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Jim:
I have a Marlin 1895 that I refinished using the stuff Brownell's sells. You paint the gun, then bake in an oven according to the directions on the can, so long guns can be problematic. I have a buddy's Colt 1911 to refinish and will probabaly do the same thing to it. The sprays are very convenient, and the finish is very hard once it is baked. Getting the "paint" right is the hard part. I used a full can to get the 1895 done to suit me. Tony
I'm pleased with my 1st try with Brownell's Oven Cure Finish. I used it on an old Sears single shot .22lr that I keep at the barn. I was constantly cleaning off the rust. I used the Brownell's finish on it over a year ago and put it back in the barn. It still looks great.
Like AnthonyB said getting the paint right is the hard part. You have to take your time and get it even with no runs. The spray can has a good nozzle which helps a lot. As careful as I tried to be I did get a run on the underside of the barrel. I took it off with Acetone and blended it back in with perfect results.
My next one will be my tractor rifle. I carry a sporterized Swede on the tractors and I have to look after that one all the time too. Since I carry the rifle in an Uncles Mike's scabbard I'll find out how well the finish stands up to abrasion.
Jim, I've used Gun Kote before. Can't remember if this is a teflon or what, but IF you get it on just right (it's pretty temp and surface prep sensitive in my limited experience), it's a darn good finish that definitely won't let rust form on coated surfaces. I and a buddy did a number of guns. On the ones where we got the surface prep right, and baked at the right temps (both the heating before spraying temp and the baking temp), and repeated in several coats (make them as thin as you can and build them up), it's a darn fine finish. It was available in a full spectrum of camo colors, too, so you could actually spray paint a neat camo job if you want. If it's applied properly, it's darn tough stuff, too. A Star Starfire .45 I did didn't work out so hot. I don't think the temps were right, and I didn't build up the finish like I should have. Result was the corners got silvery where it wore off. Other guns and parts would never do this, so it was my application on that gun, and not the finish itself that was the problem.
I may have some left, if you want some to play with. Email me and I'll send it, gratis. I just need the email as a prompt.
FWIW, I had good luck on one old pitted Stevens 311 using ordinary Home Depot aerosols. The exterior had a lot of fine pitting that would have taken a lot of polishing that I didn't want to bother with. I cleaned the barrel with some phosphoric acid, which removed rust and residual old bluing. Rinse in hot water and dry quickly. Then I sprayed the barrels with a semi-gloss balck enamel. There's a trick to getting a good appearance: Give the barrels a light mist coat first, and just before it's dry, go over it again with another coat to get full wet coverage. If you have the entire surface wet at one time, it will dry to a very nice uniform appearance. It looked pretty good, but I worried that it might not be very durable in the field.
So after that had dried a couple of days, I went over it again using the same techniques with an aerosol of semi-gloss polyurethane. This dried down ok by next morning and really looked good, but the finish had a drag feeling to it. I was thinking about stripping it and polishing the barrels, but put it off while I was cleaning up the rusted action frame. When I got back to it after about 4 or 5 days, it was hard, slick and tough. The end result is a shotgun that almost looks like new from a few feet away, and it was easy and cheap to produce.
I've used the Duracoat finish from Lauer Custom.
Sprayed a Ruger 22 auto pistol I did some customizing on. Followed the directions ( actually got a few tips when I placed the order for the product) and was happy with both the ease it went on with and the durablity.
I have another Ruger in the works for my BIL and will absolutely use the Lauer Duracoat again.
If your interested the web address is: www.lauerweaponry.com
They have quite the selection of finishes and I may do a "Diamond Plate" finish on one of my rifles early next year.