A friend of mine has found the right AR-15 at the right price, but isn’t terribly happy with the camouflage stock and forearm. The rifle doesn’t come in black.

Are there any products that can be used to paint over the plastic factory items that won’t end up either looking terrible or getting gummy or sticky in hot weather?

Could have it cerakoted, but for the money just replace the furniture. Plastic stuff is cheap and sell of the stuff that came on it.

I have successfully painted a number of AR stocks and forearms. Someone gave me a brand new Magpul set out of the box in some funky color a while back. I took it all apart, cleaned it and masked (so that the heat shield would not be painted). I painted the top handguard section one texture and the bottom a more satin appearance. This is a rifle handguard on a dissy build.



This was using some of the higher quality rattle-can blacks in finishes made for plastic surfaces. The paint adhered well to Magpul polymers. I wouldn't try it on a MOE+ pistol grip (the one with a soft, tacky grip) but no problem on a regular MOE grip.

Duracoat has exact match colors for the Magpul furniture colors and there's plenty of other companies with good products. I've even used airbrushes on a few. Some folks with better budgets have used AlumaHyde II on carbon fiber surfaces with success. You can even get Duracote in a can.

So far it's been two years and many shoots and all of those sprayed finishes still look good. I didn't have a big budget on those rifles so this worked great.

If you have moving parts (like a cheek plate or similar) I might hesitate about painting it but give it a try!

As long as the surface isn’t painted or a film (IIRC) you can use RIT dye to make it black. I’ve turned FDE parts into other colors this way.

Yeah, he can dye it black...or maybe a grey dye would make the camo pattern a cool dark night-camo effect. I have successfully used RIT dye on a bunch of Magpul parts and on an MFT minimalist stock. I tried it on a Skockwave pistol brace and it was an epic fail, the brace didn't take any dye color at all...

What is wrong with camouflage. Must be an M&P .22lr.

Like the others have said/done, Ritt makes a good dye and does wonders. I have used it with great success but make sure you don't add too much water and dilute it too much. After soaking the parts,rinse them well multiple times to make sure you get the residual dye off or you will have one heck of a story to tell when you go shooting and have blotches on your skin.

Brownell's Aluma-Hyde works very well. I have painted a number of handgun grips and AR grips with it, and it is a very durable finish.

I have used rit dye on sand pmags with good results. You can get sand magpul sl furniture and make it whatever color you want.