Do-It-Yourself spray paint camouflage is simple to do, cheap, requires no fancy equipment, and does not require a ton of skill or experience to do reasonably well. You can camouflage weapons, holsters, knives and other equipment sufficient for a few dollars and a few minutes up to an hour or so to break up the inherent outlines of the items and thus allow yourself to blend better into your environment.
As a fashion statement, I myself have never been too excited about camouflage. It’s just not my style, and I’m pretty sure that if I’m in a camo tshirt at the grocery store, people can still see me pretty well. However, in the right situations, I am pretty clear about the importance and even necessity of camouflage.
The need for camouflage in my mind applies mainly to 3 scenarios:
- Recreational hunting. I’m trying to fill my tag, and I don’t want the game to see me.
- Survival hunting. The sustenance of my family requires that I kill something to eat.
- I wish to stay hidden from those that may be hunting me in the event of WROL. It is plain that two of these scenarios are critical, make-or-break, do-or-die endeavors.
Then, I wonder…
“What good does all this camo clothing do me, and face paint and whatever else, if I’m holding a gun that looks from every angle to be exactly what it actually is?”
So then, what can I do to break my weapon’s outlines and make it blend into the background and into my environment?
Such questions led me down the path of watching DIY videos for several hours. It didn’t take long to understand that a variety of approaches and techniques and processes of thought and results are available. If you’re looking to do a camo job on your hunting rifle to make it look like you spent hundreds of dollars on a custom job, I’ll tell you straight out so I don’t waste your time – what ‘s in this article isn’t going to be very valuable to you.
There’s a very good reason why I don’t bother with the “nearly custom” effort, and it’s also a good reason to rattle-can your gear in the first place … and it’s not because I’m a cheapo. I’m a cheap guy, but that’s not why.
If I have a brand new, shiny and perfect weapon, or a knife or a new pair of cowboy boots, then there is a small part of me that will prevent the accumulation of dings and scratches and other blemishes that come with the use of a tool designed to work in unfavorable conditions to one degree or another. That is to say, I’m going to be much more likely to make it do the job it’s made to do rather than baby it once I’ve rattle-canned my rifle.
Same way, I’m likely to be just as reluctant to ding up the camo job if I spent countless hours and a bunch of money applying an expensive camo work to my rifle. Have you ever seen a skilled bmx’er or skateboarder take their new equipment and “ghost ride” enough to ding it up a bit? Once a little scratched up on that new bike or skateboard, the user is then free to use the item with the abandonment that a competitor should use it. An inexpensive, DIY rattle can really serve the same purpose as ghost riding does for the bmx bike camo job on your weapon.
Let’s take some time and talk about how the mind and the eyes work before we talk about some methods. To pick up patterns, the human brain is designed. It allows us to survive and it allows us to understand what we are doing right and what we are doing that is not right. Your eyes, for instance, pick out a pair of small, glowing orbs on the side of the road. Just as you hit the brakes as the orbs move out onto the road, you’re afraid you’ll hit something. You end up staring into a deer’s wide eyes, which you stopped just before hitting your car. Your throat is dry, and you’re sure it’s as wide as your eyes. The next time you see two small yellow orbs down the road, you immediately slow down and move to the middle of the road without even thinking, and the deer curiously stares at you as you cruise by at 25 mph. You touch a hot stove, and you learn not to touch the stove … because it’s hot, the simpler, age-worn analogy is. The point of the rattle can camo job then is not so much the rendering of the background applied to the subject item by an artist, but rather the objective is to break up the outlines of the item. It is the outline-the shape and shape and color-that make our eyes and our brains immediately recognizable.
So it is vital that I break up the natural pattern of shapes that my body and my gear make if I try to obscure myself in my environment. The use of painted or printed color and shade patterns that are similar to my environment breaks the outline to a certain degree of the shapes that I and my equipment create. The wide range of camo patterns available makes it easy to see how this works if the item is at a reasonable distance from the camo. It has very little effect up close… unless one is practiced in the art of ghillie suits, and that’s a whole ‘nuther camouflage level. But the camouflage effect can be very pronounced from a distance.
Can You Spot The Sniper In The Picture Below?
The DIY camo project starts with finding (flat only!) colors of paint that suit your natural environment with that thought in mind. Deserts are, generally speaking, light to dark brown and gray. Obviously, forested areas are light to dark green, tan, dark brown and black (shadows). It is going to be white and shades of gray in a snowy environment. Spend a few minutes in a well-stocked hardware store on the paint aisle and you’ll see this is a simple and straightforward matter. While you’re buying paint, don’t forget blue painter’s tape, and you could pick up a 1″ foam paint brush or two while you’re there.
So you’ve got your weapon, and all of your spray paint pallets are put together. Next, collect things from your natural environment (or the environment where you’ll be bugging out) like pine boughs, es, grasses, etc. These can be enhanced by items such as frayed cord or rope, chicken wire folded over six or eight times (it must be folded over itself to create a noticeable pattern as you paint-and one of my favorites is chicken wire), sponges and paint brushes randomly cut, and other items.
Try to avoid the temptation of small items that may be too detailed (such as a single layer of chicken wire) as at a distance, too-small wash out details, and you will lose the effect of breaking up the pattern of the item you are trying to camouflage as you select items to create your pattern. It may look pretty sharp close up, but it won’t be as efficient as it might be.
Your PPE-personal protective equipment are next. Make sure you have eye protection, dust masks and gloves of the food service type. Always paint in a well ventilated area as per the instructions on the paint can. Never spray aerosols near an open flame, food or beverages. If you’re painting a triple gun, make sure it’s unloaded before you do anything about it.
Start with your degreaser of choice. I usually use isopropyl alcohol or mineral spirits. To remove dust, debris and any oil that could prevent the paint from adhering to the item, wipe the weapon or other item down completely. Remove the degreaser with a clean, dry cloth or rag. Double check to make sure you’ve got everything.
Next, put in the barrel a foam earplug, tape off the loading port, the ejection port, the front and rear view and any other features of the weapon that could be caused to fail if they get paint on them. Also, you will want to either tape up the features of the item that would be adversely affected by the application of paint, or remove the item and plan to paint it separately if you are painting a weapon with a red dot sight, or a scope on it. For example, painting a scope separately means you’re going to have to re-zero the weapon, and it also means you might end up with a scope that doesn’t quite blend in with the weapon on which it is mounted. I usually leave the “glass” in place for those reasons and take good care to properly tape up the lenses and knobs. I usually paint a detachable magazine that feeds guns with an empty mag in the mag well. It would otherwise be wise to tape well over an empty mag. You’re likely to have to tape over the end of the barrel with shotguns, as an earplug is obviously way too small to have any effect. I also usually leave the sling (if applicable) in place and paint it as I paint the weapon.
Related: Top 6 Popular Types of Guns Not Suitable for SHTF
I suspended the weapon once I’m ready to apply paint, typically from a bungee cord attached to the garage ceiling. To make it easy to hit it from all angles, I like hanging the weapon about torso height, and the bungee allows the item to swing freely, making access to all angles even easier. To prevent the buildup of toxic paint fumes, don’t forget to open doors/windows to maximize airflow. If you haven’t already, put on a dust mask, eye protection and latex gloves.
The first step in applying paint is to thoroughly cover the base color of the weapon. I like the results that I get, usually tan or light green, from starting with the lightest color first. It will often take a couple of coats to get enough coverage. As spray paint dries fairly quickly, it doesn’t take too long for a second coat. With smooth, even strokes, be sure to apply the paint. As you’re spraying, avoid the temptation to go back and forth as this will cause drips. Follow the instructions for the spray can as to how far away to hold the can when you spray, and then adjust as needed. Once the weapon is well covered and dry enough, it’s time to apply the pattern(s) you’re going to use.
For this portion, be sure you have gloves on. Identify your paint palette with the next-darkest color. Take in one hand a pattern item (pine bough, clump of field grasses, or, my favorite one-the folded over chicken wire) and the paint can in the other. Hold the pattern item against the weapon and spray the pattern item with a short burst. Move around the weapon, randomly change the spacing and angle-of-orientation. Avoid the temptation to “overdo” this first pattern application, as the gaps with subsequent colors will be filled in. When you switch to the next darkest color, if you wish, feel free to change the pattern item. Fill in the spaces that the first pattern-color did not cover, and do not be afraid to partially overlap the first pattern layer in places to enhance the effect. With some pattern items, it may be helpful to apply a coat or two of any color to the pattern item and let it dry before you begin using it. The extra paint layers will make its features thicker and help make the pattern more visually efficient.
I usually use five colors in total — tan for the base, and then light green, dark green, dark brown, and then black for the camouflage of the foliage. To avoid drowning out the rest of the pattern-colors, I do the black last and somewhat sparingly. Don’t forget about the trigger guard, the barrel from all angles and the buttstock’s back end. If in one place you get a drip spot, or too much color, feel free to “touch up” the spot with a lighter color to bring it back into balance. Before applying the next color, if you allow the paint to dry completely, the definition in the pattern details will be maximized. When you move from color to color quickly without allowing the paint to dry, the colors will melt and give the pattern a more “impressionistic” feeling. For camo, both approaches work quite well and I encourage you to try both methods. Before putting it back in its case or holster, make sure to let the item dry completely for a day or more, as the paint will “go away” pretty easily until it is fully dried. Once it’s dried, not that much, then. Just start over with your base coat and do it over if you don’t like your first results. You may choose to reapply camo paint in suitable colors as you move from summer to fall, and then fall to winter.
Once done, remove all the tape/earplugs and any other measures you have taken to prevent painting from being applied to sensitive areas. Spray a color of your choice on a paint brush if you choose, and dab at the places where the tape was intended to prevent “shiny, black spots.” Again, be careful not to diminish the weapon’s functionality. Then double check again to make sure you’ve removed all the tape and whatnot. A blocked barrel might be catastrophic. In a life or death situation, a taped over ejection port could be anything from an embarrassing nuisance on the range to a failure to feed.
Do-It-Yourself camouflage through rattle-can paint is quite simple to do and very difficult to screw up. It is not very time-consuming, and it is relatively cheap. It provides your weapons and other gear with a protective layer of paint and helps you move past the “it looks so nice, I’m afraid to scratch it phase” of ownership. The camo paint job avoids providing your weapon with an easily identifiable outline and helps you blend better into your environment. And it’s actually pretty fun once you get the hang of it. Here’s what you’re going to need to rattle-can your gear camo:
- Two to four shades (or more) of flat paint that are similar in color and shade to the area you operate in.
- Foam earplugs for the barrel
- Blue painters tape for sights and other components that may not function properly if painted upon
- Eye protection, dust masks, latex gloves and some clean rags or cloths
- Leaves, pine boughs, grasses, frayed rope, or chicken wire (did I mention that’s my favorite) or whatever else you think might make good patterns
- Degreaser/cleaner like alcohol, mineral spirits, paint thinner to give the paint a proper surface to adhere to
- 1″ foam paint brush(es)
- A well ventilated area to paint in
- About 30 to 60 minutes of free time
If you have other suggestions feel free to share them in the comments section… help make us all good at what we do!
