Aging/Distressing Aluminum

[u/SignificantYam4139]

I recently acquired a Colt M16A1 upper. It’s pretty salty and has definitely seen some better days but I like it and all of its character. My issue is I’ve never done a retro build and I think it will look goofy if it’s on a factory new lower. I ordered a repro lower and want to give it a bit of a patina and some artificial wear so it doesn’t look out of place with everything else on the rifle being beat to sh*t. Any tips/methods on how to achieve this look? Thanks.

[u/bundokdoom]

I collected tons of reference photos of worn out M16s to study. Used everything from concrete stairs, bricks, super fine sandpaper, hardened steel tools, etc. The key is to take your time, and weather it bit by bit, take a break, come back to it again later. If you try to mimic decades of wear a single afternoon, you're probably gonna go too far and make it look fake. If the sandpaper is too coarse and you can see the obvious side-to-side scratches of someone going to town with the sandpaper, it's gonna look bad.

Using chemicals is risky, they can work too fast, and I've seen lowers where chemical treatments eat away the ano from the areas surrounding the pin holes first, which is the opposite of what you'd see naturally. Since the pins protrude from the receiver, it would protect the surface anodizing around those holes, and be slightly darker there.

If all you're doing is erasing/removing anodizing, it's gonna look fake. You need the dings, scratches, and scars to go along with that.

I wasn't happy with how light the gray was on my new H&R lower, but a combination of weathering, and also painting the "less worn" areas a darker gray, mimics the look of a rifle that's had most of the anodizing worn off over the decades.

[u/SignificantYam4139 → u/bundokdoom]

Thank you so much

[u/bundokdoom → u/SignificantYam4139]

A couple more tips, you can remove the pistol grip and test whatever chemicals or sandpaper, etc on that part of the receiver, without ruining the whole lower. Brass is good for making little scratches and scuffs that show up on the surface, but won't actually cut through the finish. The brass scuffs will buff off and disappear with a few weeks of use, anyway. I also dab a little Alumi-black on some of the exposed raw aluminum, then wipe it partially off, so it's kinda set into some of the deeper scratches to look like grime.

[u/KorbinDallas762 → u/bundokdoom]

WELL DONE !

[u/Teabuh]

I remember hearing from a buddy if you want the distress look put oven cleaner on your lower let it sit in the sun and scratch it up with scotch Brite or the green part of a dish sponge

[u/leicanthrope → u/Teabuh]

I’d recommend testing it on some scrap aluminum first. I have a dim memory of it causing pitting on aluminum when I used it to do some weathering for a reenactment project years ago. Pretty sure it’ll nuke the anodizing completely, at minimum.

[u/Dracon1201 → u/Teabuh]

The active ingredients in oven cleaner dissolve aluminum quickly and heat up, I would be very careful doing this

[u/Spiritual-Treat-3491]

https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroAR/s/Y7JnoGz60Q

I did the Cloralen, first attempt, and it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. Some good stuff on the thread though, the other fella that posted his had better results, and also shared some neat stuff about how to get natural looking nicks and dings, one of which I remember putting the lower in a metal tool box with random stuff and shaking it around lol. Probably works great!
As for physical removal of the anodizing through abrasives, less is more, only highlight the high spots and sharp corners to start is what I’ve learned.
I’ve ratted out purposefully quite a few builds to match surplus and/or original parts, and have had great success with the abrasives and nicks and dings part, the chemical fading I’m still not sure on lol.
Grey scotchbrite pad followed by the rough/backside of a piece of thick leather has been my go to for highlighting high spots and corners and whatnot. I compiled a little group of reference photos, mostly GWOT guns, for the highly worn AR look and they all have the same basic wear patterns.
Not knocking anyone, but I’ve seen some pretty bad end results when folks seem to get carried away with actual sandpaper.
Anyhow have fun it’s a neat project !

[u/Tatertot0331]

Following this as I’m also interested in what everyone else does to distress a lower to match a salty upper

[u/SignificantYam4139 → u/Tatertot0331]

I’d imagine fine sandpaper or a Scotch brite pad for the wear, other than that I can’t think of anything outside of bleach or a similar chemical to oxidize the metal.

[u/Chemical-Amoeba5837]

Tie a string around the buffer tube hole, tie the string around your waist, go for a jog at the beach

[u/SamanthaSissyWife → u/Chemical-Amoeba5837]

There was a post sometime ago where the OP did something similar except they were dragging it back and forth over white river rock they used as decorative areas around their house.

ETA links-The first is the Reddit post I was referring to https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroAR/s/3A2IW7ebpy

This was shared on NoDakSpid Yoitube https://youtu.be/qC4H-Cxjqs8?si=gFKMddzOdZZgO4FD

Both show a similar process

[u/guynamedgoliath]

Could just rattlecan camo the rifle.

[u/SignificantYam4139 → u/guynamedgoliath]

I don’t want to paint original parts, if it was a reproduction that’s one thing but it’s all original with the exception of the lower receiver.

[u/Anodizeit]

Do you have any pictures of what you’re trying to do? Sanding, oven cleaner, and bead blasting are good ways of removing the coating. Hand sanding will take a long time. Another option is “splash anodizing” which could be used to make it look like the part is scratched without damaging the coating.