Predator Wild Forum: How to Camo Paint Your Rifle and Make it Look Great - Predator Wild Forum

I just painted my entire rifle. I figured I would post it so everyone could check it out. If you are interested in doing your rifle, I posted a "how to" somewhere on this site. You could also pm for more details.

View this thread so you can see other people's work, Here is the link for my post with the photos attached. If you have problems with the link it is under the tutorial section.



For anyone who wants to paint their rifles similar to mine this is how I did it. Let me start with before and after photos.












As you can see the matte black and tanned leather sling stands out like a sore thumb.


First go out and get some paint and colors you want to use. I used a paint by krylon. It has not chipped our scratched off. You can buy it from wal mart and I saw it at Pepboys.








I used a corn husk broom for a template. Take some of the broom fibers and cut them from the broom. Fan them out and then tape them together.













Practice on cardboard prior to trying it on your gear. Paint your base color on your gear. Refer to the site posted by SpokaneSlayer for masking and painting instructions. I only painted my stock, so I removed the barrel. Once your base coat is down, lay your taped corn husks down and lightly spray over them. You will get the hang of it really easy. Let it dry. Move the template and spray another coat of a different color. Continue to add layers with different colors until you get the desired look. Remember to let the paint dry in between layers. Your templates will have to be replaced after so many layers. The paint starts to build up on them pretty quick.

Here are the steps on a piece of cardboard. I took all of two minutes so it looks pretty crappy, but it will help.


















Pratice on cardboard and maybe some pvc pipe you may have laying around the house. Dont read this and then attack your rifle.

Start with buying the paint. I used what is in the photo. It is Krylon camo paint with fusion. The base color is up to your preference. I used the kakhi tan as a base coat. Look at the post by Spokane Slayer (For all you camo painters), there is a link on how to prep, tape and apply paint to your gun. That will take care of the base coat prepping.

Next you see the broom that I have used. Look carefully on both sides of the broom. You can see where I had cut off the fibers for my template. Then look at the photo below the broom. You dont have to count the fibers per bundle for the template. Spread them out and tape together. If you want a lot of the next color to bleed through them spread them thin. If you dont want alot of the other color to bleed through make them thick.

After the base coat is down and dried, then you are ready to add another color. The stock of my rifle has Tan, Olive, and an earth brown. The barrel only has the tan base coat tan with Olive over it. I like the tan and olive only better. I might re-do my stock.

Lay your template over the rifle or stock. You can overlap if you want. Make sure your next color is shaken up well. When you apply your second color start at the tape and work your way up. When you hit it with the paint do it in one motion and fast. It should take all of a 1/2 second. Then you target the area right next to where you applied the first coat. Hit that the same way.

When you have painted the area where your templates are, be careful removing your templates. Remember the paint is still wet, and there should be some build up on the templates. Lift them straight up.

Allow some time for the templates to dry up a bit, 10 to 15 mins. Repeat the process until complete. When you are ready to do the areas that are not done, I.E. the top and bottom of the barrel. You will need to hold the templates and hit it with paint.

---

Holy crap that is awesome! That is the best camo job I have seen. That would be perfect for the stuff around here.
I'd love to do my tikka but don't think I have the skills.
Would you want to do another? How much would you charge to do one?

Nice work.

aquaelvis, on Feb 8 2008, 10:35 AM, said:

I wont charge anything. Check out the post I did on How to. It is super easy believe it or not. After reviewing that post, let me know if you have anymore question.

The how to part is in the "For all you camo painters" thread written by Spokane Slayer. I put some photos with all the equipment needed to do it. Check out the link SS attached for preping and applying paint. ---- > http://www.predatorw...&...ost&p=31922


If you still dont think you could do it, we could arrange something.

This post has been edited by Cranky Farmer: 09 February 2008 - 04:43 PM

First go out and get some paint and colors you want to use. I used a paint by krylon. It has not chipped our scratched off. You can buy it from wal mart and I saw it at Pepboys.




I used a corn husk broom for a templete. Take some of the broom fibers and cut them from the broom. Fan them out and then tape them together.







Practice on cardboard prior to trying it on your gear. Paint your base color on your gear. Refer to the site posted by spokaneslyer for masking and painting instructions. I only painted my stock, so I removed the barrel. Once your base coat is down, lay your taped corn husks down and lightly spray over them. You will get the hang of it really easy. Let it dry. Move the templete and spray another coat of a different color. Continue to add layers with different colors until you get the desired look. Remember to let the paint dry in between layers. Your templetes will have to be replaced after so many layers. The paint starts to build up on them pretty quick.

Here are the steps on a piece of cardboard. I took all of two minutes so it looks pretty crappy, but it will help.












Shoot me a PM if you have any questions.

I bought the stuff for an el cheapo e-caller today. I need to get some paint and a box for it this weekend and I want to try to camo the whole set-up. (going to try and use a small tool box with a cut out for the horn out the end) Maybe if that comes out OK I can try my gun.

Right now I have a couple hours of freedom... off to get a yote!

This post has been edited by aquaelvis: 08 February 2008 - 03:00 PM

What color you you start with? Take me through it if you don't mind.
I start by painting it all a base color right?
Then I lay some of the broom fibers down and spray over them? How many, what colors, etc. If you could shed more light on the details that would be awesome. (I did not PM you about it because I thought the info might help others)

That is some amazing work my friend.

Did you put any finish "Protective" coat over the paint?

nice job!

It sure looks good up close, too.

Great job on the rifle. Like CF said, it looks even better up close. If I get bored today, I may have to do the CZ!!

aquaelvis, on Feb 8 2008, 06:52 PM, said:

Pratice on cardboard and maybe some pvc pipe you may have laying around the house. Dont read this and then attack your rifle.

Start with buying the paint. I used what is in the photo. It is Krylon camo paint with fushon. The base color is up to your prefence. I used the kakhi tan as a base coat. Look at the post by Spokane Slayer (For all you camo painters), there is a link on how to prep, tape and apply paint to your gun. That will take care of the base coat preping.

Next you see the broom that I have used. Look carefully on both sides of the broom. You can see where I had cut off the fibers for my template. Then look at the photo below the broom. You dont have to count the fibers per bundle for the templete. Spread them out and tape together. If you want alot of the next color to bleed through them spread them thin. If you dont want alot of the other color to bleed through make them thick.

After the base coat is down and dried, then you are ready to add another color. Aqaelvis you probably hunt the same semi desert terrian I do. The stock of my rifle has Tan, Olive, and an earth brown. The barrel only has the tan base coat tan with Olive over it. I like the tan and olive only better. I might re-do my stock.

Lay your templated over the rifle or stock. You can overlap if you want. Make sure your next color is shaken up well. When you apply your second color start at the tape and work your way up. When you hit it with the paint do it in one motion and fast. It should take all of a 1/2 second. Then you target the area right next to where you applied the first coat. Hit that the same way.

When you have painted the area where your templates are, becareful removing your templates. Remember the paint is still wet, and there should be some build up on the templetes. Lift them straight up.

Allow some time for the templetes to dry up a bit, 10 to 15 mins. Repeat the process until complete. When you are ready to do the areas that are not done, I.E. the top and bottom of the barrel. You will need to hold the templetes and hit it with paint.

Anymore question P.M. and I will give you a call to better describe.

Jersey Boi, on Feb 9 2008, 12:49 PM, said:

arent you suppose to be hunting????????

omartish, on Feb 9 2008, 02:08 PM, said:

didn't happen, some stuff came up. Thought I was gonna head to Bass Pro tomorrow with Shady Farmer, but he's got even more spooning to do. What really sux, is I was within 5 miles of Bass pro for 3 days in a row, and was never able to make it over there.

Gee, Thanks alot! I'd just convinced myself that I didn't want to try to paint one of my rigs and screw it up but now I just have to try it. Your gun looks awsome. I'll be happy if mine looks half that good. Looks like the ol' ladys broom is about to come up missing.

clampdaddy, on Feb 9 2008, 04:24 PM, said:

I hear there has been a rash of broom thefts up in your neck of the woods!

Thanks for the reply. I played around today with my new e-caller. It came out OK, not great. I did not have a good broom, used what I had. (short plastic one w/ wife yelling at me)
I learned a lot on this, looking forward to trying more stuff then maybe my rifle.
 IMG_4688.JPG (42.71K)
Number of downloads: 66

That looks pretty darn good.

Jersey Boi, on Feb 9 2008, 03:14 PM, said:

Shady Farmer it cracks me up everytime I hear it. I think Im going to hit the bass pro on my way up next time. More spooning? preparing the wife for next weekend

clampdaddy, on Feb 9 2008, 04:24 PM, said:

If you have an old pellet gun laying around try that first. It is very simple, check out the box that Aquaelvis just did. Not bad.

aquaelvis, on Feb 9 2008, 05:34 PM, said:

Dude it looks great, I would throw some darker brown in there and it should be perfect. Tell the wife Im sorry for what I have started.

This post has been edited by omartish: 09 February 2008 - 10:02 PM

I gave it a shot and I think it came out pretty good. Thanks for the broom bristle stencil idea!

This post has been edited by Cranky Farmer: 10 February 2008 - 04:57 PM

That rifle looks awsome. Be careful gents, camouflaging is almost as addicting as hunting coyotes.

wonderful job...how long was the drying time between the coats ?....and how many coats of paint.

jim mowdy, on Feb 13 2008, 10:59 PM, said:

The paint drys pretty fast, but if you only let it sit for about 15 min it may cause you problems. The base coat has about three light coats. I sprayed one side of the gun let it sit for about 30 and hit the other side of the gun. If I was thinking straight when I did it, I would have hung it to spray the base coat. Trail by error. If you have time let it sit longer, around an hour. It wont hurt.

Let me know how it turns out. Looks like everyone will have camoed guns for next season. Except Jersey Boi, I'm going to buy some pink duracoat.

You went and did it now! I've been running around, camoing all my hunting gear that needs it. Good thing I mostly but stuff that's already camoed otherwise the paint bill would be outta control.

omartish, on Feb 14 2008, 01:07 AM, said:

Don't make a promise you can't keep....

Those are some fantastic looking rifles, gents! Rae, when you doing the 17 Remington?

Nice Job. I will post some of mine tomorrow.

Any more newly painted rifles out there?

Cranky,

You asked for pics, so here goes. Took the plunge this weekend after reading the post and camo painted my son's bike helmet first then jumped right in on my stainless LH Tikka T3 light. I was amazed how simple it was and how happy I am with the results. Plan on bead blasting the bolt and doing it up with cerakote. Thanks for the great tutorial that allowed me to get it done.

Be well,

Mark

Omartish,

Thanks for the great tutorial that gave me the nudge.....trouble is now that I see how simple it is, I am looking at everything as a possible camo project.

Thanks again,

Mark

This post has been edited by Mark Roe: 19 May 2008 - 07:41 AM

I just recently started to camo my brush shotgun, an old Mossberg model 500. I've got the base layer of tan down and will start the actual camo process soon. Pictures to follow.