waffle stock ,removing paint

[micmacman]

wrapping up the M4A1 clone build , looking through my parts drawers for a stock that would pass for correct and low and behold i found one with a cage code 8FW25 , it is made by a Gov Contractor Prudent American Technologies , its a legit M4 Gov stock , zero idea where i picked it up , and zero clue how long ive had it ,(memory is fading) ,probably gun show few years back, thats the good

the bad , is its been camo painted , no idea what kind of paint but denatured alcohol isnt touching it , suggestions on what to try to remove the paint , i dont want to melt the plastic with something caustic , half way tempted to matte finish black it , would rather restore , the waffle area may prove problematic

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[Singer B]

Do you have any M-Pro 7? Surprisingly, I have seen it remove paint and it doesn't harm plastic. Good luck!

[ssgross]

Simple mineral spirits should not harm the stock. Whatever you choose to scrub with, though, might. I would opt for soaking an area by saturating a rag with mineral spirits and setting it on the stock, then scrubbing the paint off with a stiff AP brush (the blue ones). Singer, I'd bet there is mineral spirits in M-Pro 7. It's the main ingredient in many such light oils (although M-Pro 7 isn't as light as others). Heck, WD-40 is almost all mineral spirits.

[micmacman]

thanks guys , i will first find some M pro 7 , i usually use old socks that developed toe holes , they are a heavy fabric especially the top half coupled with elbow grease , its slow but safe , the waffle areas concern me , im thinking i may spray the nooks and crannys black , wipe off the rest and concentrate removing the easier areas , i did some digging last night , these go for $50 -$60 so worth some effort

ive only painted two AR's , my farm gun which i built 100% from PSA on sale parts so the stock didnt come from there and the paint isnt mine , the pistol has a brace and was a debacle so i removed the paint , 0000 wool with some CLP was surprisingly gentle on the stubborn areas not damaging the plastic or rubber on the brace

[micmacman]

actually , been doing some digging and i think i am going to try Goo Gone Graffiti remover , suppose to be good to go on plastic and polymer and very effective , and is in stock at my Lowes , its my day off after a long day yesterday so getting motivated is a slow process,lol

[micmacman]

the plot thickens , its FDE under the paint , talked to a fella that deals in allot of used military surplus parts about it , he says yes its a legit M4 contract stock before i stripped the paint , when i found out it was FDE under the paint i asked did the military even purchase or contract FDE parts , or was this more than likely a Gov contract part , he said yes hes seen it before its G2G , i didnt want to be a pest so im guessing "seen it before" means it not unheard of but not overly common

the bad thing is FDE doesnt work with what i need so im buying a stock after all, lol , my luck , at least i found a nice stock in my parts bins , i have it about 80% clean now , got rained out , i took befores , so when im done i will do before and afters to show the Goo Gone Graffiti job, it had zero adverse reaction to the stock , i was having slow progress at first , then i was talking to my neighbor for about 15-20 minutes and when i started back to it it was easier , it needed time to soften the paint , the nooks and cranny's i am using a flat head screw drive , its pushing the paint off with little effort from the hard to reach and crevice's

i almost talked myself into painting it black but thought the FDE would show through once it wore , i have a really nice Armalite on the rifle now but it has the swoop in front of the lever instead of the 90 degree step

[Singer B]

So the Goo Gone worked? That's good to know!