Refinish AR15 components at home?

[Underwhere]

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to refinish a muzzle brake after welding?

The barrel is parkerized but the brake is blued.

Do people just hit it with some spray paint? Something else?

The welded part is currently polished.

 

[KMM696]

Corny name, but Evapo-Rust will remove the bluing.

I tried Brownells version first, but Lauers parkerizing worked better for me. I'm not sure if the manganese or zinc parkerizing would be closer to the barrel - call Lauer. The parkerizing may not match the barrels exactly, but after some oil on both they should be pretty close. It might even work on the weld bead. I'd block the barrel with a dowel - the rifling doesn't need to be rougher.

If you have a gunsmith in your neighborhood who does parkerizing, it shouldn't be that expensive a job. I haven't seen a paint that matches the appearance of parkerizing, but if you were willing to paint everything with a matte Duracoat, that would work well, too.

 

[Underwhere]

Corny name, but Evapo-Rust will remove the bluing.

I tried Brownells version first, but Lauers parkerizing worked better for me. I'm not sure if the manganese or zinc parkerizing would be closer to the barrel - call Lauer. The parkerizing may not match the barrels exactly, but after some oil on both they should be pretty close. It might even work on the weld bead. I'd block the barrel with a dowel - the rifling doesn't need to be rougher.

If you have a gunsmith in your neighborhood who does parkerizing, it shouldn't be that expensive a job. I haven't seen a paint that matches the appearance of parkerizing, but if you were willing to paint everything with a matte Duracoat, that would work well, too.

So after the Lauer can you just leave it as is? It'll be a gray sort of parkerized finish?

Or are you supposed to refinish it with something.

 

[Kenny474]

I would go with Dura-Coat. Or even Dura-Heat if you do extended shooting sessions and heat your barrel above 500deg.F. Dura-Coat sprays on like paint, and is super durable. It comes in over 100 colors, so I'm sure you can match it up close. It also protects metal better than parkerizing. It will also be easier than mixing and heating solution, and probably safer too. If you want make the fix undetectable, just do the whole barrel. It won't be any harder and will probably look better in the end than if you parkerized it. Check out this web-site and see what you think, then decide for yourself what is best for you.
http://www.houtsenterprises.net/index.html

 

[Underwhere]

I would go with Dura-Coat. Or even Dura-Heat if you do extended shooting sessions and heat your barrel above 500deg.F. Dura-Coat sprays on like paint, and is super durable. It comes in over 100 colors, so I'm sure you can match it up close. It also protects metal better than parkerizing. It will also be easier than mixing and heating solution, and probably safer too. If you want make the fix undetectable, just do the whole barrel. It won't be any harder and will probably look better in the end than if you parkerized it. Check out this web-site and see what you think, then decide for yourself what is best for you.
http://www.houtsenterprises.net/index.html

Thanks for the suggestion. I've toyed with the idea of duracoat for a while but never done it.

I've sort of lost the passion for spraying and it's also rather unhealthy to breath crap in.

Parkerizing in a heated solution sounds good to me cause I can literally just dip the muzzle brake into the solution and do just the brake itself.

Imagine going into my kitchen with an M4 pointed muzzle down on the stove

 

[KMM696]

So after the Lauer can you just leave it as is? It'll be a gray sort of parkerized finish?

Or are you supposed to refinish it with something.

It will be a grey parkerized finish which may not exactly match the barrel, but will be in the same neighborhood. Different steels and different formulas will leave a slightly different finish. It will need oil, Lauer does sell a post treatment oil that works well, or whatever you have on hand. Parkerizing makes a nice base for paints like Duracoat to grab on to, as well. The directions will recommend sandblasting before parkerizing - I've had pretty good results on small parts like this with a steel bristle brush instead when I didn't want to set up the blaster for one part.

The Evapo-Rust bluing & rust remover is great stuff. Non-toxic, water based, easy to dispose of. It doesn't like being frozen, but it still works afterward.

 

[Underwhere]

It will be a grey parkerized finish which may not exactly match the barrel, but will be in the same neighborhood. Different steels and different formulas will leave a slightly different finish. It will need oil, Lauer does sell a post treatment oil that works well, or whatever you have on hand. Parkerizing makes a nice base for paints like Duracoat to grab on to, as well. The directions will recommend sandblasting before parkerizing - I've had pretty good results on small parts like this with a steel bristle brush instead when I didn't want to set up the blaster for one part.

The Evapo-Rust bluing & rust remover is great stuff. Non-toxic, water based, easy to dispose of. It doesn't like being frozen, but it still works afterward.

So...after parkerizing you need to oil it? Why would you oil a finish? I'm confused.

 

[KMM696]

So...after parkerizing you need to oil it? Why would you oil a finish? I'm confused.

Parkerizing is a manganese or zinc phosphate coating that's formed on the underlying steel. It does provide a little better corrosion resistance than bluing by itself, but it's real advantage is that the roughness of the parkerizing gives oil a great surface to soak in and stick to. This is the typical finish method from WW II era firearms, or M16 barrels and front sight bases. It doesn't truly seal off steel from corrosion - that's the oils job.

The advantage to the home shop is that it can be done with little investment in chemicals and equipment. There are better finishes out now, but they are a lot more expensive to get into. For a home applied corrosion proof finish, the best bet is going to be one of the spray on, or spray and bake coatings like Duracoat or Gun-Kote. This bumps up the equipment and chemicals needed, of course. The aerosol cans are probably the way to go for occasional home use, although you still have vapor isssues. The only hazard in the phosphating process is the 180 degree phosporic acid bath, which isn't that difficult to deal with.

 

[Underwhere]

Hmmm. Maybe I'll look into duracoat. I wanted to build a 2 tone AR anyway

 

[skol]

Good link for duracoat : http://www.lauerweaponry.com/item-d...mage=ezkit.gif&CFID=35402902&CFTOKEN=23689010

 

[Remsport Mfg]

File off the weld clean the area with a good solvent and cold blue with any of the cold bluing products on the market. Once the bluing dries wipe the area with gun oil. I have been pining and welding muzzle devices for years and this is how I have finished them.

 

[Kenny474]

So what did you decide to go with? I am curious to see the finished product! If you have it done post some pics.
Kenny

 

[Underwhere]

i have lauers manganese parkerizing solution on the way

 

[Underwhere]

File off the weld clean the area with a good solvent and cold blue with any of the cold bluing products on the market. Once the bluing dries wipe the area with gun oil. I have been pining and welding muzzle devices for years and this is how I have finished them.

Thanks for the advice.