sandblasting/beadblasting as a finish?

[zoli28]

has anybody tried it yet? i'm thinking it might look good!

 

[jkc]

On what finish or surface? I've had beadblasting done on several different stainless steel guns, including the topstraps of 640s, and the entire exposed surfaces of a Ruger M77 rifle that I wanted to be glint-free for predator hunting. On stainless, it provides a dull, gray, matte, non-reflective finish, which may be a little more susceptible to rust and corrosion than a highly polished finish. Assumably, the process will remove bluing, and the various "coatings" in current common use, so you will probably need to refinish carbon steel surfaces with some rust/corrosion protective finish, which may, by itself achieve the desired result. Beadblasting is quite labor intensive, in part because it requires a thorough cleaning of the affected parts to remove the insidious blasting media. An alternative for small areas may be stippling, which also produces a matte, non-reflective finish, and also creates a roughened grip surface, maybe at less expense than beadblasting.

 

[mi2600]

I don't know about beadblasting, but sandblasted metal rusts in a heartbeat.

 

[ranger25]

In my experience beadblasting is less hard on the metal removes any finish and leaves a smoother texture and can polished or not. Then coated wit brownells clear matte and baked at 90 degrees 30min to one hr,will seal and protect from rust if you want to go with that gray look (very nice)but if you want some for of color bead blasting is not rough enough to grip the coating. and primer tend to fill in serial # and other stamping. now sand blasting is my preferable method.it does penetrate
metal if done correctly provides a perfect surface for coating i wont name any brands. but after blasting as with bead blasting it should not be touched before coating wear clean rubber gloves after handling and soak the parts in a chemical to remove any residue TSP (overnight) my favorite or acetone 20-30 min. let parts air dry (when removing from chemical use a coat hanger to hang dry also for the coating. alot of hype on certain coating products but i use ahigh temp engine paint with the ceramic additive resist chipping and is tough. hope this helps just my opinion

 

[Gopher Slayer]

There's one in the 15-22 pic thread. The guy painted it white and it didn't work out. Then he media blasted it. It looked dull, but I kinda liked it.

 

[zoli28]

what page of the picture thread? i'd like to see it. and i'm talking about blasting all of the polymer on a 15-22

 

[Gopher Slayer]

53
almost all the way down

 

[ethan5.3]

and i'm talking about blasting all of the polymer on a 15-22

Hmm. That would be interesting. It seems like the best way to do that might be a soda blasting (baking soda basically) or another delicate blasting process, like walnuts with low pressure. I would think sandblasting would leave grooves and pits in the finish.

Soda blasting can be done pretty easily with just plain 'ol baking soda, an air compressor, and a blowout gun. You could get these items and play around with the air pressure on some scrap material and maybe work your way up to an inconspicuous replaceable part of the rifle like the "buffer tube" or the pistol grip.

The only other concern that comes to mind is damaging the fiber matrix if you take off too much material.

If you just want a more dull finish there might be better (but slower) alternatives to blasting.

Just my $0.02

 

[zoli28]

thanks for the page number, slayer. i like the look. so ethan, what's your thought as to a better, slower alternative? thanks