Gun-Kote

[Ram Rod]

Just a mild review of Brownells Gun-Kote. Product works well and performs as advertised. Stripped down a 10/22 aluminum receiver and refinished it myself this past week. At first I thought about taking it somewhere to get blasted and powder-coated. But I'm usually a DIY guy and I always like the satisfaction of dropping some cash on a product instead of a service.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[slidewayz240]

Good to hear. Any before and after photos of your work?

[Ram Rod]

Uh-Oh! Well, I should have I guess. I'd been looking for another 10/22 for a while. Happened upon a 1997 model at a local pawn shop at a take me home price. Standard configuration...tapered barrel, black receiver. Previous owner had engraved their initials in the side of the receiver. Luckily it wasn't too deep. I worked on the receiver for a week revolving around my work schedule. Hand sanded and Dremel work.....320 grit dry. Got rid of the engraving etc.....then final 600 grit dry. I'm guessing we can all relate to a bare aluminum receiver (since I didn't take pics of the stripped one). Not much of the 10/22 receiver is exposed when it's set in a stock...but I did the whole block other than the part under the barrel or the V-Block. I kind of wondered what the Gun Kote might do over the existing factory coat since the Gun Kote contains MEK. No problems. This stuff is good (it should be for the price). I don't know how it would do on newer firearms, or what the manufacturers use to paint with. Thing is....this product is finished by baking in the oven. 3 days to fully cure. I could have done a step-by-step progress. But I didn't. One of the last things I think about when I'm on a mission with time available. Anyway.......OD matte green. I ended up getting a TacSol OD green barrel to go with. Been taking my time with the project. I do have after pics if that works. I can also tell you step by step what I did in the process.



By the way.....the TacSol barrel was oversized at the shank/chamber and I needed to sand that down to fit as well. Not more than 20 minutes with (again) 320 grit dry.

[ghost tracker]

Next time, FYI, don't sand a Tac-Sol barrel shank, I have a better way! Put the stripped receiver in direct sunlight on a HOT day in the bed of a pickup truck with a black bed-liner. Put the barrel in the freezer. Wait 30 minutes. Put on gloves and bring the receiver (quickly) into the house. Take the barrel out of the freezer and insert (again, quickly) the barrel shank into the receiver. The temp difference and corresponding alloy expansion/contraction makes for a "perfect" fit. Don't delay on indexing the barrel, it's gonna' get snug in a HURRY! But it worked like a charm with no sanding (i was worried about keeping the shank as round as possible).