Gun Paint Planner·Updated September 28, 2026
Rattle Can Multi-Terrain: History, Colors and Paint Jobs on Real Guns
Multi-terrain style camo is a soft brown to green fade with small hard shapes on top. The US Army made the look standard in 2015, and most modern rifles copy it. Here it is painted with real spray can colors on 12 real guns. Pick yours to open it in the planner, then reroll the layout or paint over it by hand.
Quick answer
- It takes 5 spray cans: Sand, Woodland Light Green, Brown, Khaki, Olive.
- Spray it light to dark: Sand first, Olive last.
Cans and spray order from the Krylon and Rust-Oleum color charts, matched in GunPartPicker's paint planner.
Multi-Terrain camo on 12 real guns
Where multi-terrain camo comes from
The look traces back to Scorpion, a pattern Crye Precision drew with the Army's Natick lab in 2002. Crye tweaked it and sold its own version, MultiCam, a brand name you'll see everywhere. Ours is a generic spray can take on the style.
In 2010 the Army sent troops to Afghanistan in MultiCam because its gray digital UCP blended into nothing there. In 2014 it chose Scorpion W2, a version it owns, and named it OCP.
OCP reached deployed soldiers in April 2015. UCP was gone by October 2019, and the Air Force and Space Force moved to OCP too. Britain's MTP uses the same palette with different shapes.
The trick is the gradient. A brown to tan base with green fading over it reads green in the woods and brown in the desert. The small dark and cream shapes break up the outline.
- First drawn
- 2002, Scorpion pattern for the US Army
- US Army issue
- OCP, announced July 2014, issued from 2015
- Colors
- Seven or eight in the real patterns, four to six in spray cans
- Replaced
- UCP gray digital, retired October 2019
Spray cans for a Multi-Terrain paint job
In spray order, lightest first. Either brand works; do not mix them in one job.
Krylon
- 1Camouflage Sand
- 2Camouflage Woodland Light Green
- 3Camouflage Brown
- 4Camouflage Khaki
- 5Camouflage Olive
Rust-Oleum
- 1Camouflage Sand
- 2Camouflage Army Green
- 3Camouflage Earth Brown
- 4Camouflage Khaki
- 5Camouflage Deep Forest Green
Painting multi-terrain camo on a gun
This one takes the most patience. Do the fades first with light passes and no tape: sand, then green misted over parts of it, then brown. Let them blend.
Then add the small hard shapes with a stencil: khaki and olive blobs, kept small and scattered. Too many and the fade disappears.
We'd save this one for your second or third paint job. Practice the fades on a cardboard box until you can blend without a line.
How to spray Multi-Terrain on a gun
1. Strip it down
On an AR pull the bolt carrier group and split the upper and lower. On an AK take off the dust cover and bolt carrier. On a Glock take the slide off. Remove the optic or plan to tape it.
2. Degrease everything
Wipe every outside surface with acetone or isopropyl alcohol. Paint will not hold over gun oil.
3. Mask what moves
Plug the chamber and muzzle, tape the ejection port, magazine well, trigger and safety, and cover the optic lenses.
4. Base coat in sand
Two light coats over the whole gun, 8 to 12 inches away, 10 minutes apart.
5. Lay the multi-terrain pattern
Soft fades with small hard shapes on top. Spray woodland light green, then brown, then khaki, then olive, light to dark, letting each color flash off before the next.
6. Let it cure
Handle it after an hour but give it a full day before it goes in a case, and a few days before hard use.
More rattle can camo patterns
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this MultiCam?
No. MultiCam is Crye Precision's brand. This is a generic multi-terrain style done in spray cans, in the same family as MultiCam and the Army's OCP.
When did the Army switch to OCP?
The Army announced OCP in July 2014 and issued it to deployed soldiers from April 2015. The old gray UCP was retired in October 2019.
What spray paint do you need for a Multi-Terrain paint job?
5 cans of Krylon, sprayed in this order: Sand, Woodland Light Green, Brown, Khaki, Olive. Rust-Oleum has a match for every color.
Can you paint Multi-Terrain camo on a real gun?
Yes. Strip and degrease the gun, mask the bore, chamber and anything that moves, lay the lightest color first and build the look light to dark with tape and stencils. Plan on an afternoon plus a day to cure.
Cite this tool: GunPartPicker, “Rattle Can Multi-Terrain: History, Colors and Paint Jobs on Real Guns”, https://gunpartpicker.net/gun-paint-planner/camo/multi-terrain. Paint colors from the Krylon and Rust-Oleum color charts; gun photos credited on each gun's page. Free to cite with attribution.
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