A few years ago, I decided that since I would be duck hunting, that I needed to take my wood and blued 500 and paint it up. I replaced the wood with a plastic set, and went to work with a few cans of Camo Krylon. It worked alright, but I was almost immediately sorry for it. The stocks just didn't feel right and I discovered that I hated the paint. It gummed up part of the action, rubbed off on my hands, and just generally sucked. So, I decided to redo it with duracoat and refinish the factory wood stock set.
My dad actually did the stocks. He is a very accomplished antique repair/refinish master, so I didn't even think of doing it myself. The wood isn't the best, but dad did some magic and made it look like a much nicer piece of wood than it really is. The topcoat is a product called water-lox. It's expensive, but is a very high quality product.
The metal was all mine though. I stripped it down to reciever, mag tube, barrel, and the action rods. I took it to a shop I used to work at and bead blasted the whole thing. I can't believe how well that worked. It off every bit of finish that was ever on it. However, the Duracoat instructions clearly state that bead blasting is not recommended. They prefer sand or other media. Supposedly, bead blasting can "polish" the metal, where-as the sand will "cut". I didn't read that part of the instructions until after I blasted the gun.:banghead: As a side note, those little beads get everywhere. I had to take the mag tube off of the receiver to get all of them out to try to fix the awful noise the follower was making.
I sat on the fence for a few weeks before I finally ordered my Duracoat. I wanted something that resembled a salt blue, but I kept thinking that matte black would look good too. I bit the bullet and ordered the Gun Blue Duracoat. I thought that if nothing else, I could spray over it with a matte black, and would be out only a few extra bucks.
I did the actual spraying with a Preval sprayer. I followed the Duracoat instructions almost to the letter. I used brake cleaner to degrease and wash the parts. I hung the parts up outside, and sprayed on the first coat. Came back two hours later, and sprayed on the second coat. I waited another few hours and looked at the result and was satisfied that the two coats were enough. I Let it dry for a day, and reassembled everything.
I took another chance on a new product for Williams sights. It is a green/yellow fiber optic tube that is inserted into the base. The Base is made only for vent rib barrels. You order the sight based on the rib width of your shotgun. The sight itself has small guides that slip over the sides of the rib. The sight is secured with a small screw that inserts through a hole in the base just in front of the tube. The FO is bright, and just the right size. The whole little kit is very good quality. I found it at Midway for around 20$
Anyway, I believe I have just about rambled enough. I did think far enough ahead to at least have pictures of the finished product.
For the money spent, I am extremely pleased. The Duracoat is not perfect, and it will be almost impossible to get it perfect without an indoor spray area. The color is more blue than I would have liked, but it actually looks kinda cool with the refinished stocks.
My dad actually did the stocks. He is a very accomplished antique repair/refinish master, so I didn't even think of doing it myself. The wood isn't the best, but dad did some magic and made it look like a much nicer piece of wood than it really is. The topcoat is a product called water-lox. It's expensive, but is a very high quality product.
The metal was all mine though. I stripped it down to reciever, mag tube, barrel, and the action rods. I took it to a shop I used to work at and bead blasted the whole thing. I can't believe how well that worked. It off every bit of finish that was ever on it. However, the Duracoat instructions clearly state that bead blasting is not recommended. They prefer sand or other media. Supposedly, bead blasting can "polish" the metal, where-as the sand will "cut". I didn't read that part of the instructions until after I blasted the gun.:banghead: As a side note, those little beads get everywhere. I had to take the mag tube off of the receiver to get all of them out to try to fix the awful noise the follower was making.
I sat on the fence for a few weeks before I finally ordered my Duracoat. I wanted something that resembled a salt blue, but I kept thinking that matte black would look good too. I bit the bullet and ordered the Gun Blue Duracoat. I thought that if nothing else, I could spray over it with a matte black, and would be out only a few extra bucks.
I did the actual spraying with a Preval sprayer. I followed the Duracoat instructions almost to the letter. I used brake cleaner to degrease and wash the parts. I hung the parts up outside, and sprayed on the first coat. Came back two hours later, and sprayed on the second coat. I waited another few hours and looked at the result and was satisfied that the two coats were enough. I Let it dry for a day, and reassembled everything.
I took another chance on a new product for Williams sights. It is a green/yellow fiber optic tube that is inserted into the base. The Base is made only for vent rib barrels. You order the sight based on the rib width of your shotgun. The sight itself has small guides that slip over the sides of the rib. The sight is secured with a small screw that inserts through a hole in the base just in front of the tube. The FO is bright, and just the right size. The whole little kit is very good quality. I found it at Midway for around 20$
Anyway, I believe I have just about rambled enough. I did think far enough ahead to at least have pictures of the finished product.
For the money spent, I am extremely pleased. The Duracoat is not perfect, and it will be almost impossible to get it perfect without an indoor spray area. The color is more blue than I would have liked, but it actually looks kinda cool with the refinished stocks.
