Aluma Black??

**Rundownfid** · November 21st, 2011, 04:50 PM

I recently bought an unfinished Ar 15 barrel. The seller suggested Aluma Black (Birchwood Casey). This seem odd as the barrel is steel of course? Has anyone used this successfully if not what would you suggest to protect the steel from rust and corrosion?

**39flathead** · November 21st, 2011, 11:58 PM

I think he meant this:
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1...MA-HYDE-reg-II

If you are going to do a home finish, it works half decent, just do the prep work correctly. I used it on an old Mossberg once and it worked pretty well except for where the action bars would rub the tube, but if it wore off or got scuffed, I just hit it with another coat.

You might want to find someone to Duracoat it or look at some of the other things Brownells has:
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/cid=1...Paint-Finishes

**tabasco_joe** · November 22nd, 2011, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by Rundownfid

I recently bought an unfinished Ar 15 barrel. The seller suggested Aluma Black (Birchwood Casey). This seem odd as the barrel is steel of course? Has anyone used this successfully if not what would you suggest to protect the steel from rust and corrosion?

I've used it for touch up when I changed out gas blocks. I don't think it would work well for a complete barrel.

**Brian Ahearn** · November 22nd, 2011, 09:07 AM

The best of the ceramic paint finishes is cerakote, you could also use gunkote or duracoat. Duarcoat offers kits with sprayers so that you can do it at home. Dura coat offers a hi temp coating as well that would work very well on your barrel. If you have any problems or questions while doing just email me or call 610-252-5334 I would be happy to walk you thru it.

**Rundownfid** · November 22nd, 2011, 11:05 PM

Thank you gentlemen, excellent information. I am leaning toward Duracoat, baked.

**Xpertz** · November 23rd, 2011, 09:08 AM

Check this company. They have many good products. I have used a lot of them with excellent results.

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/index.html

**Nate7667** · November 23rd, 2011, 01:15 PM

nothing wrong with parkerizing either

**nathaniel.seacat** · November 23rd, 2011, 02:06 PM

Do not use cold blue. I used it last night after days of prep work, and it looks like dog shit. I guess it will make a nice base for a top coat of some form.

**762xIan** · November 27th, 2011, 08:58 AM

Aluma black is a pretty good product for doing touch ups on ALUMINUM....I have had decent results with it on worn items and parts making them black again.

As for barrel finish, I would opt for parkerizing myself, it isn't hard to do, and for a stripped barrel, I don't see a smith charging you a lot to do it either.

For bake on finishes, I have a FAL I did with GunKote (black) about 8 years ago, still looks good and a few scratches here and there, but a very tough finish. It really comes down to prep work on the spray and bakes. If you prep properly it will adhere the best.

Do not use cold blue. I used it last night after days of prep work, and it looks like dog shit. I guess it will make a nice base for a top coat of some form.

Cold blue is hard to do a large piece and get a nice uniform color of blue. I pretty much just use cold blue for touch up work myself.