I thought I'd share this since I got the idea here. I came across some old mags that I acquired
while on active duty over the years. I've bought new mags but wanted these for the range and
to keep for nostalgia. I decided to refinish them by following what was posted in this forum.
The mags before:
This was the spray I bought. It looked like it was the closest to what the OP used:
I bought new springs and Magpul followers since I have no idea how much abuse these had
before I got a hold of them. New springs seemed a little longer than the old, not that I think that matters.
The big difference is in the followers, the Magpuls are way smoother and can't tilt like the original ones.
That by itself might make these magazines more reliable.
I followed the OP's instructions and cleaned and dried the aluminum bodies inside and out.
That stuff stinks so I sprayed them outside on a dry sunny day
(a rare combo in South Florida) on top of nails to be clear of the board and get all three sides,
then flipped them to the other side when dry. I finished by curing them in the oven for a bit,
which briefly stunk up the house.
I did eight magazines this way. The finish looks good, and so far seems to hold up alright.