# Paint



## Dave_w (May 25, 2005)

I'm planning on doing up a custom 10/22 benchrest gun, and I'm wondering if anyone would know the best way to do a chameleon/color shift paint job. Ideally, I'd like to do a shift between dark olive green and black, perhaps with some kind of a non-shifting overlay.


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## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

I have no idea how to do that but that would be SWEET!!! If you get it done, post pics. :beer:


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

I would think with an air brush you could paint the base coat a slowly add a little more black as you move down the stock? Of course practice on something else first though !!!


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## Dave_w (May 25, 2005)

Oh, of course, Mossy, lol. And thanks, guys. I was planning on obtaining a shaped stock with no treatment whatsoever, and then a few pieces of the same wood to experiment with. I was figuring on a coat of primer, 3 coats of black base, and then somewhere in the region of 7-10 coats of color shift. For the overlay (which will either be black, with either a tribal design or some other minimal thing), I'm thinking now I'll just tape off the intended spot using stencils designed for a car, shrunk down on my computer. Or possibly no overlay at all.

The rest is straightforward: exensive trigger work, fluted bull barrel...one exception, however. Instead of going with optics like everybody else, I was thinking of a set of decent-quality peep sights.

Be advised, however...this is my winter project. I'm working on the planning now, and come November when it's too cold to really get out and shoot all that much, I'll start work on it, probably finishing up sometime in spring (May or June).


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Dave_W, have you researched any of the companies that do the "dipping" process? I have no clue if that would work or not, but might be worth checking into.


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## Dave_w (May 25, 2005)

Thanks, but I was really intending to do this as an in-house project. Short of manufactured components, everything was going to be kept under my roof--er, floor, in the basement?

The reason for that is the fact that I already have a godlike 10/22. The first rifle I ever purchased was a 10/22-TAL factory race rifle. Accuracy is obscene, and everything on the gun is labelled "match" or "target". I simply cannot build a BETTER rifle myself.

So I'm building this one for the pride of having a really nice custom gun that I did entirely myself. Thus, the custom paint job using my own two hands, the benchrest stock (perhaps customized with a few little extras), the custom trigger group and so on. Sure, I could probably send it out somewhere and get something nicer, but I'd rather walk into the gun club with my new toy and be able to cap it all off by saying I did it myself.

Thanks for the return fire, though.


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## northerndave (Dec 6, 2004)

are you looking for a cameleon or a fade.... a cameleon changes color depending on angle of view, lighting etc. That's kind of tricky & expensive. A fade is fairly straight forward, much easier.

Send me a PM if you like, this could get to be a very long explaination. I've worked in the coatings business for around 20 years in one respect or another, everything from custom work to OEM finishes, even the "dip" mentioned above along with other means of transfer decorating.

If you've got questions about paint, I've got answers. Might be slow to reply to PM's cause I might not check the forum as often as I should but i will get back to you.


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## Bore.224 (Mar 23, 2005)

Will painting the rifle contibute to rust or inhibit maintanance? I Know lots of people due this so maybe not.

I was considering the same project as you this winter, I have two 10/22's one in 22LR and one in 22 Mag I was going to customise the 22 lr first to gain experiance for a possible 10/22mag project!!

Varmint Al has a whole section on painting guns just Google search the word Varmint and you will find it.


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## Dave_w (May 25, 2005)

Oh, I'm going for the chameleon, and I already know that the process is somewhat pricey. The paint ain't cheap and neither is buying a sprayer. Mostly I'm talking to a few car buddies of mine who have done this themselves--albeit on metal. Hence buying practice wood and expending a little paint just learning how to do it.

I already figured that the expense of the finish prohibits field use (yeah, ha ha, like chameleon is camo), and even limits target/plinking, and I've devised a few little elastic slip-on pads to protect the gun when shooting off a rest.

The hard part, I'm finding, is locating a decent stock with a high comb and cheekrest (which I prefer). The internals are all fairly straightforward and tend to be associated with the letters V and Q.


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