.25-06 refinishing project

[Iluv2hunt]

I got this gun last week from a fellow forum member. After I got it home and looked at it closely, I decided it needed some TLC. The finish needed re-doing regardless, and there was some surface rust on the barrel. So I decided to make this a project gun.
First thing I did was take the gun apart and give all the parts a thorough cleaning. It had a lot of grime and dust build up in all the nooks n crannies. Then I stripped the finish off of the stock and fore end. I used a commercial finish remover from Waly world. After I got the finish off, there was a lot of gun oil soaked in the stock. So I spent a couple hours sweating the crap out of it. After all that, it needed a good sanding. A 12 pack of Miller Lites later I had it done and prepped. Then I had to get the surface rust off the barrel. A few more beers, some 0000 steel wool and gun oil, and it was good as new
Here is the only pic I took in the whole process

[Iluv2hunt]

After taping, prepping and painting, here is how it turned out. I put several layers of clear coat on it and left it in the hot sun to bake on. The finish is hard as a rock now

[TimE1]

Looks awesome good job!

[Papa_J]

That's a beaut! How did you do the camo pattern, and why didn't you paint the scope mount?

[XD45]

good lookin job

[GoodOyster]

Don't lean that up on a tree and walk off, you won't be able to find it again! Looks nice, is that an H&R?

[nachogrande]

I saw that gun the day before you bought it so I know how it looked before, great job and fast. thought it had a nice wt barrel on it. now the million $ question, how does it shoot? and what kind of clear coat finish did you use?

[flhuntfish]

that came out great

[Iluv2hunt]

I used the Krylon fusion paint. The first step and most important is getting all the oils off of the gun. If there is ANY, the paint will not stick. If anyone ever tries this, I have some advice...Do not use a primer if you are using that paint. I screwed up Friday night and had a gummy, gooey mess that I had to remove. I tried priming the metal with rustoleum heavy rust primer. Well that was fine, but what happened is when I sprayed the Krylon, they had a reaction. I ended up with a mess. Had I not been in the Vortex bottles so heavy I would have researched further and realized that it states on the Krylon can to NOT use a primer. 2 cans of Non-chlorinated brake cleaner and I was back to bare metal.

So I cleaned the gun real good with the brake cleaner
taped everything off I didn't want painted.
Put foam ear plugs in each end of barrel
Wiped down everything multiple times with alcohol.
Sprayed a base coat of Khaki color. The trick is to go very slow and not over-do it. Let the paint build up very slowly an don't get it too thick.
After the base coat was dry, I used resurrection fern I have growing here at the house for the pattern. Just grab a leaf, and spray around it. Used the OD green, brown, and black.
After all the pieces were sprayed, I let them all dry for a while, then started spraying with multiple layers of clear/flat acrylic. I probably put 12 coats on and hung all the pieces by mono fishing line in the driveway where it was like 140 degrees and bake all day long.

Now the finish is really solid that it has cured for a couple days. This is gonna be a truck gun so if it gets chipped no big deal

[Iluv2hunt]

....And cut me off on the beers a bit earlier

[DONY1]

Wow! That came out great! You need to break it in this weekend.

[kemster99]

nice looking rifle. good job.

[vonnick52]

Looks great, I've been thinking about buying one of these. Don't you have one Kemster? I've heard such mixed reviews about those single shots.

[M12Gunboy]

That turned out awesome!!! I am impressed chief. That my friends is a great example of a project gun.... Give it some personality...

My buddy the Supreme Nacho is licking his lips it looks so good, I'm sure of it!!!!!

[houseofmicah]

that looks great allan.