Gunsmithing Sharing a couple of Builds

[dakor]

Here are some builds I have done over the last couple of months I thought I would share.
The first one I call the before and after project. This rifle was an old 30/06 that I turned into a 6.5-284 for myself. Notice the length of pull they added to the stock I could barely even get any sight picture at all through the scope. I had my cousin try look through it who is 6’ 5” and built like a Sasquatch and he even had a hard time getting a sight picture.
The before.

The After.

I used the original wood stock and installed a new recoil pad along with pillar bedding it and painting it with a stone finish. I also Cerakoted all the metal and I polished the bolt body. The Receiver was trued and I used a Brux Barrel along with a Sunny Hill recoil lug.

 

[dakor]

This Build was for my dad and started out as an old 270 that I made into a 6.5-284. I bedded it in a Bell & Carlson stock along with polishing the bolt and Cerakoting all the metal. The Receiver was trued and I used a Brux Barrel along with a Sunny Hill recoil lug.

I also re Cerakoted my 375 Rum that I built last year and polished the bolt body.

 

[Monolith]

Very nice


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cshann55]

They all look great.
Was the "stone finish" rattle canned? If so it looks fantastic. I have been thinking about doing that myself on a couple of old rifles i have around. Spruce them up a bit...

 

[Killswitch Engage]

Very nice work

 

[dakor]

Thank you. The stock was painted with Valspar stone paint and clear coat they both come in a spray can. I have been using this stuff for 10 + years and it is very tough, has lots of grip, and is very easy to touch up.

 

[BillyGoatMachine]

Very nice. What do you use to stamp the caliber and info on the barrel?

 

[dakor]

Thank you. I use a personalizer plus and I use stencils from Lectroetch Lectroetch Stencils A couple on members on here recommended the perosnalizer plus and the Lectroetch stencils to me and I am glad they did. The unit and stencils work great.

 

[Straight Shooter]

To removing Cerakote from a bolt, how much metal had to be removed to get under the blasted surface. What does the bolt body measure now?

 

[dakor]

To removing Cerakote from a bolt, how much metal had to be removed to get under the blasted surface. What does the bolt body measure now?

I am not following your question about removing metal? When you blast and Cerakote you are adding surface area to the work piece so when you polish the work piece to remove the blasting and Cerakote to get back down to the original surface you are not really removing any metal. I measured the bolt body and it measures .695 I also measured another bolt in a factory gun that has nothing done to it and it measures .693.

 

[Straight Shooter]

When you bast steel or any surface with aluminum oxide you need to use sufficient pressure to texture the metal. The bits of aluminum oxide actually gouge into the metal and displace it forming the peaks and valleys that allows the Cerakote to bite into. Like hitting steel with a center punch. It pushed up the metal around the center depression. This is learned when you get certified. Through scientific testing NIC found that the optimal surface profile is achieved with 100-120 grit aluminum oxide or garnet abrasive driven at about 100 psi. Harder materials need more pressure. Softer needs less but the depth needs to be right. The ceramic filled epoxy fills these valleys and locks mechanically into the surface. Too deep of pits and the Cerakote will not cover the peaks, too shallow and it doesn't have enough to bite. This way when the wear comes along it can scrub and expose the small peaks but wares more on the ceramic structure of the Cerakote. This is why the blast process is the real key to Cerakotes durability. This is why I tell my customers the coating is only as tough as the surface it's applied to. To wear or scratch it you have to cut the base material deeper than the Cerakote. You can dent or bend it all you want but until you actually cut under it the Cerakote remains intact.

Now to remove all traces of the Cerakote you will have to remove the surface to the depth of the bottom of the surface profile. To polish off a center punch mark you have to grind the surrounding area down to equal or deeper than the bottom of the pit.

If your part is not reduced in size once the Cerakote is removed, it was never put on right to begin with.

 

[Killswitch Engage]

Well, there you have it dakor. Don't cerakote a damn thing again until you're fully certified and bonafide.

Cerakote is great stuff and has great wear properties but it will wear off much like any other finish. Especially at the edges,corners and radius of metals. Benchrest and f class guys would probably never know this but tac and field shooters surely do cause their stuff sees all kinds of tougher stuff then cerakote like concrete barricades, rocks, sand, granite, steel to name a few.

Its a good protection barrier but not the end all.

 

[dakor]

Since you do not know me from Adam I will share some of my background before I get into how I apply the coating. In 2006 I started applying Duracoat on mine and my friend’s firearms. I started using Cerakote in 2007 and by 2009 the Hobby became a part time business. People ask me why I wanted to start coating firearms. I worked in an Auto body shop part time for 2 years when I was a teenager and started out sweeping the floors there along with sanding, stripping paint and spraying primer. Basically any grunt job no one wanted I was the one who did it. By the end of my 2 years I was allowed to paint a few cars and I do not think I am an expert I did pick up a few things along the way. I love working with firearms so why not take some of what I learned in auto body and dress them up a little? Plus I hate bluing it is a piss poor finish in my book and anything that can rust and pit from your hands just touching it is not what I call a protective finish.

When I coat a piece or firearm I strip the parts down and hit it with brake cleaner to remove most of the grease and grime. The part then goes into Acetone for 5 hours and once it is removed from the Acetone it is hung to dry and once dry it hits the oven for 1 ½ hours at 250 degrees. I do this to burn off any oil or grease that might be left. After baking the parts are inspected for any signs of grease or oil residue if there is any residue the acetone and oven process are repeated. I am wearing a fresh clean pair of powder free vinyl gloves when I am touching parts after being degreased.

Once everything is degreased it goes to the blast cabinet and hit with 100grit Aluminum Oxide at 110 PSI. The Aluminum oxide is changed regularly to avoid dust off and I use 100 grit instead of 120 because I feel 120 breaks down too quickly. When I am done blasting there is no sheen to the part and the parts are blown off and hung and I spray the coating and then put in the oven at 250 for 2 hours. As for blasting you are giving the work piece tooth and surface area but you do realize that it is happening at a small scale right? If you are spraying Cerakote 1mil (.001) thick as they suggest on your work piece and it fills the voids created by blasting then that would mean the depth of valleys would be less than 1 mil or .001 inch’s right? So when you remove the Cerakote you are not removing much metal at maybe .001 of an inch if you polish the bolt like I did.

 

[ugsly]

They look good dakor cerakote is great stuff & not rocket science to spray as some may think. I applied it for a year before I took a class to get certified. The class just confirmed that everything I was doing was correct. Keep up the great work dakor.

Casey

 

[dakor]

Thank you for the kind words.