FNAR Aluma Hyde Coating

[Kenstaroni]

I usually use Krylon camo colors for paint jobs, however I found a Coyote Tan color in Brownell's Aluma Hyde II at my local store. I was able to complete the job over the weekend. I get tired of plain black rifles, so now that I've gotten the barrel threaded, the PWS compensator put on, and have got the rifle broken in I decided to give the FNAR a little face lift.

I wanted to sort of mimic the look of my SCAR, however also do something kind of uniqe. The FNAR is sitting on a GG&G lightweight bipod, and also has a Tango Down grip on it that I haven't put back on yet. Glass is a Sightmark 8.5-25x50 Triple Duty scope with Burris X-treme tactical rings. It's becoming one of my favorite .308 rifles I've owned so far. Really light recoil since the addition of the PWS comp, and shoots great groups.

I decided against camo on this one as I wanted something more clean and simple. Your feedback is welcome.

[MacGyver]

Looks great from my chair.

[Major Kong]

I likey lots. Did Predator do your barrel threading?

[Guest trigem]

Do you think it is going to be durable enough? I'd like to do one of mine

[Desert Rat]

You will just have to give it to me as it almost matches my 835. It does look good!

[Kenstaroni]

Do you think it is going to be durable enough? I'd like to do one of mine

The Aluma Hyde is supossed to be very durable. It's an epoxy paint, a lot different than Krylon. It's like duracoat or ceracoate, only you don't "have" to bake it on like the orginal aluma hyde. The trick with the Aluma Hyde is to make sure it's prepped right and cured properly. It's not a big deal this time of year, but in the winter when you would have to cure it inside it could take 2-3 weeks to fully cure. I put the small parts in the oven and baked them for a couple hours, I hung the reciever and forend in the garage and ran a space heater around them for several hours. I also made sure my car was warm and pulled it in and left the door closed in the evenings. I'd say the temp in the garage with the car and heater going was 90+ degrees. From what I've read it should only take 2-3 days to cure in those conditions. I'm going to leave it out in the sun when I'm home this week and probably not shoot it until sometime this weekend at the earliest.

[Kenstaroni]

I likey lots. Did Predator do your barrel threading?

The pusher that me and Desert Rat buy from is Mike's Gun Shop in Tazewell, TN. He and I did it one evening a few weeks ago. It's a motha getting the barrel screws out as they are locktite'd in with some crazy locktite. We stripped the allen head off one and had to use an easy-out to get it out. I ordered some new screws from FN and replaced them both the next week. Other than that, it went well.

Edited August 24, 2010 by Kenstaroni

[Kenstaroni]

You will just have to give it to me as it almost matches my 835. It does look good!

Ha ha, I bet I could find something laying around your house that would interest me...

[Desert Rat]

You want my 300 Win Mag so you can do some real shooting!

[Guest Keinengel]

Very nice paint job! I personally like the solid Dark Earth/Tan finishes.

[Kenstaroni]

You want my 300 Win Mag so you can do some real shooting!

Thank you for the offer, but I would like to keep my shoulders intact....I would like to see you actually shoot it sometime

[Guest JHatmaker]

Great job as usual.

[Magiccarpetrides]

Looks great....how do you like that comp...I didnt think the recoil was that bad...but it couldnt hurt to have less ;-D

[Kenstaroni]

No, the recoil on the FNAR isn't bad. Less than a bolt gun for sure. It helped it quite a bit though. I'm used to the added noise as I have PWS comps on my .223 guns too. It keeps the rifle from wanting to hop up in the air off the bipod when shooting from a bench, in fact it completely cured that issue, and keeps the scope on target for follow up shots. It was well worth the money and effort to get it done.

I had the same PWS comp on a DMPS LR-308. That was the softest shooting .308 I've ever pulled the trigger on. It felt like an AR with a standard A2 flash hider....lol

[Dolomite_supafly]

Which shop in Knoxville carries Alumihide?

How much was the can?

The reason I ask is if I can get a local source for a decent coating I will go that route rather than order it from Brownells. With Brownells thay have a $10 fee because it is hazardous. This brings the cost of buying just a can too much for me to consider. Now if I am placing a huge order for me and a few other people then I normally put my coatings on the order but I am not placing aany big orders anytime soon and need to coat some stuff.

Good looking rig.

Thanks

Dolomite

[kwe45919]

Wow......you really changed the whole look of it. I likey ALOT.........

[Kenstaroni]

Which shop in Knoxville carries Alumihide?

How much was the can?

The reason I ask is if I can get a local source for a decent coating I will go that route rather than order it from Brownells. With Brownells thay have a $10 fee because it is hazardous. This brings the cost of buying just a can too much for me to consider. Now if I am placing a huge order for me and a few other people then I normally put my coatings on the order but I am not placing aany big orders anytime soon and need to coat some stuff.

Good looking rig.

Thanks

Dolomite

I hear ya on that. I get it from Mike's Gun Shop in Tazwell, TN. It's $14.99 per can. It's cheaper that Brownell's if you factor in shipping...even cheaper with the additional $10 fee.

I was there today, and he's got OD Green, Desert Tan, Flat Black, Earth Brown, Grey, just about every color except Coyote (thanks to me...lol). He is ordering some more Coyote for me so I can finish up the vertical grip and I might do the mags.

[Dolomite_supafly]

That is great, it isn't that far for me to go. I can definitely use a mix of colors for different projects.

He didn't by chance have any Gunkote did he?

That is my preferred coating as I have used it dozens of times without any problems as long as you do the right prep. It doesn't really matter what coating as the prep is the most important thing to getting a professional looking outcome.

Thanks again for the info and again nice looking stick.

Dolomite