Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Aluma-Hyde II

I'm considering ordering this product to coat and provide protection for a shotgun "truck gun".

Does it work well in your experience? What do I need to know?

https://www.brownells.com/tools-cleaning/paint-metal-prep/paint-finishing/aluma-hyde-ii/

It works but it's not as durable as Duracoat Jackass or Cerakote. Any way you look at it, preparation is key.

I painted a SS barrel that was too shiny for me with it a couple years ago on my elk rifle and it has held up really well. Very happy with it. Better than expected.

Dinny said it best:

Preparation is the key.

kwg

Is there a product that works best for prep?

I've used it on gunstocks (fiberglass) and it's held up very well.

An acetone bath or denatured alcohol sprayed liberally after bead blasting and blowing it off with compressed air. Even then, it wouldn't hurt to preheat the metal a time or two with degreasings in between.

It has to be bead blasted?

Doesn't have to be. The blasting gives the surface a "tooth" for the coating to adhere to. As opposed to a slick surface.

Good stuff, IMO. I've used it on several firearms as well as on stocks and it has held up well. I even put it on my rear hitch area on my F250 that was starting to form rust and bubble up the paint. I stripped it, cleaned it up, degreased it, and sprayed it on. It is still holding up after a decade or more of constant sun, snow, rain, exposure.

It would appear that Brownells cannot ship it across the border.

It's flammable and might start a fire.

Duracoat for the win. I’ve used it and it’s good stuff. I used an air brush but they do have spray cans.

Plus they ship to Canada

https://www.duracoatfirearmfinishes.com/default.asp

CANADA Customers: DuraCoat can only be shipped via UPS. UPS only ships to physical addresses, no PO Boxes. Ground and Air shipping options are available to most areas. PLEASE NOTE: UPS will charge brokerage fees and duties on your shipment that will be due when you receive the package.

Yep

Glass bead blast

If you want a matte surface on unfinished metal, by all means use glass beads but if you want a coating finish to adhere to metal, I would use aluminum oxide or garnet sand. You may not see the difference with the naked eye, but glass beading simply dulls down or "peans" the metal surface where sand actually roughs the surface up and creates small pit-type irregularites that enables a mechanical lock with the coating material when it cures.

As to fiberglass, kevlar, and carbon fiber epoxy-based composite stocks, I would never sand blast the exterior. Tape off all the interior areas, and with foam-backed, flexible sanding blocks very gently sand the existing finish with 80-100-120 grit paper. Allow the soft pads to follow the existing surface contour - in this instance hard-backed sanding blocks will create unwanted flats on curved areas. The point is to leave a slightly roughened surface, not something ultra-smooth. The course surface is best for epoxy-based cover coats to adhere to.

Never sand blast a stock. This can weaken or actually blast soft spots and holes in composite stock surfaces, especially those with hollow core, structual-foam interiors. Likewise, the use of acetone is not recommended as it will penetrate to subsurface, structural resin layers and can weaken fiberglass and polyester resins, as well as some epoxy variants. Instead, clean and degrease the surface with denatured/fuel alcohol or good quality lacquer thinner prior to the re-coat application. Never apply any kind of primer, paint, or other material between the final cleaning and the application of duracoat or cerakote finishes - if you do you're simplty defeating the purpose of the process.