Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles My First Time

This is no small thing. The previous height of my (nonexistent) artistic career was a well-executed stick-man drawing in kindergarten. Thanks to a bunch of artistic asswholes here on the 'Fire, I decided that even I couldn't screw up a camo job on a plastic stock.

Enter my trusty Savage model 93 in .17HMR. It didn't look great the day it came out of the factory so I figured there was little to lose. I cleaned the stock with rubbing alcohol and painted the whole thing Rustoleum Camo Khaki. Let it set up, then alternated with cheap artist sponges in Camo Army Green, Camo Black, and some regular brown I had on hand. Let it dry, then hit it with a couple of coats of Rustoleum matte clear. Bought the Rustoleum stuff and artist sponges off Amazon for cheap. It doesn't suck, so I'm happy. I learned a few things for the next one, so I think my old Omega MZ is next on the list.

Turns out an artist is made, not born (cough, cough...)

Ahemmmm..

Some of the best [bleep] art out there. Have a good one,

LOL

If this were posted in another forum the outcome would be much different.

I think it looks cool... I am not even going to ask how well it shoots, because I know if it's like mine, it shoots lights out. Was just shooting my stainless 93R17 yesterday to get it dialed in for our spring rimfire shoot. Your rifle looks great from here...

Thanks, man, it's actually a bit darker than it looks in the bottom 2 pics. I should have used a smaller, more open sponge with the black paint, but it isn't too bad. This rifle seems to favor the 20 gr. ammo over the 17 gr. but shoots well regardless.

Looks great to me. I really like it. The look of the synthetic stock is the reason I searched out a laminated wood stock for mine. Thanks for the info on the ammo too. I've only used 17gr v-max Hornady and Federal in mine, but it shoots pretty good. I just bought a box of 200 17gr bullets for a rimfire match coming up in 2 weeks. The last time I shot this rifle at our fall rimfire shoot, it didn't let me down.


That target won me a turkey on that match... I know guys really love their Tikka T1x rimfires, but these savage rifles really shoot well. I have an A17 semi-auto that is damn near as accurate as this bolt gun. I might try a box of those 20gr bullets and see what kind of accuracy I get with my 93... Good job on your first stock... I can't tell you how many times I've painted a stock just to get the damn thing right. It's pretty rewarding to get it right on the first shot...

... OK. I read the subject title ‘’. MY FIRST TIME... by SOCK PUPPET..

Damn near spit good whiskey through my nose..

Well done SockPuppet! To get the more open look when sponging go to Wally-world and get the round body sponge in the bath/soap area. Cut it into sections the size you want the color splotches. Spray the paint lightly on the sponge or scrap piece of cardboard then dab sponge in it. The key is to roll the sponge from side to side in a smooth motion. If you dab the sponge on the stock it will smear the paint, rolling it will give the open cell look. Try it on some cardboard and you'll quickly get the hang of it. I've tried the artist sponges and they're just too firm to give that open cell look.

Looks great Sockpuppet and since you did not use expensive Duracoat or such, you are not married to that paint job. Should you ever decided you want to change it to something else, just strip and re-spray. RJ

Looks good. Rock on !

Thank you for the pointers. I did roll the sponges as I had read that tip in a different thread; I just used a particular sponge that was relatively 'closed' and a bit larger than would have been ideal. I really didn't think that during the application, only when I stepped back. Using an 'open' sponge for the dark brown and overlapping much of the black did help. I'll check out the bath/beauty are of Wal-Mart for the sponges...I'll just try to go on 'cute Latina' day instead of 'large native' day.

Looks good to me!