Anybody paint their stainless rifles to make them more stealthy for hunting? I know that there are teflon and ceramic finishes, but I'm looking for something cheap, quick, and easily reversible. Ideally, it wouldn't come off with RemOil, but would come off fairly easily with Gun Scrubber or other solvent after the hunting trip.

Thanks,

Steve

Sure! Just don't paint any moving parts or mechanisms other than the bolt handle. Masking tape and modeling clay helps keep the paint off certain areas. Just use the Krylon flat black or camo colors and take it off with gun scrubber afterwards. You can make the scope and rings, barrel, stock and most of the action match nicely, or create your own unique camo. If it scratches off, touch it up.

Steve,

Get some camouflage bow tape. Easy-on, easy-off, no chemicals required for removal, and no adhesive residue.

George

Thanks.

I'll probably try both. One of my boys is going to use the Marlin Guide Gun, which might be easier to paint than wrap. I'll have to see how I do with the tape on the other rifle first.

Thanks again,

Steve

The camo tape is handy for taking the shine off a long stainless barrel, but I don't care to use it anywhere else, unless you have a really LOUD stock or a SILVER scope tube . An extra wrap on the barrel is a good way to carry your muzzle tape for inclement conditions.

I have painted 2 stainless Winchester M-70's black with high temp BBQ paint. I can't tell the difference between them and another rifle with a black teflon finish.

The Brownell's camo paint works OK. I have hunted it hard with minimal paint chipping. Stainless is about the worst finish for a hunting rifle. THey really do stick out and the people who mostly look at their rifles in the living room have no diea how bad they are in the field. A little paint will fix you up.

Stainless can be blued and thats not too expensive...

sk/1

Hunter Specialties makes a removable camo paint system that is supposed to be pretty good. It comes with its own remover and will not harm finishes on the meatal or the stock.

You can buy it at Brownells for about $22bucks per kit.

Rick

I would skip the paint and just bead blast it and knock the shine off it. I have to admit, I've done several with BBQ paint, and it last forever. Not sure you can live on the diff between that and the hi dollar coatings, but what do I now..............I'm just a dumb cowboy.

Brownell's AlumaHyde flat black air-dry aerosol works fine on SS.

Years ago I was a diehard bowhunter. Probably hunted 90 days a year for 15 years, all of that with recurve bows. I used many bows from the custom makers and couldn't bring myself to camo them. Don't recall ever spooking anything because of my unpainted bows..

I wouldn't paint my rifle either..JMO--

no matter how agrresively you bead blast stainless, it still sticks out worse than a turbo-sore-thumb. SS really is about the worst possible rifle finish out there. In the field, SS bead blastedto the finish of a golf ball will stand out across any valley out there.

I think you are picking at straws here. I guide for turkeys every year and if anything can see, it is a turkey. Haven't seen one spooked yet from a shotgun that wasn't camo'd or black. The guys that hunt with me use all sorts of different shotguns. Seems with a deer or elk it would be simpler yet as they do not see color as we do.

I have chased turkeys as much as anyone, and you are talking apples and oranges. FOr one, just how many people hunting with you have showed up with stainless steel shotguns? That IS what this thread is about after all. I have never known ONE trukey hutner with a SS shotgun. Actually, I don't know ANYONE who owns a SS shotgun.

Another thing is that typicall turkey hunting is done in deep shadows and it is mostly a game where the hunter and hunted interact by LISTENING, not SEEING. THe visual part o fturkey hunting, while exptremely critical, is a minor portion of the time on the hunt.

Now take any sheep hunting out there. You stand on one mountain and look for me with a SS rifle on anothe rmountain. You will have no problem seeing me, I can promise you. Now how much easier can a Dall see me? A lot. And you may be in visual contact with a sheep or goat for 12 hours at a stretch. DOes not matter how coarsely it is bead blasted.

Same goes for deer and elk and whateevr. SS is a terrible finish for an actual hunting rifle.

You can also use Brownell's baking lacquer. It is pretty durable also. Just another option for you.
Doug

A hunting partner has a stainless rifle, not really matte at all, not to mention the scope. We often take different sides of draws hunting and his rifle doesn't stand out to my eye.. I've never seen any reflections come of the stainless. There is a steep Mtn about 200 yards from the house, I bet if I randomly stuck a stainless barrel in the ground out in a open area a person couldn't find it looking off the deck. I think a highly poslished and blued barrel would be far more reflective than your average stainless barrel.

dempsey, this is a very interesting thread. Now I must say that several deer and elk hangin on my wall never complained about stainless barrels All of my varmit rigs are outfitted with stinless barrels and I have shot hundreds of coyotes over the past 15-20 years and have found no ill effects from the stainless.
I can say that I have seen a reflection off of a blue finished rifle in the sun light.

I haven't seen a reflection off a blued barrel . I do think if it was going to happen it would most likely be one that is highly polished. I think the hunter himself is going to spook any animal before his rifle does which makes the barrel material a moot point.

It might depend on which way you hunt, but my experience is that shiny SS barrels spooke red deer and roe while hunting dusk and dawn.
It is not as much the reflex from a shiny barrel, but the way the "white" SS barrel stands out against the dark background of bush and leaves.

A friend and me was hunting the same field for roe at dawn, and when I slowly shouldered my 35 Whelen with SS Shilen barrel to take a shot, he could easely see my barrel as a white stick moving against the dark bush.

The buck saw it also, and took off.
That same evening the barrel was coverd in black electrician tape !

I have tried different paints without success,
they will not stick and peels off.
Seems like you guys over the pond got some good stuff that is not easly available her where I live.

My conclousion is that SS barrels stick out lika sore thumb when hunting dusk and dawn, and are better painted or taped.... my two cent

I paint my stainless rifles but my intention is for a permanent (or nearly so) finish.

The cheapest and easiest camo job I know that's removable is a camo gun sock. Costs about 10 bucks and works great.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Stainless can be blued and thats not too expensive...

Yup, you are right. I don't like the baked on finish, often peels off and looks worse than clean stainless barrel. A good blueing or black chrome job is the best.

Cheers
/ JOHAN

If you clean the stainless with alcohol, wipe dry, warm it and use rustoleum clean metal primer, allow to dry and paint it with any flat or satin enamel you will have a long lasting finish that is pretty tough. There are still a lot of guys that don't like synthetic stocks or camou rifles but so what.

Go to the Hardware Store, and get a spray can of Gas Grill Flat Black paint.

Tough as nails, and can take the "heat".