How To Camo Paint Your Hunting Rifle

When you're out hunting, you probably wear camouflage to be sure you don't stand out against the foliage. But if your gun isn't camouflaged as well, you may stick out like a sore thumb. Fortunately, using paint to apply a camo pattern to your rifle is fairly simple. The following steps will tell you how to do this. Remember that it's very important to keep the paint away from any of the moving parts.

Step 1. Moisten a clean rag with acetone and use it to wipe off any dirt or oils on the gun.

Step 2. Cover any parts of the gun that you don't want to paint (such as the bolt or scope) with masking tape.

Step 3. Take the gun and your painting supplies to a ventilated area. Lay out some garbage bags and position the gun on them for painting. Put on protective eyewear, a painter's mask and gloves.

Step 4. Shake up the paint spray cans before you use them. Begin by painting a khaki colored base layer on one side of the gun. Allow this to dry for 30 minutes. Turn the gun over and repeat with the other side. Once the gun has dried, repeat this entire step to apply a second coat.

Step 5. Tear small pieces off the tip of a sponge brush (this will help you create ragged edges when painting). Spray olive or green paint into a small plastic cup until it is half filled.

Step 6. Dip the sponge brush into the cup of paint. Use it to paint all over one side of the gun randomly. You want to create different sizes and shapes. Try to avoid creating sharp, perfect edges. These blobs should be two or 3 inches apart. Be sure you don't completely cover the khaki. Once the first side is dry, flip the gun over and do the other side. Let it dry.

Step 7. Now fill up another plastic cup halfway with brown paint. Using a second brush that you have prepared just like the first one, start applying entirely random brown lines between the larger green shapes that you painted on earlier. Don't make these lines too thick. Allow the paint to dry and then repeat with the other side of the gun.

Step 8. Examine your gun. It should have an overall khaki background with green blobs and thin brown lines like tiger stripes. Once the gun has fully dried, remove the masking tape.