PRODUCT AND SERVICE REVIEW
DURA-COATING AND
ANDREW STARK (WBH) AR WORK

BY GROG

This is going to be a review of two different items. One is Dura-Coating provided by Lauer Custom Coatings. Mike Nahorniak recently conducted a contest on this web site. He also was kind enough to provide me with a lot of his materials to try out myself. At the same time, I was having my SP-1 sporter re-done by Andrew Stark (WBH). Andy is a great guy and a very skilled machinist. I wanted a flat-top AR front sight and a rear peep sight put on my sporter. Andy was up to the challenge!!! He did a very fine job on my AR! The AR was received a couple weeks ago and I just got a chance to give the Dura-Coating a try! I decided to do my “shortie forty” a 40 caliber pistol converted AR with a collapsible stock that I keep at home as a home defense weapon. I also decided to do the sporter upper to match. The camo pack that I used is a “Tiger Stripe” pack. I decided to do a pattern that would look good in the local woodlands. I used my basement as a “painting booth” and opened all the windows, and even the door. I suspended both the AR and the upper from a clothesline using wire hanger pieces. (Made it much easier to paint both sides, top and bottom at the same time) I mixed the coating as per instructions provided, and painted the light colors first. I then used pieces of hard paper and cut out patterns to use as painting templates. I also used curved pieces to help “mask” the already painted parts. Personally, I think it worked great!! It looks great too!! It took about 4 hours to do both parts and some matching magazines, butt stock, scope, carry handle and other items. Here are some photos of the finished work!!

The Dura-coating was allowed to cure for a week, while I tried not to disturb the hanging pieces, as I wanted a nice hardened product. Mike says that it cures for two weeks, but we all couldn’t wait to get the photos up and do some testing… I tried to scratch off the coating with my fingernail of both the handguard and metal parts. No scratches!! This is a very tough coating!! (I would love to see my old XM-21 from Ft Campbell painted up like this!!!) I love the camo effect, and the dull coat does not reflect light. No shiny parts at all. As you can tell, I took the photos in bright sunlight so you can see the pattern. Works very well. As you can see from the SP-1 upper, the quality work provided by Andy works very well, and is very functional. I highly recommend both of these products and services! We’ll add Wendell’s AR photos when he gets it done and back. It does take a wee bit of talent and a little patience to get a result like above. The important parts are to try to break up the pattern of the AR with both light and dark colors and to try not to have too much light or dark in one place. Also I recommend using the lighter colors first, and also templates to keep “over spray” to a minimum. I think they look FANTASTIC!!! Links to both individuals can be found on our links page. GROG