This DIY refinishing project took longer than expected, it started way back in the Winter but now it's finally done. Most of the wait was due to having to send my barreled action off to get a new barrel screwed on. It turns out that when I painted everything the first time and reassembled it, the barrel was on its last legs, so I had to find another barrel, get a gunsmith to knock it out, and wait for the end result so I could refinish the barrel...again. So without further adieu....
The rifle started out painted in Krylon camo colors with a DuraCoat OD Green base coat on the barreled action, scope rail, and muzzle brake.
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That all had to be stripped off and I used a combination of Citri Strip and Kleen Strip foaming paint remover once I'd torn the rifle completely down. Before I go too much farther, I'd like to give a huge shout out to Custom Gun Coatings, I called them a couple times while I was trying to completely disassemble the AX AICS chassis and was given very helpful advice, I only ****ed it up a little bit. The Citri Strip did a great job at removing the krylon layers from the skins, chassis, and some of the other small parts and the smell didn't want to chase me out of the room. However, when it came to the DuraCoat, experience has taught me that products like Citri Strip aren't going to cut it so I turned to the foaming paint stripper and let it do. It works incredibly well but sometimes I hate working with it because it is volatile and I had to take precautions so that I didn't get chemical burns on my hands and arms and make sure I was working with plenty of ventilation.
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Here's the foaming paint stripper in action, in the background you can see that I already have the muzzle brake, scope base, and bolt body stripped down. It all I think it took about a weekend to get everything completely stripped down and ready to paint.
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I knew from the beginning that I was going to use DuraCoat again for this project because for me it's easy to work with and forgiving if I make a mistake. I also don't need much in the way of equipment as I can accomplish a pretty satisfactory result with a Preval Sprayer from Home Depot and a hair dryer. I went back and forth on color selections and eventually settled on DuraCoat Tactical Coyote Brown and had the skins hydro dipped in Multicam. There are tons of articles on how to properly apply paint so I'm not going to delve into that topic here but I just wanted to show you what kind of end result can be achieved with some pretty simple tools for those that would wish to do it themselves. My next project is going to be refinishing my other AX AICS and AAC-SD in a similar fashion as this rifle, although with a more OD Green theme to it.
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Rifle specs.
2014 AX AICS Chassis
Remington 700 SA
Badger Ordnance Bolt Knob
Badger Ordnance 30 MOA Base
Bartlein 6.5mm Heavy Palma Barrel Chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor (Thank you LRI !)
Area419 Muzzle Brake
Harris Bipod
NF 1.375" UL 34mm Rings
NF 5-25 ATAC-R F1
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