Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Browning Dura-Touch coating

Has anyone out there removed the Browning Dura-Touch coating from their X-Bolt synthetic stock? If so I have a few questions about your experience.

1) Was it difficult to remove the coating?

2) What does the stock material look like under the coating?

3) If you painted the stock afterwards, does the paint stay on the new surface OK?

Right now, I'm not having any problems with the coating on my 2 X-Bolts but I do plan to slightly shorten the butt stock on one of them and if that gives me problems with the coating, I would consider removing the coating and paint the stock. Thanks in advance on any info on this. RJ

Have you checked the price on an uncoated stock? I bet that stuff don’t come off easily.

It’s a pain to take that off. I have a Maxus that after 5 years it was very sticky and when I was hunting it will get all kinds of grass and leaves stuck to it. It took me probably 3 hours to take most of it off. Now it’s not sticky but the stock doesn’t look that great. I said I will get it painted but didn’t get around to do it yet. It’s a great shooting shotgun and it points really good for me , so I am thinking to get the whole thing cerakoted. Over here in Florida I heard that because of our weather we get this happen sooner then other parts of the country .
Good luck .

DollarShort,
I live in Romania. anything to do with guns comes at a premium around hear, but I will see if my LGS can get an uncoated stock and for how much.

Cornel616, I was afraid I was going to hear it is a PIA to remove. I lived in Jacksonville almost all of my life until I moved over here 4 years ago. I know what you mean about the humid weather.
Thanks, RJ

I bought a BAR earlier this summer that had a very sticky stock. The barrel and receiver have the Mossy Oak coating, and the stock had the dura-touch in Mossy Oak. The metal still looks good so I left it alone. The stock was so sticky that it had fuzz stuck all over it from the other guy's gun case. I took the stock off of the gun and used brake cleaner and rags to get the dura-touch off. It only took about 45 minutes to clean both pieces. (plenty of elbow grease though) The stock was just black plastic underneath. I used textured Rustoleum in a sand color to re-paint. The textured paint goes on thick and I thought I had messed it up, but it dries nicely. In the end, I am very pleased with the makeover. You could just paint the stock with regular flat paint. I can text you pictures. (can't figure out picture posting), Kirk

tradgear, thanks for the info. You would think that Browning would have used a coating resistant to brake cleaner, as it is used by some to clean the metal parts of their rifles while the stock is attached. I am surprised but glad that the coating can be removed with brake cleaner. It will save having to buy a new stock if I decide or have to remove it. Again, I thank you very much for that information. RJ

LNF150, I had read about that law suit a while back. It appears that the buyer is on his own if he has a problem with the Dura-touch coating. Maybe a more appropriate name would be "Sticky-Touch".

Its not just brownings, the sako 85 models with soft touch stock does the same thing. Mines sticky and the coating is peeling off...

That's too bad. I like the texture. It affords a good grip with little pressure. But, If mine turns sticky or starts to peel, out comes the brake cleaner. RJ

I have a number of Browning firearms with the Dura-Touch finish on stocks. i like the feel and performance of the Dura-Touch a great deal. i recently discovered that one of them that i haven't had out in quite a while felt quite sticky. i took packing tape and wrapped it around my hand backwards (sticky side out) and repeatedly stuck it to the stock and pulled it off somewhat like a lint roller. that seemed to help a bit to get off some of the sticky feel. still wasn't satisfied, so a took some Canola vegetable oil and rubbed a very small amount into the Dura-Touch at one spot as a test, then wiped it off real well with a clean lint free cloth so i wouldn't get fuzzy lint on stock. seemed to work ... almost seemed to "restore" the original feel. so i ended up doing it to the whole stock. took less than 5 minutes. so far feels pretty much like new. who knows what it will feel like in time, but cheap and simple for now. we shall see.

I have a number of Browning firearms with the Dura-Touch finish on stocks. I like the feel and performance of the Dura-Touch a great deal. I recently discovered that one of them that i haven't had out in quite a while felt quite sticky. I took packing tape and wrapped it around my hand backwards (sticky side out) and repeatedly stuck it to the stock and pulled it off somewhat like a lint roller. that seemed to help a bit to get off some of the sticky feel. still wasn't satisfied, so a took some Canola vegetable oil and rubbed a very small amount into the Dura-Touch at one spot as a test, then wiped it off real well with a clean lint free cloth so I wouldn't get fuzzy lint on stock. seemed to work ... almost seemed to "restore" the original feel. So I ended up doing it to the whole stock. took less than 5 minutes. so far feels pretty much like new. who knows what it will feel like in time, but cheap and simple for now. we shall see.

Call Browning if it's melting and they will replace your stock with a non-Duratouch version at no cost to you.

Browning fixed my abolt mountain ti. It took about 6 mos. and doesn't feel special any more, but it isn't sticky anymore either.

I know this is an old thread but thought it’s still worth a post. Yes Browning will solve the issue of sticky DuraTouch stocks. Yes they are obligated due to a class action lawsuit.
They are very helpful and are doing a great job. They just received my mountain ti and paid for shipping. In my case I am getting a new stock. They say I should get my rifle back in 6-8
weeks due to holiday volume. They will bed my new stock.
This is outstanding to me. Note: they approach different rifles according to the extent of the DuraTouch failure. Some folks have gotten completely new rifles. Some just a refinish. Each case is different. I find their response to this situation to be excellent. I am extremely satisfied and will give an update when I receive my rifle.

This is an update on this thread that I started. About a year after I started this thread, I decided not to deal with Browning to get my 2 X-Bolt stocks replaced, Most likely, if they did replace the stocks, the same thing would happen to the new stocks over a period of time. Plus the hassle of shipping even just the stock out of Romania would be a nightmare. Soooo,
I used paint stripper to strip the rubber coating off of both stocks. I did one stock one day and the other the next day. Yes, it was a chore, but I was very satisfied with the results. After all of the rubber was off, I washed the stocks with brake cleaner and did sponge paint jobs on them with Krylon Fusion camo paints and a matte clear coat. The finish has held up very well to hunting the rifles and I am very happy with the results. I posted a few pics of the stocks. RJ

I did same, stripped the stock set from my Gold myself.

I sent my set to Tarjac and had them dip in same camo as the gun was before.

Didn't want to deal with shipping whole gun and have a different pattern than gun was originally, also didn't want to be without my gun for 6 months.

Was worth the $115 to me. Had I waited until next month it would have saved me 40% as they are running a January special of 40% off of in stock films.

So now I get a recent email from Browning . It said they don’t have a replacement stock and will refinish my original. That’s a change from their first response saying they have a replacement stock and will be putting my rifle in a new one. Lol
No doubt they will resolve my DuraTouch issue- whichever way they ultimately accomplish it. I’m glad they will refinish the original stock because I like my original mossy oak pattern and tones. I will post an update when I get one.

Hopefully the new finish will not eventually turn sticky. With any luck, the Duratouch finish material may be changed to eliminate the problem. RJ

I'm glad I read this thread for future discussing price on used brownings. Rj308, that camo looks great, especially with the stainless metal.

You can also add Benelli's to the list