Birchwood Casey products

[Alex9661]

I'm looking for an advice on Birchwood Casey products. I need to touch up couple of AR lowers and the place on the upper where the buyo lug used to be before I cut off this baby killing piece. What's the difference between Perma Blue, Super Blue, liquid, paste, etc. ? What would you recommend based on your experience ? Any tips or tricks ?

 

[KMM696]

Sure - Perma Blue, in any of it's incarnations, is designed for steel, not the aluminum your lower is made of. It will work on the steel where the bayonet lug used to be. Since the steel of the front sight base is parkerized, not blued it won't be a perfect match, but if you leave the cut surface somewhat rough (ie, not polished) the cold blue will be close enough. I've had better luck with Brownells cold blue products than Birchwood Casey, but if all you want it for is hiding the missing lug, its good enough.

Their Aluminum Black works okay on scratches, not so well on larger areas that need covering. I tried it, then started using a black Sharpie, and then stopped caring if my ARs are scratched. You can get the receiver reanodized, but it's not cheap, and you run the risk of small dimensionial changes to the parts.

 

[dnepro-mike]

Anodizing used commercially are type 1 and 2 less often type 3
with thickens ranging from 0.5 μm to 150 μm which is 0.00002" to 0.006"
150 μm being the thickest you can find.
realistically you probably will have hard time finding any guns coated with type 3 thicker than 25-30 μm

the thicker coating you want to get on the more expensive it'll be. and very thick coatings (around 50μm and above) require elaborate setup and proccess control with high voltage and super chilled acid solution in special refrigerated tanks.
these generally used for aerospace industry not for your average run of the mill AR receiver

 

[KMM696]

I was more concerned with the other direction in a reanodizing job - cleaning up the receiver too aggressively and losing too much material before it goes back in the tank. At that point any dimensional gains from anodizing will be in the right direction, but won't be enough to make up for hamfisted media blasting.

 

[dnepro-mike]

well, one would assume that place that does anodizing on guns would be aware of things like part tolerances. one would hope they use glass bead to strip old stuff or chemical strip to avoid unwanted dimensional changes.

although i'm not concerned with any of my ARs about the state of ano-finish. once it's worn, i'm painting it with cerracoat/gunkote/duracoat etc...
AR receivers these days cost less than professional refinishing of such receiver. frankly it's cheaper to buy a new one than mess with the problems old one my have.
welcome to 'disposable age'

 

[KMM696]

I wish I shared your confidence in refinishers abilities, but a couple of reanodized preban lowers I looked at have convinced me to always bring a set of pin guages before buying.

Those are the only ones possibly worth refinishing - but not to me. Now it's a warning flag. I would rather find a beat up, unmolested preban lower than anything refinished. I start wondering what the refinished one is hiding.

Which brings me back to "Why do I live in MA?" again.

 

[dnepro-mike]

i ask myself same question, almost every day. problem is I know the answer

 

[bfm]

i ask myself same question, almost every day. problem is I know the answer

Well? Don't keep us in suspense.



Will mention that Aluma hyde did a good job for me.

 

[dnepro-mike]

Well? Don't keep us in suspense.

EMPLOYMENT

 

[KMM696]

EMPLOYMENT

+1.....damnit