?

I've half a notion to call the folks at B/W Service and ask them WTF ???????????