Dressing up your gun?

[AppliedPerspective]

We all know that people who are serious about their weapons tend to do things here and there to get them to perform exactly the way they like. I'm talking trigger jobs, different sights, lasers, etc. But what about visually? Who here has modified their gun(s) (carry or safe weapon, your choice) just to make it look better?

I'll start. I run a laser engraving business, and so when a guy approached me to do grips for his 1911 but wanted to see a sample first, I of course had to oblige. These are on a Ruger P85. Honestly, it took me a while to get used to them, but once I did I liked how they looked. It was just hard to adjust from the all black look of the stock gun.
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My cousin carries the same gun, and my uncle decided he wanted to get her a set as a gift. I haven't spoken to her since I saw her last year, but I hear she loves them.
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[Tucker's Mom]

Those are beautiful work of art. 'Wish I can have the patience for that...I have dremel bits and used to carve/burn on some wood for a good while but I run out of steam when I saw a machine that can do it easily. It cost lots of $$$ to buy the machine so I turned my attention back to what I know best: graphic designs not on wood but computer so I spin that easily into money instead.

 

[AppliedPerspective]

Thanks. The machine sure wasn't cheap, but it got me out of the newspaper business. Honestly, most of what I do is still graphic design, and it's a whole lot more fun than laying out dumb ads for tanning salons and church garage sales. All my work is done in Photoshop and Illustrator. Plus, I get to stay home with my kid all day.

 

[Tucker's Mom]

I am the same. I have been using Photoshop since V4 and sticking with it until CS6 comes around for a good price. I just learned Illustrator recently because I didn't like it in the first place. There are so many stuffs Illustrator cannot do like simplification of the drawing with lesser node points. I use Inkscape a lot if I do any drawings at all. And Inkscape is free. Lots to learn but it is more closer to Corel Draw which I taught at the HP Learning Centre when I was back in Australia. I only get to learn Illustrator because one of my suppliers asked for an AI file. Most of my presentations are done in Photoshop/After Effects/Premiere Pro combined.

 

[Fishhunter911]

I colored the engraving on my XD with metallic silver



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[Mosbyranger]

Wow, color me jealous of people with artistic talent. I failed at lollypop trees. I "dressed" up two Ruger Vaqueros with Esmerelda's Cocobolo grips, and a Walther PPK also sports some generic Cocobolo. All three look 100% better.
MR

 

[Tucker's Mom]

I colored the engraving on my XD with metallic silver



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Wow! Did you use the liquid form for colouring or the pen ones? That is also very nice...I should do that to my normal carries. Thanks for the idea...I have some liquid gold and liquid silver I got from Michaels quite a while back and also some pen ones.

 

[nraynes]

I have refinished about 4 different wooden stocks. All for my own personal guns. They were painted with shotty spray paint and so I sanded polished and stained them. Next chance i get I will post pictures.

 

[Fishhunter911]

It is actually Nail Polish. Found a write up on the XD forum for it. Found to be very easy to do. Cleaners and oil do not remove the coloring either. Easy to remove if you want to change it or get rid of it.

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Here is a list of items you will need. Then the walk through. This is if you have a black slide, if you have SS slide use black/red/green what ever color nail polish your little heart desires, and OD green well silver black white, gold or whatever you want to try... This is my disclaimer, if you eff up your weapon that's your own fault!!! If you follow my directions to a Tee you should not mess it up, and I am not going to be held responsible for your actions...The nail polish should hold up to when you clean when you are done firing if not just redo it the whole process should only take 15-20 min. when you get to doing it a couple times (took me less than half an hour figuring it out on my own). It will hold up while firing although it will need to be done about once a month as it does wear off...

1.White nail polish (if you want color put 3 coats white then 3 coats color to make it show up)! Don't spend more than 1.99 or it won't come off.
2. ACETONE FREE Nail Polish Remover!!!(If it has acetone in it, it will dull your slide due to pulling the oils out of it)
3. Swabs roughly 10, and a few cotton balls (will only be used if you mess up and need to restart or do not like the look of it...)
4. An old gift card, playing card, etc. something solid and plastic to that extent.
5. A couple pieces of blank paper (from your computer printer.)
6. An old rag towel.

WALK-THROUGH
-Lay towel down on table, and prep all material...Clear your pistol and triple check it...Remove slide, take out barrel, springs, and guide rod...
-I recommend doing one side at a time start with top of slide...Take nail polish and glob over engravings on one side of the slide.
-Take gift card etc. and wipe excess away (I recommend wiping towards the bottom of the slide since you should be doing top of slide first wipe AWAY from ejection port) (if slide is on gun wipe towards trigger, away from top slide which you should be doing first...)
-Let sit and dry for 5-10 min.
-Dip swab in nail polish remover, wipe excess off on rag towel, and gently go over engraving in a light circular motion...You will see the excess slowly come off (do not use cotton balls here or it will remove the polish from the engravings).
-Take computer paper and wipe excess nail polish remover off...Let dry a min. or two...
-Sit back and enjoy your work...

If you don't like how it looks or turned out just use a cotton ball coated in nail polish remover go over engraving until clear let dry and start over...OR just start back over at step one with white on white (no need to really strip it completely)

 

[AppliedPerspective]

I have refinished about 4 different wooden stocks. ...snip...

I'd love to see that, especially if you have before pictures. I've got a .303 that could use a good refinishing, I think.

 

[Tucker's Mom]

Once a month is little bit too much to dress up a gun! I'll try to use my gold or silver pens and see how I go. But I guess the key there is for the area to be dry first. Thanks for the tip/instructions.

 

[Fishhunter911]

Mine has been done for 3 months, it is showing no signs of coming off.

 

[Wesco]

Can you make them for a citadel 1911 A1c .45acp ?

 

[AppliedPerspective]

Can you make them for a citadel 1911 A1c .45acp ?

Sure. What do you have in mind? You would want to find either smooth grips, or checkered with a smooth area in the middle to engrave on. Shoot me a PM if you're still interested.

 

[Wesco]

It has wood smooth grips already, but may change them out for new ones anyway. Is there a limit to what you can have designed and engraved?

 

[creatism]

Dura coated my glock, took 6 months for me to decide to do it. But I like the result.

 

[Rayb]

While I enjoy looking a beautiful weapon I consider mine tools, and like with all my tools I maintain them and keep them clean, lubricated and in top operating shape I do not do anything to improve their looks. Just me though.

 

[AppliedPerspective]

Is there a limit to what you can have designed and engraved?

Technically, yes, but basically if it's a relatively flat surface (as in no more than about a 1/2" elevation change), I can put pretty much anything on there. Whether or not it shows up well or not depends on the material and the design. I can give you an idea beforehand of how something will generally turn out.