Refinish Report

C

Coltdriver

New member
I picked up a MAK 90 back in about 92 or 93 when Clinton started making noises about banning them.

I have fired 400 or 500 rounds through it and it is a thoroughly enjoyable, relatively inexpensive rifle.

One day I get the bright idea of putting the same dissicant used in my gun safe in a sock and then tossing the sock into my plastic "go to the range" case. The case, with my MAK, sits in the back of my wagon for a couple of hours. When I open the case, the MAK is trashed. The dissicant melted and turned into a very corrosive agent that literally rusted the rifle all over, some places worse than others, in a couple of hours. The MAK was pulled from the case and sprayed with WD 40 to stop the rusting. My pretty MAK was a mess. Did not have the heart to do much with it for about three years. Then, from this forum, I got a pointer to Mac's Shootin Iron Restorations. www.shootiniron.com

So a few weeks ago the MAK was packed up and sent to Mac with four mags (which also got trashed).

I got the MAK back today. It looks new. It looks better than new.

After taking the rifle apart, all of the metal parts were cleaned and the rust stripped off in the prep process. Then he applies a combination of military spec parkerizing and then a moly disulfide coat. He sent back a spec sheet detailing what all was done and it is fairly extensive.

The finish appears to be tough as nails, it is not at all soft. The application is uniform and my MAK is better looking than it has ever been.

After a trip to the range I will report back on how it shoots and looks after a few hundred more rounds.

Total cost for the rifle, four mags and shipping was $180.00.
 
G

Gromit

New member
Thinking about some refinishing too; I'd be interested in seeing some pics other than whats on their website.

Thanks!
 
M

M700

New member
Same here. I was thinking of sending my SAR-1 to him. Is it it a grey color or is it black?
 
C

Coltdriver

New member
In all fairness to Mac here is the list of stuff that they did that came back on three pages of info with the MAK:

Tuff Gun Finish
Tuf Gun Finish on four Mags
Power Soak Barrel Bore
Polish Gas Piston Head and guides
Micro Polish cartridge chamber
lap and or polish pivot pins
lap and or polish frame and slide rails
clean wood

The tough gun finish I had em apply is black.

I agonized over the choices and combos and decided to go basic.
But the temptation to go with green and brown was big!

I have attached a couple of pics for your viewing pleasure:
 

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M

M700

New member
Wow.....that does look great! If my Brownells Aluma-Hyde II doesnt come out all that well, then ill send it to Mac. :D
 
A

Adventurer_96

New member
A friend of mine has had excellent luck with their pistols, it's good to know that their rifle work is equally good.

I've halfway thought of sending off my SKS to get a good refinishing...



Check Six.
 
J

James K

Member In Memoriam
dessicant

A dessicant works by absorbing moisture from the air, thus keeping the air dry and keeping moisture from other items. But in the process, the dessicant itself becomes wet. If left alone, it will continue to take up more moisture and eventually the bag will become soaked. At that point, the moisture can spread and rust the very items the dessicant was intended to protect.

If you use a dessicant in a gun safe or anywhere else, be sure to read the directions about removing it and drying it out every so often (interval depending on the climate). This is usually done by putting it into an oven for a period of time based on the amount of dessicant involved.

Jim
 
S

skipperJ

New member
You will get a better picture if you arrange your rifle on a dark background. That white towel is causing the weapon to be underexposed. It's only a suggestion.:)
 
S

Steve Smith

New member
I have also had great work done by Mac's

You can see my STG-58 on his site, at

http://www.shootiniron.com/PHOTOS2.htm

It's the on with blask metal and green furniture. I decided to go with the green as I liked the contrast. Since the STG handguards are steel, I had him to Gunkote them first, then se the Stockote on them afterwards.

I've since had him to refinish all my competition AR mags, and several FAL mags.
 
C

Coltdriver

New member
Range Report

Jim,

I took the dissicant out of a new container, put it in a sock, tied the top of the sock and tossed the sock in my gun case. The heat melted the dissicant and it became a volatile rust maker! Don't know what I was thinking anyway, rust is not a problem in Colorado.

It even rusted the latch on my gun case where a little leaked on to the latch!

With the new finish, there is no trace of the pitting or damage that the rust caused.

I guess the MAK's are prone to rusting fairly easily anyway.

Range Report

Took the MAK to the shooting range today. Performs Flawlessly. Mac did some polishing of the trigger group because the trigger is now smooth as butter. The only thing I have to figure out now is the right way to clean the gun. I got it home and used my normal CLP and cloth patches. The finish grabs some lint off of the patches. Not sure how I am going to overcome this. I had to scrub the parts that grabbed the lint harder with the same patch to get it back off. A little time consuming and unneccessary elbow grease.

But the finish on the internals shows no signs of wear after about 400 rounds today.

The finish does seem to "hold" CLP to itself on the internals and sliding parts. With my other guns the CLP will bead up if I leave too much on. Not with this finish. The cool part was that the CLP did not come out of the trigger group like it will on my other guns until there is not much left (maybe just the right amount is left).

I will figure out how to live with the lint grabbing, any suggestions appreciated.

But overall I am very pleased with the refinish job.
 
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