I decided to take the leap of camoing my carbine a few days ago, and I couldn’t be happier. But this is not always the case. Many times, an enthusiastic spray painter will rush into the project and be absolutely appalled by what comes out the other end. I know this, because the last time I tried camoing my gun, I spent days painstakingly scraping paint out of every nook and cranny on my carbine. :eek:
A few simple things to remember. Cover anything you don’t want sprayed with tape. This includes flashlight lenses, optic lenses, sight posts, rear apertures, etc.
Keep the spray paint away from the internals of the gun. No one is going to be looking inside your magwell. 
And perhaps most importantly: TEST YOUR PAINT FIRST! Also, remember to shake the can, this should go without saying, but in the hype to get your carbine done, you don’t want to forget a critical step.
Here’s a quick demo of my technique, using some Pmags.
This is all the materials you should need. I have 3 types of paint, an a darker olive, almost Ranger Green paint, a lighter, foilage-green-esque paint, and a khaki paint. Also, you’ll notice the grass clippings, twigs, and leaves. These will be used to create a stencil effect later on.
First, apply the darkest color you have, in my case its olive. This may be somewhat counter-intuitive, but remember, we are layering on paint here, so the lighter colors (that will break up the outline most) should be more prevalent, and therefore, on top layers. By using them in the top layer of the stencil, you will achieve the appearance of a lighter base layer, with darker objects laying upon it.
After that dries, you are ready to start adding lighter layers. Remember to let each layer dry, so that the paint will not smear, or puddle along sharp lines.
Put down some foilage to create a stencil effect. I use a variety of grass clippings, twigs, and leaves to get different shapes.
The next layer done is the next lightest, in my case, the lighter green paint was used.
Simply repeat the stencil effect, being sure to move around the pieces to cover and reveal new spots to the next layer of paint.
For the final coat, I used the khaki/light brown color, as it tends to be the most universally blending in brush/dead leaves. There’s a reason why deer are brown.
You can see the final effect produces layers of differing outlines, with each layer having its own camo pattern in effect.
Here’s a shot of the carbine that I camo’d a few days ago.
You can see where the paint is peeling along the lines of handling, edges, corners, etc. This isn’t duracoat folks, but it is cheap, and it will last until you simply spray it again.
A little disclaimer here, I’m by no means an expert on camo, or even spray painting your rifle, but I did get enough compliments on the camo job that I hope I can help someone out there work up their courage, grab some krylon, and get to work, making a finished product that they can be proud of. 
