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Gunsmithing Cerakoting barreled action - oil bleed out?

Waorani

Crusty Caballero
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 14, 2017
2,941
4,383
Greenbow, AL
About to try my hand at cerakoting a barreled R700 action. Do folks have problems w/ thread lube seeping out during the bake?
 
It does happen, if its bad take a map torch and you can heat around it some.
 
Yes I have had it even after 2 or 3 baths most of the time it has not Hurt The finish it didn't bleed out until finish was dry
 
I've done 2 of my rifles and didn't like the thought of oil possibly bleeding out under the finish as it cured. One took 4 soaks with bake the other 5 till there was no more oil bleed out.
 
Thanks all. With multiple acetone soaks/bakes any concerns about leaching all lube out of the threads or am I over thinking?
 
I chased one all day, soak/gas repeat. Finally pulled the barrel and it was GTG after I cleaned it manualy
 
I've made a female spud for threading the barrel into and hanging it for shooting and heating in the curing oven. Made another male spud for the action, same concept. I made both in such a way that when the barrel and action are screwed into their respective spuds, the spuds block paint/cerakote spray from getting on the lugs, threads, breachface, etc. You really do want to separate the barrel and action and clean & spray them individually. My latest builds have been Bighorn TL-2's which are stainless actions, the barrels are Bartleins and Kreigers, also stainless. Because of both materials being stainless, I put a light coat of anti-seize on the barrel threads to make sure the threads don't gall up and seize/lock in place. All that and any grease/oil needs to be cleaned off before spraying. Cerakote doesn't really require any special surface cleaning/prep, all paint is unforgiving of poor surface prep. 80% of a good paint job is the prep, 20% is shooting/handling.
 
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I've made a female spud for threading the barrel into and hanging it for shooting and heating in the curing oven. Made another spud for the action, same concept. I made both in such a way that when the barrel and action are screwed into their respective spuds, the spuds block paint/cerakote spray from getting on the lugs, threads, breachface, etc. You really do want to separate the barrel and action and clean & spray them individually. My latest builds have been Bighorn TL-2's which are stainless actions, the barrels are Bartleins and Kreigers, also stainless. Because of both materials being stainless, I put a light coat of anti-seize on the barrel threads to make sure the threads don't gall up and seize/lock in place. All that and any grease/oil needs to be cleaned off before spraying. Cerakote doesn't really require any special surface cleaning/prep, all paint is unforgiving of poor surface prep. 80% of a good paint job is the prep, 20% is shooting/handling.

I made the same 'spuds' as described above, dead barrels work great. I lop em off at 10 inches or so and thread the muzzle end for a hanger. 1.200 and 1.250
Made the same tenon caps for painting loose barrels with a threaded hanger for the muzzle
 
Happens more than I like to think about...fortunately, when the bleed out occurred, the coating must have been far enough into the cure phase to be unaffected ( as was mentioned above)- it would wipe off once cleaned up.

IMO, for commercial applicators it would be very difficult to maintain competitive pricing if one were to put indexing marks on barreled actions, pull the barrels, plug them, then re-assemble and check headspace after coating.
 
On a similar note, I had a Winchester barreled action come through my shop that had a bolt that wouldn't quit bleeding oil/grease no matter what I did to it.
Turns out there was porosity in the casting,,,into the heated sonic cleaner it went. Problem solved.
Sonic cleaners that will hold a barreled action are spendy though.
 
Have any of you tried the air dry, I have a barrel that i would rather keep on.
The firearm is shooting nice right now just want to cover the ss barrel.
 
If you soak and gas out at the recommended 300 degrees till no oil seeps out, then you shouldn't have problems at the 250 degree curing temp. Some parts are a bitch...... the last shotgun I did took forever.....mainly the vent rib on the barrel. As said above, a propane torch is handy for troublesome parts. Just keep the flame moving and don't overheat.
 
3hrs @ 125... then increase your temp to 250 for an hr. any seep will wipe right off. for disney colors, which the anti-seize may stain (moly based products will stain), invert the assembly using copper wire through the barrel or leave overnight at the lower temp.
 
My opinion so temper accordingly.

1. Shitcan the Acetone. That stuff makes your kids come out crooked. Nasty crap. Find a race/hot rod shop that sells methanol. Pennies on the dollar for what you pay for acetone and it works just as well. Better in some ways. It'll last longer, it pulls water from parts like a mo fo, and it's not going to make your hands look like they spent the day at the Hiroshima nail salon.

2. Dawn soap and elbow grease. I know CK states to avoid water. I call BS on it. We hand wash everything in the sink first. Never been an issue in 5+ years. Water is nature's natural solvent. Break its surface tension (which is all that soap really does) and it'll remove darn near anything.

3. Once it heads to the sink, be wearing gloves. Wire up your shit before hand and from that moment forward, have your hands sterile with nitrile gloves.

4. If you are a full service shop doing machine work as well, consider the transition to water based coolants. Best move I ever made. No oil in, no oil out.

Good luck.

C.
 
I started using non-chlorinated brake cleaner instead of acetone the last 2 batch's. Not as nasty, does a great job.
Tried methanol as did 2 other local guys,,,,not so great IMHO. Maybe with the water prep it works, but not by itself