I bought a "russian style" rifle. It's in pretty bad shape inside and out. So I was thinking to send it out to put some kind of coating / finish on it. Since I have no knowledge or experience in this, I would like to ask for your opinion wise ones. What wud you go with? Where Wud you send it? CeraKote? DuraCoat? DiamondKote? NP3? NP3 plus? Other?

Thank you.

Depends on what kind of russian style. AKs typically have a moly-resin over park.

What type of rifle and how much did you pay for it? It doesn't make sense to spend $200 to refinish a rifle that's pitted and you paid $100 for. There are options though.

It is an AK clone WASR to be exact.

And that's exactly why I want to refinish it. What is the point in having a crapy rifle? Its a project.

I like alumahyde from brownells. It comes in a rattle can and holds up pretty good from what I've seen. I did the monster mosin using the stuff and it seems to hold up really good actually. Just thoroughly degrease the thing, i mean really thoroughly, and spray away. It takes a long time to cure, but the wait is well worth it. The longer you wait before you use it the better.

tuktuk use the Alumahyde as usnmars said. Pick the color you like and do it your self I have used it on a couple guns and it works well.

 

I tried duracote on 3 guns and I had bad results and there customer support sucked! They told me I decreased them to much. Its just not worth the money.

 

Degrease with brake clean,it may remove the old finish also if its painted. then heat with a heat gun and spray a light coat, then heat between coats. Thats how I do it and it works well.

 

stuff paper towels inside the receiver .

 

I just did a vz58 in semi black and it came out nice.

 

around $14 bucks a can but the shipping may run 11 bucks or so .

I am #3 to say Alumahyde. Been using it for a few years now and the stuff works well.

It is an AK clone WASR to be exact.

And that's exactly why I want to refinish it. What is the point in having a crapy rifle? Its a project.

 

You could have just spent a couple more bucks and gotten a better AK with a better finish!

 

But it is a project, so it should be fun.

 

I dunno if you're a fan or not of the stock wood, but look into doing some work to that as well. IMO WASR's have terrible stock wood, it's rough and doesn't look good, but if you do some work on it, it can come out looking really good.

Birdsong is my favorite but its expensive and will probably take 6-8 months to get back. Second would definately look into nitriding. Its relatively inexpensive and coats all surfaces inside the barrel included. It basically bonds with the metal hardening it to the point you will break drill bits on it if you ever have to do any work to it. The downside is the color may be uneven after this process is done and a duracoat may be needed for looks