Whitewash?

[Voidwalkerj62]

Building a tradions hawkins rifle and it's time for wood work. I live in northern montana and I was thinking this would make a great winter rifle. So my question is has anyone had any luck with darkening all the metal and white washing the wood? If you have done this any ideas on products? Is this maybe a dumb idea?

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Never figured that the animals care what color my gear was, that seems to be a people thing. I am most likely not understanding what you mean by whitewash.




I am sure others will have a different opinion.

 

[Zonie]

Welcome to the forum Voidwalkerj62.

It sounds like your wanting to build a camouflaged gun so it blends in with the snow?

I might be wrong but I really doubt that anyone here has tried doing that but, you never know until you ask.

If that is what you want to end up with, go for it but remember, you probably won't be able to sell it for much more than scrap prices.

Getting to my own opinion, I don't think you will see any benefit from camouflaging the stock, even if it is with something white.

Deer and other critters are use to seeing dark wood colored things sticking out at all sorts of angles in the wild. A brown stock would just look like another strange shaped limb.

As for darkening the metal, most of us prefer browning but bluing works too.

If you use a solution that rust browns the barrel it not only ends up brown but it is a soft, non-reflective finish so it will blend in nicely with natural things.

You probably don't want to leave the barrel in its natural steel color, usually referred to as "being in the white".

 

[coloradoclyde]

Whitewash or lime wash has a high PH....so I wouldn't recommend that. Besides it rubs off easily.
If you're going to do something "unconventional" and non-PC/HC you might as well use spray paint.

If you're looking for winter camo....I would just wrap it with long strips of white bed sheet material.....It's cheap, removable, and breaks up the outline.

 

[Ames]

White hockey stick tape. Or white tape from a first aid kit will work too.

 

[BrownBear]

White hockey stick tape. Or white tape from a first aid kit will work too.

That's very common for duck hunters up here. Experience sezz to wax the gun first so there's less mess and hassle when it's time for the tape to go away.

 

[eggwelder]

I think a white stocked muzzleloader with browned or blued steel would look pretty cool. not traditional, but each to his own. I would look for a very pale white wood (nothing is springing to mind) to carve the stock from, then you just have to seal it with the clear coat of your choice. if I was to "whitewash", I think I`d use a tough military type white flat paint. it will seal the stock and won`t wear off during cleanings, and it will get dirty. myself, if concerned about camo, I`d just use hessian, burlap painted different camo colors, or cheesecloth(white)for winter and wrapped around the rifle. that way, if I was to use it for hunting but then wanted to go to Rendevous(if that is your thing)you wouldn`t need to have a separate rifle for that.
it`s your rifle do what you will, show us the finished result. some will love it but be prepared for the traditionalists and their scathing reviews. keep in mind that this is a Traditional forum, and that needs to be respected as well.

 

[Ames]

Yep. Wax. X2.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

That's very common for duck hunters up here

They've found that waterfowl, ducks and geese, and etc. see colors. So.., if it was a fowler for shooting ducks, I'd say go for it, but use tape.

Voidwalkerj62 wrote:
..., white washing the wood?

For deer? You have more of a problem with movement and noise, and then with scent, than you do with the color of your rifle (imho).

If you use plain lye soap so no perfume, and expose your outer hunting garments to smoke from a hardwood fire, plus learn to move quiet and slow, with the wind never from behind you..., you'll have more success than with a white gun vs. deer.

OH and I'd be careful about carrying anything white in the woods when hunting whitetails. I have a very nice white, screwtip, powder horn that I don't hunt with in the woods..., even on private property. A poacher doesn't respect game laws; he's not going to respect property lines. Plus there are too many yahoos out there these days, as well.


LD

 

[kansas_volunteer]

The Army way is to wrap something white around the rifle. The easiest option is engineer tape, a kind of light weight white webbing. Just enough is used to break up the outline, not cover it totally.

I think the HC/PC option would be to rip strips from a white Hudson Bay blanket and wrap these around your rifle.

I can provide you with a few good recipes for white was if you can't find some on line. Not all white was flakes off badly. I've painted old buildings with it.

 

[Black Hand]

Building a tradions hawkins rifle and it's time for wood work. I live in northern montana and I was thinking this would make a great winter rifle. So my question is has anyone had any luck with darkening all the metal and white washing the wood? If you have done this any ideas on products? Is this maybe a dumb idea?

Why would you want to do this? The animal doesn't care what color the gun is....

 

[Col. Batguano]

This would be the muzzle loading equivalent of the Imperial Blaster.....A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

If it was me, I'd just use the Force.

 

[Walks with fire]

Deer do not see color the way humans do but see color in different shades of grey. Blue is the easiest color for them to see.Deer see movement. You could use a little white medical tape on the stock to break up the outline if you wanted but that's about as far as I would go.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

avoid the whitewash. Slaked lime is nothing to get near your eyes and hands. I have seen some bizarre stocks and the only "white" was a fake ivory stock on a pistol that CVA sold in it's early years. The late Ron Griffie showed up at a match with a half stock rifle back around 1980 on which he had painted the stock a bright metal flake green. Too much beer and a "too handy" paint sprayer I am thinking. There are elastic sleeves used for all kinds of thinks. They come in all kinds of colors. Perhaps one of those in white and just cut an opening for the lock and trigger. The sleeve is removable. They sell large ones for horses' necks to keep them clean and preserve the braided manes on the way to shows. A similar thing is a jobst sleeve used for burn victims arms and legs.(far more expensive) Bribe your lady to sew one out of stretchy white material. Stores sell elastic book covers out of the same thin material as the horse neck sleeves for around a buck on sale. Figure skaters use this type of sleeve over their skates to match their "program" outfits.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Does Traditions make a plastic stock for this gun as a "drop in"? Mabe you could get one of those and paint it. The 10th Mtn Division had white M1 Garand wood. I got a spare crummy stock (no collector value) and painted it white for my winter gun. It sure turns heads at the range!

 

[eggwelder]

anyone notice this guy hasn`t been back?

 

[Black Hand]

11 days isn't really all that long. It has been a tough winter in MT this year...

 

[BrownBear]

avoid the whitewash. Slaked lime is nothing to get near your eyes and hands.

The way I wallow around in the woods and sweat, that's good enough for me.

Thanks.

 

[Col. Batguano]

anyone notice this guy hasn`t been back?

Maybe he's here, and is just camouflaged, like his gun.