[IRON WORKER]

Anybody know what the original finish was on the m14 buttplate :?: I've seen and heard about painting these.I was looking at mine ,its what FRED called exellent plus stock and the buttplate is near mint .All of the metal was had the old looking grey green finish even the buttplate so I thought it was parkerized.I took a magnet and found that its non magnetic so it must be alluminum or pot metal :?: Even in strong light the finishes match the flip up part.I'm wondering if it was anodized,usually you can tell if something is painted it would probably flaked on edges as old as it is :?:Just curious ,I'm a student of firearms restoration and this seems to be anouther page in the elusive finishing department :?

 

[Quagmire]

The butt plate itself is aluminum. The flip plate is steel.

Paint the buttplate & repark the flip plate to refinish the assembly.

 

[Lionseye]

If you want it back to somewhat of an original finish, the parkerizing of the steel flip plate is the biggest pain in the rump, but Birchwood Casey sells a Aluminum Black product that you can do yourself for the aluminum with just degreasing the base and swabbing on or brushing it with the AB and letting it cure. The parkerizing requires a tank for the most part. But one of the easiest way to redarken any parts on the M14 is to use some Gunkote or Teflon-moly spray on it that you can also buy from Brownell's and just spray and bake it on. It's easy, quick and quite durable. I've been using it on various parts for the M1A/M14 for a while now with very good results.(Vortex, gas lock, plug{Springfield did my gas cylinder with it}) Watch how much you put on and with an eye towards runs, but it is a great finish that you can do yourself at home and lasts longer than just park alone.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=4941&title=ALUMINUM+BLACK


http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=1150

 

[IRON WORKER]

Thanks for the info gentlemen,I'm hoping to get a couple more lesser condition stocks from Fred and refinish them.I took some pictures of my near mint condition buttplate thats on my stock I'm using ,but could not get them to upload using the in house system.I guess I didnt do something right :?:

 

[m14dan]

As was already said most of the butplate housings are aluminum. Some are steel though. I disassemble them as far as they will go and sandblast everything. Then I parkerize the steel and use brownells moly teflon parkerizing color on all the parts. Even over the parkerizing. It just makes it match up better and provides a better non slip surface than parkerizing alone.