I had the wild hair yesterday to restore my M4gery to an EBR.
I had previously painted some of the parts on this rifle OD Green.
Paint used was Krylon Fusion camo.
Lessons learned:
If you paint parts on your rifle, sell those parts off (at a loss) and replace.
Krylon sticks very well in areas you can’t get to easily.
$40 in chemicals could have been spent on ammo/beer.
Removing paint SUCKS!
Engine De-greaser works very well on plastic parts.
100 degrees and 30% humidity BLOWS!
You can’t re-paint (black) your stock to cover old paint (that you couldn’t remove).
Black shoe polish is your friend.
Beer tastes better when you’ve “had enough” with paint removal.
DON’T PAINT IF YOU THINK YOU"RE EVER GOING TO CHANGE YOUR MIND!
I painted my M4Gery about a year ago. I was tired of all black and wanted something different.
I chose OD Green (well after the OD Green craze). I painted my VLTOR CASV-EL, my LMT SOPMOD stock and a vertical foregrip.
Here is a photo.
The Magpul MOE grip/PMAG are factory.
Fast forward to yesterday and this is where the fun begins…
I spent about $40 in chemicals, and about 6 hours of elbow grease to get all (most) of the green paint off.
Kleen Strip HD gel works great on metal but is a major PITA to clean off the part.
Graffiti Remover (Motsenbocker’s) works OK on plastic parts. Does not harm the plastic.
Brake Cleaner and Engine De-greaser also work on plastic with no side effects (they do cause a whitish haze that goes away with CLP).
I spent most of the day in the garage with various parts in Aluminum pans (soaking) to get the paint removed.
I did have to hit a few metal parts with Kylon Camo black to cover any remaining green that I couldn’t get off.
I spent the majority of the time on the plastic stock…should have sold and replaced. :mad:
Black shoe polish was used to cover any greenish tint left on the stock.
Go to Lowe’s buy “Motsenbocker’s Lift Off” brand spray paint remover. Soak AR parts in such for about 15 minutes. Wipe off paint with toothbrush, rinse with water, repeat as necessary. This stuff isn’t perfect, and you’ll still have to get all the little crevices, but it is light years easier than cotton balls and paint thinner. It makes the paint just slough off, sort of like dead skin after a sunburn.
Do what I do. Just wait a while. I used the same Rustoleum colors, and I’ve gotta admit, I may have to redo mine in the near future. Relax, its just paint folks, its not like your rifle was winning any beauty contests anyways.
Depends on the plastic. Cheap plastic, yes. Good polymer (ie: Magpul stuff), no.
I’ve use Acetone on my Magpul (and KAC rail panels and VFG) many times with no problem.
A method that is quick and works extremely well is using compressed air, an air sprayer, and baking soda as the medium. It takes the paint off but does zero harm to the finish. A buddy of mine turned me on to the process and he has had great success.
+1 on the motsenbockers. Picked some up at home depot today, and it worked well. No nasty fumes either, I did it in my living room. It peeled the paint up quickly where it was only 1 layer thick. Where it was thicker it needed a little more rubbing. Use a toothbrush to get it out of all of the rollmarks and crevices. Good stuff!!! Now I will be selling my RRA that I bought in '05.
ETA: I only painted non plastic surfaces. I hear it works on plastic too, but I can’t verify this.
Liquid dish soap and toothbrush (for the ergo grip only)
Paint removed:
Krylon Ultra Flat Khaki
Flat brown BBQ paint (yeah, I know) from Ace Hardware
The CLP is what I started with, though it didn’t do so great. Got some paint up off the KAC rail covers and the A2 stock, but that was about it. The brake cleaner blasted everything off the upper and barrel, save for the BCM logo (which was pretty neat), but I ran out before I got to the fore-end rails.
The Krud Kutter works amazingly well. It dissolved the paint right off the rails, stock, rail covers, and LPK bits by just spritzing it on, waiting a couple minutes, and then a light scrubbing with a toothbrush. Wasn’t too fast, truth be told, but it attacked the paint while leaving the plastic untouched.
Truth be told, I think I’ll leave the few traces of paint on there since it looks like a rifle that’s been used a long time, had the upper replaced, then pressed back into service. It is an A4gery, after all…
