FOR THE SAKE OF KICKING UP THE DUST!!! too quiet in here!

Well I couldn't help but wonder if any body else gets caught up in the same fifty thousand or so ideas about there rifle as I do...

So I'll risk starting a rant.

I recently refinished the woodies and the ironworks on My PSL. The results at least look ok. Even nice. But there are issues. the wood is fine, it's the irons that aren't so great. I used the "elcheapo" grill paint and it had a surprisingly amazing looking finish but 1. does not hold up to solvents and 2. is not as heat resistant as they claim. So it aint gonna cut it!!!

Now the nagging question.........to blue or not to blue.....
Is it affordable? is it better to use a purpose made coating like alumahide or guncoat? As I understand a coating means losing Your rifle for at least a week due to long cure time. Bluing might take at least this long at the smith and cost a bunch more. then again, nothing beats a great blue!!! At least in terms of outward beauty. But again with the details! If I get her blued I'm gonna have to have someone blast it and buff it! My psl like many has a TON of blems and scratches.

.......................See what I mean?? Any body else get trapped in this type of insanity????

Park it... parkerize is the finish of all the best battle guns I know of. If'n that don't make you happy - then Duracoat over the park (so it has something to adhere to).

I'm old. Being old means that I've seen lots of options. Guns today are still parked because it's easy, cheap and most important - effective.

Park it... parkerize is the finish of all the best battle guns I know of. If'n that don't make you happy - then Duracoat over the park (so it has something to adhere to).

I'm old. Being old means that I've seen lots of options. Guns today are still parked because it's easy, cheap and most important - effective.


I have thought of parking it but I killed the idea. I love the classic 54r (dragunov/romak 3) look. All My favorite photos have a semi gloss look. Although, parked might look wicked with the synthetic set :uhoh_smal ...............

uhggg! yet another idea tossed into the blazing inferno!

Dammit! I think I'm gonna coat it throw a POSP on it and call it good!

then I'll start saving for an M76 :)

I thought about refinishing mine, but i want to keep it original. if anything, ill do the metal. but ill leave the wood alone, if in find another wood set ill refinish it and keep my original set the way it is.

I got lucky, the wood on mine is almost all the exactly the same color and very blonde, and I like it the way it is.

The metal finish blows chunks. I'm going to get mine parked and then either Duracote it or get it ceramic coated (like they do engine headers). If you can ceramic coat pistons, crankshafts, and valves w/o destroying clearances, then a rifle ought to be a piece of cake.

They can do ceramic coating in colors and it leaves a finish as hard as diamond.

I got lucky, the wood on mine is almost all the exactly the same color and very blonde, and I like it the way it is.

The metal finish blows chunks. I'm going to get mine parked and then either Duracote it or get it ceramic coated (like they do engine headers). If you can ceramic coat pistons, crankshafts, and valves w/o destroying clearances, then a rifle ought to be a piece of cake.

They can do ceramic coating in colors and it leaves a finish as hard as diamond.


Nice! Good call! I'll have to look into this. I know ceramic has huge insulation qualities, I wonder if this would retain heat. But it sounds like it would be worth looking into. thanks Wyldman!

The wood on mine was pretty nice out of the box. Color matched and no runs on the finish. But the factory bluing was pretty crappy and thin. So I took it into a local smith and he coated it with flat black Duracoat. I think it looks pretty good.

I had a high performance engine shop for several years and we coated piston and cylinders with ceramics all the time. I loved the stuff and found it to be very durable. The exact same stuff works great on gun barrels. They make it in many colors including a flat black.

One thing to remember. Ceramic coating is a great insulator and will trap heat in the barrel. We actually used it to retain heat inside the engine to get better thermal efficiency.

I got lucky, the wood on mine is almost all the exactly the same color and very blonde, and I like it the way it is.

The metal finish blows chunks. I'm going to get mine parked and then either Duracote it or get it ceramic coated (like they do engine headers). If you can ceramic coat pistons, crankshafts, and valves w/o destroying clearances, then a rifle ought to be a piece of cake.

They can do ceramic coating in colors and it leaves a finish as hard as diamond.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cerama-coat.aspx?a=213611

Does anyone know if this stuff is the same? Price doesn't seem too bad.

Not even close. The ceramic coating I'm talking about is a molecular bonding process that requires an industrial oven.

It's good stuff, but not what I'm referring to.

I have used a product sold by Brownell's with very good success. It is an aerosol epoxy coating called Alumahyde. The catch is you have to heat the metal to at least 100 degF, and be patient. It takes about 2 weeks to fully cure (don't touch the gun for 2 weeks), but the resulting finish is super hard and appears to be impervious to bore cleaning solvents and oils. The metal also needs to be thouroughly cleaned with a strong oil-free solvent such as Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber. It comes in three colors: OD, parkerizing grey, and black. The result is a very clean looking and durable matte finish. I've done two guns with it and it has not chipped or flaked, even around the bore area.
They also have a similar baked-on finish, but I have not tried it for lack of an oven (the wife would not take kindly to me curing epoxy in the kitchen).

I have used a product sold by Brownell's with very good success. It is an aerosol epoxy coating called Alumahyde. The catch is you have to heat the metal to at least 100 degF, and be patient. It takes about 2 weeks to fully cure (don't touch the gun for 2 weeks), but the resulting finish is super hard and appears to be impervious to bore cleaning solvents and oils. The metal also needs to be thouroughly cleaned with a strong oil-free solvent such as Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber. It comes in three colors: OD, parkerizing grey, and black. The result is a very clean looking and durable matte finish. I've done two guns with it and it has not chipped or flaked, even around the bore area.
They also have a similar baked-on finish, but I have not tried it for lack of an oven (the wife would not take kindly to me curing epoxy in the kitchen).
Just throw it in the oven and tell her to suck it!LOL