This summer I had the good fortune (especially with ammo prices so high) to have access to piles of ammo that were being rotated out of service. I tried to just not puke it all away frivolously and for the most part I didn’t. There were several “digressions” (damn those M16 lowers) but I really did become much more proficient with a variety of rifles.
The rifle that took the most punishment was my first attempt at painting a weapon. An artist I am not. I put way too many coats on which would haunt me later. I started with this:
After the summer, this is what the LT rail looked like. It actually was the most presentable part of all:
After the rebuild, it looked great. All during the thousands of rounds that went down the pipe, it never failed.
The new coating is Cerakote desert brown. Awesome finish that should hold up very well. The LT was replaced by a Vltor CASV. A very sturdy rail that deserves to be more popular. The LT was saved although the barrel nut had to be cut off, Through Mark’s typical generosity, a replacement was sent right out and the rail is on another upper.
With some parts from Mark LaRue and a 24 hr soak in a ultrasonic cleaner, the rail lives again and is mounted on a Colt M4 upper. It was my first piece of LT gear ever so it’s not going anywhere.
how did it hold up to the ultra sound ? I was told by my suppressor mfg they are a no no with alum as they eat it .so im scared to put anything alum in my ultrasound now.
Since the paint was so thick and so baked on, we narrowed the choices to beadblasting it, which would have made it bare aluminum or the tank. The tank was at about 200 degrees and they checked it often. There was so much paint, it may have been a protective barrier. What was left we took off with a toothbrush.
It looks OK to me but if your can says no, I wouldn’t do it. Rails are a little easier to replace.
