Gun Tools/Paint planner/Updated September 28, 2026
Gun Paint Job Ideas: Paint Your AR-15, AK or Glock Before You Spray It
Spray, brush and stencil a real photo of 25 guns, from the PSA PA-15 and Daniel Defense M4 V7 to the AK-47 and Glock 19, with Krylon, Rust-Oleum, Aluma-Hyde, DuraCoat and Cerakote colors, then get the cans to buy in spray order.
Paint your gun online before you spray it
Start from a pattern or strip it and paint your own with a spray can, a brush, stamps and stencil sheets. Everything lands on a real photo, so the paint picks up the light and the texture of the parts.
Opens full screen. One finger paints, two fingers zoom.
Paint job ideas
Every pattern opens on the gun above, ready to repaint in your colors.
Tiger stripe
Vietnam era brush strokes over a light base
Leaf stencil
Real leaves held on the gun and sprayed around
Netting
Spray through burlap or netting for a scale pattern
Woodland
Big hard edged blobs with black branches
Desert blotch
Soft brown clouds over sand
Multi-terrain
Soft fades with small hard shapes on top
Rhodesian brush
Diagonal brushstrokes of green and brown over sand
Flecktarn dots
Clustered dots in four colors, German style
Digital woodland
Pixel blocks sprayed through a digital sheet
Digital desert
Tan and brown pixels over sand
Splinter
Sharp angular shards, cold war style
Rain
Short vertical rain lines over a light base
Two tone
Tan lower half, green upper, done in an afternoon
Solid
One flat color over the whole rifle
Popular Cerakote colors
The shop sprayed finish most people ask for. Pick any of these in the gun finish paints and paint it on the photo to see it on your gun.
- H-265 Flat Dark Earth
- H-267 Magpul FDE
- H-235 Coyote Tan
- H-199 Desert Sand
- H-236 O.D. Green
- H-148 Burnt Bronze
- H-237 Tungsten
- H-234 Sniper Grey
- H-146 Graphite Black
- H-190 Armor Black
Why people spray paint their AR-15s and AKs
A few cans of flat camo paint cost about as much as a box of ammo, while a professional Cerakote job runs a few hundred dollars. It is also the easiest way to make a rifle look like yours when most ARs leave the factory in the same black anodizing.
Part of it is history. Vietnam era tiger stripe, and the painted Mk12s, Mk18s and M4s carried by special operations units, made a rattle can finish look like a working rifle rather than a range toy. The other part is practical: a black rifle is the darkest thing in the brush, and a broken up pattern hides it.
And if it comes out bad, it comes off with solvent and you spray it again.
How to spray paint a rifle or pistol
1Strip 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.
2Degrease everything
Wipe every outside surface with acetone or isopropyl alcohol. Paint will not hold over gun oil.
3Mask what moves
Plug the chamber and muzzle, tape the ejection port, magazine well, trigger and safety, and cover the optic lenses.
4Spray the lightest base
Two light coats of the lightest color, 8 to 12 inches away, 10 minutes apart. Thin coats stop runs.
5Lay the pattern
Hold leaves, netting or a stencil sheet on the gun and spray the next darker color. Work light to dark and finish with black if the design uses it.
6Let 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.
Paint a specific gun
Most added on GPP
- PSA PA-15 M4 carbine paint job
- FN 15 M16 Military Collector paint job
- Diamondback DB15 paint job
- S&W M&P15 Sport III paint job
- Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 paint job
- Sig Sauer M400 paint job
- Ruger Harrier paint job
- BCM Recce-16 MCMR paint job
- H&K MR556 A4 paint job
- Daniel Defense DDM4 PDW paint job
- IWI Zion-15 paint job
- Springfield Saint Victor paint job
- Geissele Super Duty paint job
- Radical Firearms SOCOM paint job
- Colt M4 Enhanced Patrol paint job
- LMT MARS paint job
Military and classics
Skip the paint: parts that come in color
Want a tan or green gun without painting? These parts ship with a color finish.
Frequently Asked Questions
What spray paint is best for a gun?
Flat camouflage aerosols like Krylon Camouflage and Rust-Oleum Specialty Camouflage are what most rattle can jobs use. Gun finish aerosols like Brownells Aluma-Hyde II and DuraCoat are tougher. None is as hard as Cerakote, which a shop sprays and bakes.
Does spray paint hurt an AR-15 or AK?
Not if the working parts are masked. Keep paint out of the bore, chamber, bolt carrier group, trigger group and the inside of the receivers, and off the optic lenses. On an AK, paint the dust cover off the gun so it still seats.
Can you spray paint a Glock?
The polymer frame takes paint well after a scuff and a degrease. Take the slide off and paint it separately, keep paint out of the rails, the barrel hood, the trigger and the slide stop, and leave the magazine well bare.
How do you get paint off a gun later?
Most aerosol camo paint comes off with acetone or a citrus paint stripper and a nylon brush. Test on a hidden spot first and keep strippers away from polymer parts that the solvent can soften.
Can you paint the barrel and muzzle device?
Standard camo paint burns and smokes on a hot barrel and muzzle device. Use a high heat engine or grill paint there, or leave them black. Suppressors need a coating rated for their temperature.
Cite this tool: GunPartPicker, “Gun Paint Job Ideas: Paint Your AR-15, AK or Glock Before You Spray It”, https://gunpartpicker.net/tools/gun-paint-planner. Paint colors from the Krylon, Rust-Oleum, Brownells, DuraCoat and Cerakote color charts; gun photos credited under each gun. Free to cite with attribution.
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