J.C. Higgins Model 30 Rescue

HIghstandardguy said:

Looks really good. What did you use to clear coat?

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I didn't do that part of the project for him. I'm old-fashioned, so painting guns is just not in my nature. I'm helping him tear the guns down and reassemble them. I showed him how to prep and rust blue or anodize the parts of a gun after it's disassembled and how to get water and oil stains out of the wood.

He wanted to clear coat this one himself and figured he knew enough about that sort of thing to maintain or repair the coating. He figured in the worst case, he could just go ahead and anodize it if his experiment didn't work as planned. I think it will be okay myself from what I've seen.

I told him what I've heard about firearms clear coat products, and printed out the brochures on Cerakote MC-5100 and H300. But he ended up choosing a clear Duplicolor Engine Enamel with ceramic that he tested himself on some scrap aluminum. He said Boretech carbon and rimfire products that he likes to use didn't phase it and he figured an engine product would be formulated to stand up to, heat, dirt, salt, and oil much worse than it's likely to receive from a hunting trip.

He hung the clear-coated parts in a movers garment box from Home Depot for 24 hours to dry in order to avoid dust bunnies and then oven cured them for two hours at 225 F.

He was worried about the headspace and loose barrel fit. So he had me put everything back together again and test it. My impression was that the enamel felt as tough as a bowling ball. Note there are timing marks on the barrel and receiver on these to aid in getting the extractor cut lined up properly. So long as the end of the barrel ends up flush with the inside face of the receiver when the extractor cut is lined up, your headspace should be okay. I used a couple of drops of Loctite 638 retaining compound because this particular gun was a slightly loose fit after everything was lined up and checked with my go and no-go gauges.