Wow, lots of responses here! First let me show you my progress. I am using one magazine as a test piece. I started by sanding the body down a little. Than I taped off a small section. A coat of white Rustoleum metal primer, followed by light sanding. Than a coat of Duplicolor chrome, the only bright colour I had on hand, followed by more sanding. Finally a coat of Rustoleum gloss finish, followed by hard denim buffing.
Once dry I loaded & unloaded the magazine many times. The paint is only rubbing off in one area. However it does not eject as smoothly as my nicer magazines (shown top). So I sprayed it down with Hornady one-shot dry lube. Now she's running fine. This experience however raises doubts. Would a completely painted magazine run smooth?
Capt. Ct.
Yes you can. I have used Aluma-Hyde 2 from Brownells with very good results.
As usual Brownells has a product for everything! Unfortunately this doesn't appear to come in bright colours.
Onmilo
The only thing you are doing wrong is not owning at least ten magazines for a firearm you are using as a run and gun popper....
Very true. But at $45 per magazine it is going to take me awhile. I must be daft to run an 8 shot pistol!
doubleh
I would just polish them bright so they will reflect light and wax them. The wax will prevent rust and make them even slicker and dust will be easy to wipe off.
I have little experience with wax. Maybe I will try this. It does seem like wax would solve my smoothness issue.
Acera
Get some inexpensive Rustoleum and paint one.
This is were I am starting. I like things pretty, but can live with scraped up corners on my magazines. One advantage this gives me is a great deal of colour choices.
badkarmamib
Probably the easiest, most functional, most durable option would be to polish the body, and paint the bottom plate your bright color.
The pistol in question is also my carry gun. I don't want it to stand out while wearing it. However I only carry one magazine currently. Perhaps I could paint all but one of my magazine plates. Know of anyone who sells weighted bases for a p239?
toivo
Most of the Cerakote services have magazines on their price lists, so I'd say yes.
Ah Cerakote, why did I not think of that. If my experiments with spray paint go well, I would think Cerakote an option. Now I just need a craft oven.
CapnMac
If the mags are blued, I'd be tempted to polish them to bright, then clear coat them If bright, I'd try cold blueing.
Polishing them down to bare metal is an option. The old Sig magazines were cold welded from medium strength stainless steel. Or so I read somewhere. However I'm going for colours that really pop out. Blued magazines are no harder to spot than aluminium ones in my experience.
reddog81
I'd try a stripe around the bottom to test it out and see what happens.
We think alike.
Jim K
...If you are concerned about bright magazines in a defensive shooting situation, get some black/grey magazines for carry and shoot them just enough to be sure they work.
Good thinking. I may just have to keep one or two black for daily carry.