# Cleaning my painted Savage



## Wile_E_shooter (Apr 1, 2007)

Maybe some of you have experience with cleaning painted rifles I could use some tips. I just painted my Savage 12FSS, I live in Washington state and it rains a bit here. After hunting in the rain I've always been careful to clean and oil the gun. Now that my favorite coyote tool is painted what's the best way to keep clean it? The paint is spray enamel I got from Cabelas.


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## ncwhitetail (Jan 17, 2007)

Wile:
Nice paint job! I can't offer any advice on cleaning. Wish I could. But, how did you do that? I wanna do something similar to mine. 
Thanks for any help you can offer.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

ive never painted one, or cleaned a painted gun, but id say as long as you painted all the metal, including the underside of the barrel, you shouldnt have to worry about rust. just make sure to keep the bore, and action clean and oiled lightly, and dont get any solvent on the paint. i would think a teflon product like rem oil would be less solvent baised than something like wd-40, or kroil. nice paint job, btw, and good luck.


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

That is some pimp @$$ $hit. Very nice paint job. :beer:


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

I don't do much for cleaning on mine, the paint covered the metal so well that i haven't worried about the cleaning. You do have to worry about the bore and chamber area, just keep those parts clean and check over your gun for the scratched areas, keep everything covered and you should be good to go. If you are out in the rain, snow or mist, just wipe it down with a clean dry cloth. 
xdeano


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## stainless (Dec 2, 2005)

outstanding paintjob........more details would be great.

I painted a stock for my savage about a year ago and had to completely re do it because the cleaning solvent ate it up. My only suggestion would to be very careful around any cleaning solvents,maybe remove the stock when cleaning? The only way I solved this problem was to break out the wallet and buy some dura coat.


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## Ohio Wally (May 10, 2007)

I have two guns I painted 10 years ago and they still look great. I have never had a problem with either paint job. Keep solvents off the paint as you clean the barrel and action. All I ever did to the paint jobs was wipe them off with a slightly dampened clean rag. The paint you used is very durable and will hold up well.

You did a very nice job. I am predicting you used an air brush. Especially on the sling. Very nice detail!!!


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## Wile_E_shooter (Apr 1, 2007)

Thanks for all the input! It sounds to me like keep all solvent in the barrel and no where else.

Process for painting was pretty easy:
1. Buy the 4 rattle can enamel pack from Cabelas (or equiv)
Colors are tan, green, brown and black
2. Disassemble the rifle and rough up the surfaces with scotchbrite
3. Wipe the rifle down with alcohol
4. Reassemble the rifle and mask the scope adjustments and safety
5. Tiger stripe the rifle with the brown, green and a little black
6. After the base is dry (couple hours) proceed to the money step
7. I used cedar bows, since they are pretty dense and heavy as a paint mask
8. Lay the cedar on the gun and shoot and good layer of tan over it 
9. Keep doing step 8 until it looks good

Couple tips 
Use new cedar bows for each spay as to not smear the paint.
I hunt in light colored surrounding (sage brush) so I used the tan as the top, if you hunt forest you might want to keep green for the top.

I am no painting expert so use these points as a reference. I'm hoping it is good enough to keep those sneaky dogs from seeing my stainless barrel. I need every advantage that I get&#8230;


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## CoyoteBlitz (Apr 11, 2007)

Did you paint the bows and then lay them on the gun?
:sniper:


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## ac700wildcat (Oct 30, 2006)

Wow, thats so simple. It looks like someone spent hours and hours with an airbrush to get it looking like that. Might actually inspire me to do a camo gun in the future.


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

Wile_E_shooter said:


> Thanks for all the input! It sounds to me like keep all solvent in the barrel and no where else.
> 
> Process for painting was pretty easy:
> 1. Buy the 4 rattle can enamel pack from Cabelas (or equiv)
> ...


Can predators see color?

That gun looks AWESOME. I'd love to do that to mine.

Would brake cleaner work better than alcohol?


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## coyotekiller3006 (Jan 3, 2006)

hey, what part of washington are you from, im from selah


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## Wile_E_shooter (Apr 1, 2007)

coyotekiller3006 I live in Seattle but hunt on the East side of the state. How's the dog hunting been around Selah?

I am pretty hard on my rifles when I hunt the elusive song dog so spending too much time painting my rifle is not real useful. I spent a total of 45 minutes on the gun in the above picture.

I hunt a lot in snow and sage brush, does anyone have a good example of their gun painted in white camo? I have another rifle that I'm thinking of painting in that scheme.


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## MiniMarine0311 (May 20, 2007)

That's an awesome paint job. I painted a bow last year but defintly doesn't look that good....I'm going to have to do that to my coyote gun now. Was planning on painting my 17 hmr also the steps that you listed will defintly help out alot when I do that....I'm defintly going to practice a lot first though.


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