I mentioned I had dropped my Handi 30-06 in the river on another thread. Someone asked to hear about it, and had questions on the colors I used.
OK, I dropped the rifle in the Chatanika River back in 2006, while rafting down the river. We hit a sweeper, (a tree leaning out and hanging down on the river) and almost tipped the raft. My rifle fell overboard. River was about five feet deep at that point, but the sweeper presented a problem in trying to retrieve the gun. We were only a short distance from the landing and the truck. So I marked the spot with a GPS and we went on home. Came back two days later with a big magnet, and a chain saw. I was able to ride my ATV to the location. Used the ATV to pull the tree back onshore, as I cut it with the chain saw. Once the sweeper was removed I used the magnet to test for the location of the gun. On about the fifth or sixth toss I felt it grab something. I worked around where I was not dragging it across the bottom but lifting it clear of the bottom. Worked it over near shore, where I could see it. I stepped into two feet of water and picked it up.
Once home I disassembled it and started cleaning it up. I had a cartridge in the chamber, and one of those little condom type barrel covers on it, when it fell into the river. I found no water in the barrel at all when I opened it. All the internal parts had rusted, so I took them to the wire wheel on my bench grinder and cleaned them up. I cleaned the outside of the gun with brake fluid to remove the light rust on the action and barrel. Next morning they had rusted again overnight. I cleaned them once more, and set them up to watch. Next morning they had rusted again. So I cleaned them up one more time and prepped them for painting. I used Rustolium Textured paint. The color was Sage. The wood I roughed up with steel wool, and used Rustolium Accents Paint. The color was Black Granite. This gave a feel of sand in the paint on the metal, making it easy to grip. A really rough texture on the wood, that to me looks great. People are constantly coming up[ and asking where I got the custom camo job. I tell them a friend did it, and leave it at that. If I tell them I did it myself and what I used they are in shock that I would paint a gun with Rustolium paint.
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