ALternative receiver coating

I am building a retro XM177E2 with an M16A1 upper and S&W M&P15 lower. The S&W lower and 4 position buffer tube are flat black, but the upper is dark grey. They don't look too bad two-tone, but not the retro look I want. I thought of Duracote ($60), and another one (sure-coat or something like that) for $30. They defeat the purpose of my building this on an unemployed shoestring. I was in LOWE's yesterday getting a can of concrete paint when I saw a can of flat dark grey Rustoleum primer for $4 and change.

To make a long story short, I got it, degreased the lower and 4 position tube, and sprayed several light coats of the primer. It dried a perfect match. After oiling it. it is very slightly darker, but almost unnoticeable to the naked eye. Sure, it won't last through daily use in a war, but it should be good enough for my purposes. The primer really grabbed the hard coat anodizing!!! I used Rustoleum high temp black on a pakerized AK a couple years ago, and it was indestructible.

I will post pics tomorrow when I can do a daylight shot.

The military uses what is essentially an expensive spray paint to touch up the finish on their weapons - a product called solid film lubricant. You can probably find it at a good industrial supply house like MSC or Grainger, or have a NAPA dealer order some for you if you so desired. It runs about $15-20 a can, though, and is not especially durable.

I have used both gray and red primer in camo patterns several times on various guns; it worked for me. I never thought of using it as a base coat on an AR receiver though - that's thinking outside the box!

Here's pics. Let it dry, then wiped it with Rem-Oil or Break-Free, finally wiped it down almost dry.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...8/XM1771-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...8/XM1772-1.jpg