Be Careful What You Ask For

[EricW]

I just got back from the truck bed liner place. I had a wild hare to have my aluminum free float tube coated in truck bed liner to insulate my precious pinkies from excessive heat and cold. I was too lazy to pull the tube off as I still have the original A2 front sight on and didn't feel like punching pins. So, I just masked off my entire gun and left the tube exposed.

I told the guy at the bed-liner place, "put on a thick layer, because I want it on there as an insulator."

Son of a bitch!!! When that guy came out of the booth, you couldn't even recognize what I sent in. My rifle was completely mummified into one giant blob of truck bed liner. And if you've never played with truck bed liner, let me tell ya, THAT's the sh*t they should be armoring Humvees with. Kevlar pales in comparison. I decided to peel the job and start over. It's a damned good thing I peeled it right then, because it took two of us 45 minutes to peel that crap off my gun. Front sight, free float tube, receiver, you name it, it was covered with 1/2" of truck bed liner.

I just laughed like hell. Talk about getting exactly what you asked for. And yes, the second pass went better. Next time, I'll have the good sense to push a couple taper pins and save the world the agony.

[wide45]

Do you like the result? How much did it cost?

1/2" thick is going to add 1" to the diameter of the tube. Mongo got big hands?

[EricW]

Mongo have small hands. We pulled everything and redid the tube with about 1 to 1.5 mm layer of goop. We'll see how Mongo like. It is not the most cosmetically attractive thing ever done to a rifle, and for anyone who's seen one of my guns, that's saying something.

Frankly, if I just would have pulled off the gas block, the $17 rubber tube sleeve from DPMS would have been a better, cheaper, and less stressful option. That said, the forend on my 1100 may end up wearing truck bed liner too.

I'm just really happy that the shop I called was pro-gun and willing to experiment. I can't imagine trying to walk into a shop in Kaliban territory with my AR and not getting hauled off by the SWAT team.

[rhino]

We should do some calculations and see what thickness of the liner would actually make it hotter to the touch, because at some point the thickness would be offset by the increased surface area, etc.

Or maybe not.

[raz-0]

And if you've never played with truck bed liner, let me tell ya, THAT's the sh*t they should be armoring Humvees with. Kevlar pales in comparison.

actually, they are starting to do just that.

[blackdragon]

You should have put on a glove, and when it came out put the old custom finger groove job on it!

Ivan