It all started last year when during hunting season I realized that I wanted a semi-auto for it's flexibility in carrying and change LOP to compensate for gear that I might be wearing. After talking with dogfish about it and taking inventory of what I had on hand, I decided on 6.8 SPC.

TO HECK with background checks and permission slips! I decided to make my own from an 80%.


And because I bought a suit of ECWCS and feeling inspired by John Witherspoon "You got to coordinate.", I decided on OCP to finish the rifle.

Now I never have done any firearm finishing or ever sprayed paint. No matter, I never ran a mill before and I made two 1911s this year in mill too. So surely I could run an airbrush. Duracoat sells a kit of six colors for OCP and instead of using their stencil, I decided on the OCP stencil from Montactical. I've talked enough. Now, on to pictures.

That looks great! Well done sir.

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Wow! Nice work!

When should I drop my stuff off? Lol

Very nice!

Holy smokes, that is badass.

Fantastic!

I can't believe you POSTED this......oh, wait, it says you made OCP, never mind.....

Seriously, though, nicely done, Dreadly

awesome work and a +1 on the permission slips ( 594 go suck bulls balls)

Damn Brother, is there something you're not good at? You've got an impressive style of doing your research and jumping in with both feet and churning out some very enviable results. Very nice work.

That looks just as good, if not better than most factory jobs. Very nice!

That looks super slick! I've been tossing the idea around recently for my SPR, very inspiring. I am curious to see how the duracote holds up on your upper and lower that started in the white.
Two questions, did you do the scope and mount in OCP as well? Second, are you going to do something with that 1911 in the first pic?

Thank you.

I did some soul searching during this project. Either it's nature or nurture for me. I'm the son of a craftsman and my career has been spent working and producing events. The level of events that I've been on for a few years do not have room for error or else heads will roll. One of our service standards is, "Do it right the first time every time." Perhaps that's the nature and nurture that explains why I do jump straight in with drive to make it 100%. There are other components too such as, personal pride, not wasting my money and time, and the simple fact that I can't afford or rather, I choose not to spend my money on having a professional do the job. I checked in with a couple shops that use Cerakote. You get what you pay for. One shop wanted around $900 for the rifle and optics. They do great work. The other wanted around $300. I had a friend, former Army Ranger that spent time wearing OCP, look the $300 work. In his words, "That looks like continents, not camo." The YL agreed and she's a born and bread Seattlite. So, onward to DIY!




I did not coat the optics, mount, stock or grips. As a matter of indecision, I decided that since this rifle is still new and more likely to have furniture or optics change than anything else, I would wait and do them later if I decide to keep it as you see in the first picture. While I most likely won't ever sell a gun ever again, in case I wanted to change the optics, I didn't want to have scope in OCP that either wouldn't match another firearm, or wouldn't be able to sell without a big loss.

I'm interested too in the durability of Duracoat. I can tell you this, 24 hours is not enough curing time in my current conditions to prevent it from coming off in tight, no tolerance places. I've begun reassembly and there some place where I put on too much and possibly should have masked them off until a final color and blended it. The gas block is currently pretty tight to get on, so it and that part of the barrel have had Kroil on them since last night and I will see how easily it goes on. The safety selector and take down pins are also very tight now. With lube they move much easier and they still look good.

As someone told me, prep is everything. For anyone thinking of doing this, if you're a novice like me, work on your skills by coating some old tools first. I have a shovel that looks a lot better since I covered the rust instead of poring out left over Duracoat. Also, have some small projects prepped and ready for when you have left over Duracoat in your jar. There's probably more than a few items you have around the house would look even better with a fresh color. Old barns are nice, but they really shine with new red paint. Ya dig? Why not tear down that old knife? Got some AR small parts laying around? You could give an accent to your black rifle with just a half ounce of Duracoat left. I always found myself with lagniappe and would have not wasted it if I had thought about small project before hand. How about cleaning up those rusty C Clamps? Practice on those Magpul dust covers.....that we all have laying around.

Yes, the 1911 will get a finishing. I haven't decided on the color(s) yet though. I have two lower receivers, two 1911s, a 300blk pistol, and a Chilean Mauser that all need finishing. Perhaps I need a spray booth too. I did all that work outside, in the open, which I don't recommend unless you have all the Duracoat reducers and retarders that you need for remedying dry spray, along with trying different head and needle sizes and adjusting your air pressure. I don't mind that this job has multiple textures due to it not laying down completely smooth but, for my 1911s, I want it smooth like fine crystal.

I think you succeeded in coordinating. Mighty fine looking rifle! Love OCP.
I give it

Thank you.

https://youtu.be/Viai9bgo5KM




FYI. You can remove multiple layers of Duracoat easily during the curing time with. I had about .003" too much on part of the barrel and had to either remove it or open up the gas block inner diameter. I choose to remove it, with Kroil and oxide cloth. I can recoat later if I choose too.