Refinish 700 floor plate and trigger guard...with what?

[fireroad]

I would like to have the floor plate and trigger guard on my 1988 Remington 700 Mountain rifle refinished as they are a little scratched up. The current finish is original glossy black but appears to be a paint of some kind versus blued (Remington can't tell me what it is, possibly just polished and painted). I would like to duplicate the look, but in a tougher finish. Any sugestions?

[Scorch]

The factory finish is a painted finish. To refinish, remove the steel pieces and polish the aluminum (bead blasting before reinishing helps immensely). Then you can either have the parts hard anodized and colored, or you can apply a finish like GunKote or Cerakote.

[fireroad]

Do Gunkote or Cerakote have a gloss black finish? The only one i found so far is Duracoat.

[Scorch]

Both GunKote and Cerakote are available in gloss black.

[GeauxTide]

Good time to replace with a steel trigger/floorplate group.

[James K]

Painted? They look like anodized aluminum to me.

Jim

[fireroad]

Definatley painted, not anodized...it is a 22 yr old rifle.

What would be the benefit of replacing it with a steel setup...and where would I get one from?

[FlyFish]

The primary benefit is that it would look much, much better. It'd probably be stronger as well, but I don't think that's a big consideration.

Brownells sells the part, but they cost megabucks - well over $200 as I recall, and that's "in the white" so there'd be the cost of getting it blued, along with some minor fitting. I have a 700 I've always wanted to put a steel floorplate on, but I just can't justify the expense.

[fireroad]

Good to hear gunkote and cerakote come in gloss black. I've always been impressed on how tought cerakote is.

I thnk I'll pass on the steel floor plate. This is a mountain rifle so I paid extra to keep the weight down. It would be silly to drop $200 on a heavier floorplate that serves no function other than to look nice.

Anybody recomend a good smith that does Cerakote?

[257roberts]

Take it to the bare metal and apply appliance epoxy paint. You can get it at any hardware store. I have a well used 243 that I did about 6 or seven years ago and it still looks fine. It comes in gloss black.

[fireroad]

Great tip, appliance paint is tough stuff. Brownells also carries gunkote in gloss black as well.

[LukeA]

You can get started applying Gun Kote for about $80, and half that much if you're allowed to use an oven you already own.

That $80 includes:

pint of your desired color bought from KG (non-aerosol)
cheap airbrush
toaster oven for baking

Sure it's cheaper to buy aerosol cans from Brownell's but you can't mix your own colors or get the full variety of colors and the price per ounce is much higher from Brownell's.