Have you ever wanted to change things up a little and change the color of your mags and other polymer parts. This can be done for a change of pace or just to mark polymer mags to set them apart from others at the range. That is generally when we bust out the trusted can of spray paint and give it a quick color change. The problem with this is in just a short amount of time, with average use the part will be in need of a new paint job. While this method is quick, it is not the longest lasting option. You could take the parts to someone for them to Duracoat it, but while it lasts longer, it is not the most economical option.
I have a tan Arredondo magwell on my AR and the color did not really go with my rifle. I remembered reading an article once about dyeing polymer parts using hot water and RIT fabric dye so I decided to give it a try. Taking something from tan to pure black takes a while but it was definitely worth it. No one can tell that the magwell was ever another color besides black. Dyeing the polymer part was a lot cheaper than buying another magwell and it will last a lot longer than painting it ever would.
 |
| Dark Earth versus the new Sand color |
Recently Christy got a purple handguard installed on her AR but it needed a little something to balance it out so I filled in the lettering on her gun with purple paint [it was previously pink]. She was still wanting a little more color but not necessarily on the rifle itself. When we were getting her front end put on her gun we saw Magpul P-Mags that were a really pale color . Magpul calls this color "sand". These were much lighter than dark earth and we were told Magpul did this so the mags could be dyed a different color. Remembering this Christy thought the perfect thing to do was to dye her mags purple to match the gun.
A quick trip to the gun store to get the mags and then to Hobby Lobby to pick up some purple dye was soon underway. We wanted to have them done before the 2 Gun match on Sunday so there was no time to waste. I could have dyed our existing tan P-Mags but decided to get the lighter color mags to make things easier. If you want to try this dyeing technique, make sure you start of with light colored polymer parts such as sand, tan or foilage green. I'll state the obvious here....black parts cannot be dyed!
 |
| Everything you need |
Once we got home I grabbed my metal tongs, cooking thermometer, a large pot, a measuring spoon, the mags and the dye and we were ready to get started. We knew that it would be impossible to exactly match the mags to the color of the handguard but we were going to try and get close. It took some trial and error to say the least. We started out with the dust covers for the mags to test the color. We only had three of them so we had to make each one count. Once we found the color that we were happy with it was time to start on the mags themselves.
 |
| Strip the polymer of metal parts |
We started by disassembling the mags and removing the spring and follower. You want to remove any hardware from the parts that you are dying and strip the part down to the polymer itself. It is generally good to wipe down the parts with rubbing alcohol to remove any oils that may be on the polymer.
 |
| Use the right sized pot |
Make sure you use a pot that is large enough for the part that you are dying to move freely in but don't use one that is too big since you will have to use a lot more dye to get the color correct. Heat the water to between 150-170 degrees [hotter is not always better]. Add the dye to the water and mix thoroughly. The amount of dye you use depends on if you use the powdered or liquid dye and it is generally a good idea to start off lighter at first and then adjust the color as you go to suit your taste. We generally use one teaspoon of liquid dye to 6 cups of water to start with.
You don't necessarily need to add a ton of dye to the water because the amount of color soaked into the polymer is also affected by the amount of time it spends in the dye solution. We would carefully dip the part into the water and then set the timer for a minute. We would then use the tongs to pull the part out of the water to check the color. We did this minute by minute on the first part (dust cover) to test the overall time it took to get the color we desired. We achieved the color we wanted at about 8 minutes. Now, keep in mind that as the part dries and cools the color will start to get darker. It is a good idea to let the part cool fully before you make your final decision on the color.
If you want to get creative, you can dye the parts two or three different colors. Also, you can use vinyl tape cut in patterns to make your own camo. One other technique that I tried was wrapping the mags in a plastic shopping bag [held in place by rubber bands]. The mags will look like a different purple in the pictures even though we used the same dye. The reason for this is we did not have any more of the sand colored mags so we used tan Magpul mags. The darker mag color will make for a different shade than the sand obviously.
Using the bag technique will not call for anything different than if you were dyeing a solid color. The plastic bag will cause there to be more of a tiger striped effect which looks really cool. Magpul has a Youtube video that shows them making dyed mags using the bag technique using a big pot and a campfire. I would suggest being a little more structured than that so you can be consistent with your colors. It's a good video nonetheless!
I almost forgot, if you are not satisfied with the results of your dye job or eventually want to change the color out again, you can actually bleach the mags back to almost their original color so you can then start over. This is done by mixing 1 parts bleach to 2 parts water in the same size pot that you originally used. Heat the solution up [in a well ventilated area] to around 140-145 degrees and then let the part sit until you see most of the color come back. This happened for me generally at the 20-30 minute mark. As soon as you drop the part in the bleach/water solution you will notice the color lighten up. If this is all you are trying to achieve then you are done at this point.
Regardless of what color you decide on or what technique you decide to use, we think that adding this dying method to your bag of tricks will be a cool way to set your gear apart from others. Remember, get creative and have some fun!
 |
| Minute 1 |
 |
| Minute 4 |
 |
| Minute 8 |
You don't necessarily need to add a ton of dye to the water because the amount of color soaked into the polymer is also affected by the amount of time it spends in the dye solution. We would carefully dip the part into the water and then set the timer for a minute. We would then use the tongs to pull the part out of the water to check the color. We did this minute by minute on the first part (dust cover) to test the overall time it took to get the color we desired. We achieved the color we wanted at about 8 minutes. Now, keep in mind that as the part dries and cools the color will start to get darker. It is a good idea to let the part cool fully before you make your final decision on the color.
If you want to get creative, you can dye the parts two or three different colors. Also, you can use vinyl tape cut in patterns to make your own camo. One other technique that I tried was wrapping the mags in a plastic shopping bag [held in place by rubber bands]. The mags will look like a different purple in the pictures even though we used the same dye. The reason for this is we did not have any more of the sand colored mags so we used tan Magpul mags. The darker mag color will make for a different shade than the sand obviously.
No comments:
Post a Comment