• Mossberg Owners is in the process of upgrading the software. Please bear with us while we transition to the new look and new upgraded software.

Advice on applying a finish

Rossignol

Rossignol

The Original Sheriff
Global Moderator
Sponsor
Moderator
Its been a crazy busy last few weeks. It's been an expensive last few weeks. It's been a broke down vehicles and trying to figure out how to get everyone to work every day kinda last few weeks. In all that, my older daughter has graduated and we're also trying to take care of maintenance here at home so we can have her graduation party here. Very stressful. But it's all coming together and will soon be over.

The point in all this is that it looks like I can relax a little here in another week or so and I kinda want a small project to help me unwind a little, hopefully without any more interruptions from emergencies! Lol

I want to finish a synthetic stock with the kind of texture that's on some of the McMillan and Masters rifle stocks I've seen. I want to do one color (black), flat with maybe a clear coat. I've seen several suggestions like a rustoleum product but by accounts, it's more like sand paper finish. Not that it's gritty or abrasive, just that it's a smaller and closer knit texture. I'm looking for a larger "grit" if you will and not so tight. Somewhere I saw a video using truck bed liner. Somewhere else was a suggestion for an automotive finish maybe.

My only requirements is that it is readily able to be sprayed on. I now have access to an air compressor once the carb is cleaned, so I may be able to get an appropriate sprayer if I don't get an aerosol can product.

This is what I'd like to achieve;

IMG_1489.JPG

Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
I don't know anything about that particular type of finish but what I can tell you is that temperature is very important when you're spraying.

For most work you want the paint temperature, workpiece temperature, and local air temperature to all be about the same. Usually "shirtsleeve" temperatures are best: 68-80°F.

But certain finishes which are designed to wrinkle or texture or crinkle or anything like that, usually work better if the workpiece is much warmer than the surrounding air temperature or the paint. This usually means preheating the part and then taking it out of the oven and spraying it while it's quite warm. Finishes which require baking afterwards usually work much better when applied to a nearly-hot workpiece.

When in doubt experiment on an old piece of metal first, and most importantly know the procedures for the particular paint you are using.

I watched my buddy spray thick buildup primer on a motorcycle which had already been surfaced. It was ready for a sealer prime coat and topcoats, but some salesman at PPG convinced him that their most expensive primer was the finest primer that God ever created for man, and he bought it Hook Line & Sinker.

I watched him spray $30 of the overpriced primer on a finished motorcycle and then use $10 worth of thinner to wash it all back off again, wasting over $40 & about 3 hours of labor. That guy was just a dunce, but he got up-sold by a scoundrel.

One of the biggest problems in the paint industry is "snake oil". This is because painting is not hard at all, but the preparation work is often incredibly tedious; and if you don't do it to Perfection your paint looks like crap.

The paint industry wants you to think that there are Miracle products out there which allow you to skip all those tedious steps of scraping sanding surfacing finishing priming whatever....

And they do as long as you don't mind your work looking like crap.
 
Last edited:
Ive never done it but have seen a couple done with the 3m rocker panel spray can from auto paint store. Looked good. Again ive never done im not remotely artistic. I believe they put base of the rocker panel texture then painted. The two rifles i saw were at range and home built budget sniper builds that looked quite good.
 
It looks like a wood stock that's been sprayed, and my comments apply to that as well: if you want it to crinkle more, the wood should be very warm.
 
In that case I would definitely suggest that you paint the inside of the stock a little & let it cure to make sure you're not going to have any chemistry problems. You can't always go by what it says on the cans.

Depending on the plastic that stock is made of paints may or may not be able to make a chemical molecular bond with it. You may just have to sand with coarse sandpaper and rely on the mechanical bond for good adhesion.

That's not necessarily A Bad Thing.

When you put fiberglass on a boat you have absolutely have to sand, it because there's no chemical bonding involved. It is all mechanical. It works.

By the way intermediate layers, do not need the wax required for the resin to cure to a hard surface. You can keep adding layers of glass and resin while they are soft and get a good chemical bond, when using this unwaxed "laminating resin". But unless you want a sticky boat that last layer must have the wax in it. When it cures out, the wax Rises to the surface, and when it's all hard it feels like you just waxed the boat.

Not that this has anything to do with your gun stock unless it happens to be fiberglass. The same thing I mentioned about mechanical adhesion applies to epoxy resins and many other types of plastic.
 
Cool link, good find!

I'm kinda liking the bed liner look a little more for now. To me it looks a little more "pebbled" and less like "grit" if that makes any sense at all, lol!

I'm hoping I can get this going soon. I still have to purchase the stock. I want the look of McMillan or Masters without paying the price that goes with it. I don't think I need that much stock anyway. I just want something better than Savages absolutely cheapest stock ever made. In history. Ever.

I think what I'll do is practice on the factory stock. If I like it, I'll do the new stock too. If I don't like it, I'll still have a good stock.
 
nitesite said:
Which is more important to you Brad, looks or feel?
Click to expand...

Function. After that, feel. After that, as long as everything else is coming together, looks.

I want to upgrade to a Hogue stock, so the grip area is already the textured stuff I'm used to like on my shotguns. Doing a pebble finish isn't necessary as much as it may be a fun project I think.
 
Spray rubberized undercoat from the auto parts store on it and call it a day. How much harm could you do?

I hear from anonymous .GOV sources who are close to the investigation that is what Hogue does with their stocks.


:) :) :)
 
Abraham Zapruder applied 3M Rubberized Undercoat spray on his 8mm motion picture camera and that is how he was able to keep a steady hold on his cam in Dealey Plaza in 1963.

For real.
 
Here is a product called Raptor. I have been thinking of using it for a different application, but it may be just what you are looking for, and easy to apply. The video will show it being applied to metal and flexible plastic, with a roller and a sprayer, so watch the entire video. There is plenty more info, just do a search. Good luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top