Re: 1st shot at duracoat...and so it begins
Here are all the parts removed from the rifle. I then used Birchwood Casey rust/blue remover on the parts that I wanted to refinish. This is a time consuming process and needs to be done in a well ventilated area. You will also need some steel wool. I would also recommend latex gloves or something of that nature.
This is the magazine tube after it was stripped of the blue/rust.
These are the barrel bands. 1 for the stock and 1 for the mag tube. These have also been stripped of blue/rust.
Here we have the bottom of the reciever/barrel assembly. I was trying to show how much rust was inside the reciever, but you can't really see it. I don't think this gun was ever cleaned! The nice thing about it was that it was all surface and there were no pits or anything of that nature.
now this one you can see the surface rust amount on this rifle. I'm pretty sure that this was behind the seat of some farm truck for coyotes or something.
pics of the barrel prior to stripping everything off. There was some minor pitting on the barrel. Mostly where the barrel and edge of forearm met.Still not bad though.
Okay important part of the equation. Lauer Trustrip. I have read that alot of guys just use brake cleaner and that's fine, but since this was my first, I bought their stuff. This is what duracoat recommends. It's not cheap, but it's not bad. $12 from Midway. Duracoat was only $17 so I'm still in good shape.
Okay here is all the small parts after being stripped. The remover was simply applied with a Q-tip and then hit with a dampened steel wool pad. This was the directions on the bottle!
OK well here we have the receiver/barrel assembly just prior to shooting with duracoat. Their instructions say that blasting is best, however, I did not do this step. I was cheap on that, but was later reminded that a friend has a blasting cabinet! Anyhow, I followed directions again and used a scotch-brite pad on all the items. They were then wiped down with the Trustrip just prior to actually being coated.
I used a small HVLP paint gun that I have to spray the duracoat. It worked out very well.
Here are some of the small parts after the coating was done. Yes it was sprayed outside on a box! I was advised by a friend that duracoat does not like anything silicone in the same room with it while it's being used and that it could effect the adhesion. Since I had recently used rubbing compound on a buffer to buff out knife handle scales, I figured I wouldn't take any chances. Besides it was a nice day!
These are both sides of the coated receiver/barrel after the coating was dried enough to handle. I took some other pictures of the process, but apparently I did not have the camera set right, as they turned out very dark and not usable. Anyhow, I simply tied a small string around an inside section of the reciever and hung it up to coat. I also placed a peice of brass in the chamber and a bullet in the muzzle to keep from getting duracoat inside these places. It worked out very well. I also hung the lever up to shoot it.
Now with all that said, I did have to touch up somethings when I was done. Mostly because I got in too big of a hurry and flipped small parts over to soon. Not a problem, because I later realized that I completely forgot to coat the magazine tube!
Overall I'd say that this is a very simple process and that it went very well for my first time. I apologize for not being more thorough, I wish I would have been for everybodies sake. I will post the rifle when reassembled and everybody can beat me into the ground for not doing this or that properly.
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