Unfinished Receivers - as in non-black receivers

[11Bravo]

By unfinished I mean receivers that have no surface coat on them, as in raw aluminum or even stainless steel.

So, where would one look for a lower and an A2 upper that are unfinished?
I don't even have the current build done, or even started for that matter; only have the stripped lower, but already thinking of the next build.
Would like to build a NM rifle and was thinking that polished aluminum or stainless with a stainless barrel and the rest black would look sweet.
Similar to this one - stolen from another thread:



Imagine all of the tan being shiny silver and all the black being black.
Differences would be an A2 stock and the forearm would be standard A2 rifle length free floated.
Barrel would be 20".
Thinking that everything that could be seen from the firing position would likely need to be a flat black also to prevent glare.

Maybe, could the black finish be polished off?

Have a good one,

Greg

[T3550N]

I don't have any firearms experience that would lead me to make the following statement, just knowledge from working in machine shop.

By 'Unfinished' do you mean, not anodized?
Anodizing aluminum isn't just for color it's for hardness.

I'm not sure how well a non-anodized aluminum receiver would hold up.

Like I said, I can't base that off of firearms experience. So I'm ready to be corrected.

[11Bravo]

snip...Anodizing aluminum isn't just for color it's for hardness.

Sort of, it is for surface hardness; it isn't like tempering steel.
The process of anodizing is an artificial oxidation process that creates a thicker layer of aluminum oxide than forms naturally.
So called "hard anodizing" still is only a surface process but is deeper.
Color can be added during the process or not; clear anodizing is possible but polishing it will take it off.
And I'm ready to be corrected as well.

[bkb0000]

for a match rifle i cant see it NEEDING anodizing.. as you say, aluminum oxidizes on it's own to a degree, so after so many days of oxygen exposure it's already developed it's own corrosion resistance (what the hell corrodes aluminum anyway? i've never known). hardness is only needed for something thats getting knocked around drug across gravel banged into bricks and clattering against all your other gear.

i'm sure SOMEONE would be willing to sell you a freshly machined receiver set.. i'd call MEGA, and similar smaller machine shops that make AR parts. maybe not right at the moment, because of how busy every is- i've offered some hefty fees for custom work, and even at twice the usual rate i've been turned down.

otherwise, simply sandblasting will remove the anodize. any welding or fabrication shop will have blasting cabinets. maybe you could even do some kind of hardening clear coat, to keep it metallic shiny? does gun-kote make "clear?"

ETA: i think it would look pimpin'... i love funky stuff. tacticool is great, but unique is fun.

ETAA: http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/sto...20GUN%20FINISH they do make silvery nickly matte gun-kote... this might be a simpler solution

[T3550N]

(what the hell corrodes aluminum anyway? i've never known). hardness is only needed for something thats getting knocked around drug across gravel banged into bricks and clattering against all your other gear.

Not necessarily relevant, but the marine environment sure does.

[spamsammich]

Mercury does a good job of eating up elemental aluminum from what I've been told.

[lanceriley]

almuminum is still very soft. you'd still bang it and dent it. and what about the internal part of the upper reciever.? with the bolt sliding in and out like that...you can still mess up the aluminum.

don't know about gun kote. but I know duracoat has clear.. you can bead blast the reciever then duracoat it clear.

[bkb0000]

almuminum is still very soft. you'd still bang it and dent it. and what about the internal part of the upper reciever.? with the bolt sliding in and out like that...you can still mess up the aluminum.

don't know about gun kote. but I know duracoat has clear.. you can bead blast the reciever then duracoat it clear.

tru dat, as they say. I didn't think about the inside of the upper. i'd gun-kote it nickle, mang.

[chadbag]

sun devil makes a shiny metal finish set of receivers

don't remember what it is called but it looks cool

saw them at the SAR show in Phoenix in Dec

Chad

[NinjaMedic]

I just want a matched upper and lower in the Type 3 Hard Anodizing FDE color that DD uses for their RIS ll rails. Maybe Larue could have a run of stealth sets done this way and only sell the matched upper and lower?