(Move this to the appropriate forum if necessary.)
I work night shift patrol. Our environment is far from rural. There are multiple businesses, residential subdivisions, apartment complexes, and lots and lots of concrete. Lighting comes from street lights, parking lot lights, etc. With that said, I read somewhere that black is the worst color for an AR even at night. I can’t remember the source it I did come across that statement before. The shitty part of it all is that I wear a light blue uniform shirt. Can you say contrast?
For those that are into the art of concealment, what would you recommend as far as a color scheme for my work rig? As far as I know we don’t have any color restrictions.
Anything is better than black. Black sticks out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s even worse under night vision.
I like FDE, but of the commonly available colors Foliage Green is probably even better for urban use. Of course, just putting FG furniture on a black carbine isn’t going to help much - you really need to get out the rattle can or have someone do a Duracoat or Cerakote job on your gun.
ETA - Foliage would probably work great for your environment.
With lighter is better in mind, I’d hazard coyote tan would have the edge over foliage green if it were jsut a furniture color thing.
If painting though, gray base, tan blotches, brown stripes, then tan and gray frost coats gives a fair urban blend.
(not my gun, just my paint)
Yeah paint that bad boy, even the guns i have not painted, in the event of real world use, you can bet the spray can is coming out, with spray paint you can always get it off with relative ease…Duracoat is always the best option but is very difficult to get off from what I have seen.
If you’re already walking around in a distinct blue uniform, I don’t think that there is much ground to gain by painting your blaster.
I would not paint it blue, as that is the universal color of “trainer”, so pretty much whatever you go with is going to contrast with you as the primary background.
Now, if you just wanna do it for S&Gs, rock out.
Our shirt color holds a long standing tradition with my dept but damn… I wish they switched to a different color. So yeah, you’re right. At this point it’s for S&G.
Don’t run it, but seen it in person a while back…IIRC, the picture of it linked above is a good representation of how it looks in person. Its kind of a grayish (with very slight bluish tint) version of FDE…if that makes any sense…I prefer FDE personally.
Badges, buckles, belt keepers and all the other bits of uniform flair are much more of a tell than a black AR15. Never mind most cops around here sound like a can full of nickles when they run.
Foliage green disappears well in all degrees of shadow in my own amateur testing. FDE like the Magpul FDE is also pretty good, but foliage green is a bit better. I would consider your local vegetation as well - if you’re out in desert I’d lean FDE, if farther east I think foliage green would be ideal.
No opinions either way on the comments about your uniform, etc. making any camo of the rifle moot.
I’m all for painting rifles but I don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish here. Between the light blue uniform, blue rollers, bright shiny stuff on your person, and a bunch of other factors I’m not thinking of…what good is painting a rifle going to do?
Regardless of your intended use, and for the sake your question, black just sucks for concealment, even at night. At night, we still need light to see. Black is still going to contrast sharply. The closer you can get an object in color to its background the less contrast there will be. Outline and shape are still recognizable, so breaking up the pattern with different shades goes a long ways to complete the package.
Check out the painted AR thread. I would provide a link, but its a bit complex from a phone.
Yeah thinking about it now on a bigger scale I’m SOL. But hey, I’m trying to be proactive and not add onto the smurf look. I’m going to mess around today with paint and see what I come up with. I’ll advise.
