It's been talked about before, "seasoning", "weathering", "artificial aging" etc.

I finally got around to finishing off an Israeli M16A1 build, and the hardest part was putting the NDS upper and lower receivers through an artificial wearing process becuase I felt like I was screwing up a perfectly good set of receivers.

It may not be correct in some aspects as far as parts are concerned, but then again, the Israeli rifles were a conglomerate of parts.

First, I did the typical naval jelly treatment to the LPK to acheive the parkerized look rather than the blued/blacked look of a comercial present-day LPK.  I used an RRA kit, but use what you want.  Since we all know that the aluminum parts don't take to the naval jelly treatment, I used a pre-worn grey trigger guard that I'd aquired from the EE, along with a grey slip ring and charging handle that had been re-anodized by Victor from US Anodizing.  I used a standard black mag release, since it's so small and once worn, it's hard to tell it started out as black rather than grey.

I started with an NDS upper and lower receiver, brand new.  I then tried to decide on how to put wear on them, and after considering strapping the damn things to my somewhat large cat's collar, I decided I'd save him the abuse.  I resorted to running sanding sponges across the receivers in a fashion that normal wear would possibly contact them.  Obiously, the sanding sponges would fast forward the wear encountered after years of use.  much better than the cat dealing with it, LOL.  After I ran the sponges across the receivers, I added a polished effect with extra-fine steel wool.  Simply sanding the receivers left a scuffed finish that didn't look right.  The steel wool added the effect of years of wear against denim/sand/skin/etc.  I worked the steel wool against the receivers much longer than the sanding sponges, and it gave the effect I was looking for.

Keep in mind, I did all the "weathering" with the receivers completely assembled as a whole gun (parts kits, port door, forward assist, sight, furniture, etc. already installed).  This allows the wear to contact the receivers where it actually would, rather than hitting the edges that the furniture or parts kits would protect.  I feel this is important.
I DID however, use furniture that was already in the condition I had wanted.  I didn't think I could wear the furniture as well as I did the receivers, so I went with the already used set..  The stock is a typical non-trapdoor style, and the handguards started out as shiney A2's.  The only thing I wonder about, is if I should have used one of my A1 Trapdoor stocks.  Once again, Israeli rifles are typically mutts, but I wonder if one type of stock is used more than the other.  That's up for you guys to help me with.  And HK45Shooter, these are the shiney A2 handguards that I mentioned to you that I had purchased off of the EE....Not sure if they were purchased from you since it's been a while and I've purchased a lot lately, but they DO look sweet.

The barrel assembly is the typical A1, and I also ran the sanding sponges and steel wool across it.  

The magazine is a well used "Colt .223" from Gunbroker.

Once done, everything was finished off with a thorough oiled rag wipe-down.

Here are the pictures, I was in a hurry so sorry if they don't show all the detail:















A true Israeli M16 for comparison, and yes, I know this gal in a round about way.


My Shango.  I had thought about making him walk around for months with the receivers tethered to his collar, but he'd been pretty upset about all that, lol.  That's one of my 653 builds he's posed with

cool pics.  thanks for sharing.  the idea of weathering a brand new rifle still scares me too much to do it myself but yours looks great.

Did you not consider throwing it down your driveway ?

LMAO....yes, I did!  I obviously spend too much time in "General Discussion" also.

Hmmmmmm............I wonder if I'm nuts enough to try that on my 653.  The upper has an awesome bronze patina, but the NDS lower looks brand new, so it sticks out pretty noticably.

Looks nice Steve!

A few slip ring questions for you...

I just got one, just like that, and mine looks purple!  Is that correct, and do you know if they can be painted black?
And...How hard is it to get the hand guards on?  My C7A1 with Delta ring took two people and a ton of cursing...

Well, it's difficult to see in my pictures, but the NDS lower receiver that I weathered has a bronze base to it.  The upper, not so much.  

I had originally weathered a period-correct Colt 603 upper, but it didn't match the bronze look of the lower, so I weathered the pictured NDS upper too.  I was a bit perplexed why the NDS upper didn't have the same underlayment as the lower, but it's not too bad of a match.

If you have the same results as me, I believe when/if you weather the NDS lower, you'll see it's a pretty damn good match for your already worn and bronze patina upper.

Purple is correct.  I have a few myself, although they still sit in the parts bin since I don't like purple that much.  Too stuck on retros to sell them though.

Yes, they can be "painted", but I recommend sending it to Victor at US Anodizing or using Gun-Kote to refinish it in flat grey.  I've done several parts in flat grey, and they've turned out excellent.  Gun-Kote also proves a good base for artificial weathering, although anodizing is by far the best.

Sweet build. Makes my big toe shoot up in my boot.    Truely a work of art.

Excellent work.  The "seasoning" turned out great.

I'm trying to grasp the whole sanding/steel wool part.  Did you use large, light motions over the entire receiver or small patterns focusing on the individual high spots?  Wet or dry?  Any tricks you discovered?  I'm really interested in trying this.

Thanks for posting the pictures.  That really turned out nice!

Yeah Awwwwesome! Love the look. What are sanding sponges? Craft store purchase perhaps?

Nice rifle, what kind of cat is that?

That looks amazing!!!!!!

Outstanding rifle.  I think you did a great job on the weathering!

Very very nice. I wish I had the stones to do that to mine.

Thanks fellas.



RLR and Magnus, I purchased the sanding sponges from Harbor Freight a few years back.
http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=sanding+sponges

I began with the coarse VERY GENTLY, and ended with the medium...  These things are cheap, and don't last very long.  That's probably a good thing.

Actually, I did use water...I should have mentioned that.  I held the rifle under the faucet of the wash basin in my garage, and used light motions over the ENTIRE receiver area in mainly a fore and aft direction.  After I roughed up the entire receiver, I made sure to concentrate on the typical spots that would see the most wear until I got what I was looking for.  After I had the finish wear I'd wanted, the fine steel wool came into play.  The steel wool didn't take off much anodizing, if any.  It simply left a polished look to the receivers that would come after years of hands handling the rifle.  The steel wool helped get rid of any of that gritty rough texture that we're all used to seeing on fresh anodizing that the sponges might have missed, and obviously any fine sanding scratches from the sanding sponge treatment.

Steve, that is exceptional. I've been looking to do the same thing for a Carbine since I got into this hobby. Truly good, good work.

I ran across this website a while back: Zahal.org Neat accessories.

I had my doubts when reading the description, but the rifle turned out really nice. And that's a great looking cat, too!

Looks great.    A little OT but in the picture of the TG, the ridge that is on the underside of the receiver by the trigger...Is that the norm?  I only have one receiver that has that and it is on a new High-Stand\ard receiver.

Ah, thank you.

Nice I had a IDF 603 a was going to weather, end up parted it out for other builds. Now I may have to try agian.

GVS

Wow! That was a great job. Reminds me of the rifles we had in basic with most of the finish worn off. I don't think I would ever do that to my NoDak receivers, but do think it looks fantastic at the same time. Comparing with the rifle in the picture of the young female soldier I would say it looks very authentic. Some of those cowboy shooters pay a premium to have their shootin' irons aged.

Mac

ETA: The Vietnam reenactors need to look this.

Nice rifle, AWESOME CAT.

Reminds me of when I was in Israel on my own in 99.
Rifle needs a thick cotton sling as the lovely young woman demonstrates
and some 30 round GI mags taped together in the "L" configuration.

You'd be all set to walk open carry around town, in Israel that is.
In Jerusalem, you couldn't go five minutes without seeing an M16 on the shoulder
of some young solider.  It's crazy.

I'll bet what you were seeing were these:

http://www.zahal.org/rifle/p12.htm

Don't quote me on it, but I believe they are not allowed to have the actual magazine loaded into the weapon on patrols/whatever...

Crazy?  Or AWESOME!?

It's unfortunate that they HAVE to do it because of their situation, but the fact that they can bring the firepower required to put a quick stop to just about any situation with them anywhere they go is awesome.  Take note that in the US, even in states where open carry is the law, you'll be instantly labeled a total insane nut case who must be surrounded by a wall of police and kept under constant government observation.

ETA the quote block at top.

Israeli chicks will definitely clean up nice with a little soap and water and a lot of disco music !!  


edit ====  absolutely no artificial aging is necessary either

I vote AWESOME, and the rifle looks great, too.

your a crazy kook...

Great job man. I'm considering that for my XM16E1 lower - what grade steel wool? 0000? I have some medium grit sanding blocks I may give it a shot when I get home - I just want to match the wear on the upper for a little more realism. I need US property markings too...

Looks like the real deal to me, great job!

AWESOME crazy, on one hand, sad on another.  Awesome to see much hardware being carried in "normal" everyday life, sad that they have to.
In the eastern quarters of the old city, the body guards of the childrens school, come out with their mirco uzi's up and sweeping as they walk the
children out of the gates.  The children are not fazed in the least.  In front of the primeminister's residence, armed plain clothes just stand their with M4's and commando's across their
chests.  You got guys jumping on busses in regular clothes with M4's on their backs going to prayer.

It's totally normal to have a M16 of somekind out in the open, no one pays any special attention at all.
There was a super hottie female soldier on a bus with a pistol on her hip.  Gotta love that on many levels!!

Not sure where they put the rifles at night when they do to the disco?

I hope on day they don't have to do that anymore, it's a really cool place.

Agreed that you try the same thing here and you'll most like be shot even before you can explain.

Exactly, awesome that you CAN, sad that you MUST...

I've never been out of the states, but if I had the chance Israel is a place I'd like to visit.  I mean hey, the women are hawt and its a retro-rifle paradise!
If I ship my Glock and AR over, can I carry them as a tourist?

Can someone PM me on where to get one of the shiny black buttstocks like this for my retro-ish build?

I love that long hair most uniformed Israeli gals sport. Very sexy. In between dealing with threats its got to be fun to be an Israeli Army grunt.
ETA: If I look at the OP's fantastic weathering job once more I'll have to do it myself.

Outstanding weathering job!  Nuff' said.

Great job on that rifle. It actually looks exactly like one of the A1s I was issued when I was in ROTC- shiny A2 handguards and all. Mine was a colt, but several of my friends had "hydra matic" A1s

Outstanding! now go hit that 653!

Great job.

I have one in my IDF build:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=123&t=411166

From what I understand, they can't have a loaded magazine inserted into the magwell.

777 - Interesting equipment there!

Can you tell me where you got the IDF sling, and if you've got any recommendations for attaching it to a 20" A1 or A2 style rifle?
Did you ever find out what the Hebrew labels were?

Check HERE for IDF slings

Nice job!!!   That has to be one of the best artificial weathering jobs I've seen. That sure looks like a typical high mileage, G.I. issued weapon.
I've got my M16A1 clone that loos like it's brand new and I almost hate to take it out shooting because it'd almost too nice. I 've been considering building another one with some worn furniture that I have stashed away to use more as an "every day gun". Now you've got me thinking that my "every day gun" should get an artificial ageing job such as yours.  

Doc

what kind of cat is that... i want one

The women of the IDF, the ultimate Girls with Guns,of the pics I have seen they are all hot.

True That!

Makes me want to go join the IDF or something!

no kiddin , same here but am to old, lol

bump

WTF is with that website?  It tried to force a program to install using Windows Installer.

I never had a problem with the website. What was it tring to installed?

GVS

AWESOME!

Dunno - I killed it as soon as it started asking for my Windows CD to continue installation.