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I see a lot of people put a good bit of effort into camouflaging all their gear and completely ignore
their weapon. All general purpose long guns should be camouflaged. The first time you apply that spray can to your $2000
rifle/optic combo is a watershed moment. I see some people that have spent a lot of energy putting an intricate pattern
on their weapon, so much that if you lay it on a background of multi-cam and take a picture from 3 feet away it is hard to
disappear. You can pay to get someone to put this pattern on your weapon but this escapes the point. We
camouflage a weapon because we want it to disappear at a distance. If you read our page on camouflage you know that
shape and silhouette are two things that stick out to the human eye. Long arms have a recognizable shape that can be
spotted over a distance, and to camouflage it you need to use broad stripes that break up that shape. Two or three colors
will do as long as they are the dominant colors in your area.
I will give a basic introduction to a basic “rattle-can”
camouflaging job.
Step 1: clean any oil off the surface. Rubbing
alcohol or engine degreaser will work for this. Apply and wipe off making sure you get into every external nook and
cranny. After a couple of applications let it dry thoroughly. I like to dry it with a heat gun, not a bad idea
if you have one.
Step 2: Disassemble and mask any areas you do not want painted.
(Notice that my weapon’s furniture is in a dominant color already. This makes maintaining a camouflage scheme
on your rifle much easier.) Now you spray your weapon with a light coat of your base/dominant color. Several coats
will be needed with partial drying in between. If it is summer it is good to hang it outside for this. I use a
heat gun in between coats. This might not be necessary.
Step 3: I then reassemble the weapon, removing only the tape as needed,
being sure to locktight optics etc as necessary. After this I use light coats of my alternative colors.
Step 4: Finish reassembling weapon, notice that accessories like slings
need to be a cammo colors as well. I then remove all remaining tape.
Step 5: The job should be thoroughly tested. In this pic you can
see what camouflage does for a long gun.
NOTE: Even if you do not want to camouflage your weapon it is a good
idea to add furniture in a dominant cammo color for your area. (OD or Flat Dark Earth) This will go a long way towards
achieving the same purpose.
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