The Skinny On Dipping
I have had a Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle since shortly after its introduction ten years ago, and it has been my favorite all-around rifle ever since. But one of the criticisms of the rifle (when compared to Jeff Cooper’s original scout concept) is its weight. In its original laminate-stocked configuration, the .308 Winchester scout comes in at just over 7 pounds. While that isn’t exactly heavy, a scout rifle is supposed to be a “light, handy” rifle, and the synthetic stock sold by by Ruger knocks about three-quarters of a pound off of the total weight. So, scout standard or not, at age 58 I’m all about a lighter rifle…so I ordered the stock.
Problem is, the stock as it comes from Ruger is plain, boring black. I decided a nice camo treatment might be in order, and I started thinking about how to do that. My first thought was to just cook something up with spray cans and some stencils, much like I did with an AR-15 build a few years ago. Nothing fancy, but it was super easy and came out looking just fine (I think).
Done with three colors of Rustoleum and some florist’s chicken wire from Hobby Lobby.
But then I got the idea to look at hydrographics, or “hydro dipping.” Of course, a smart man would simply find a professional shop and pay them to do it right. As it turns out, I am only partly smart. I found a shop that could do it, but I balked when they estimated the cost at $150-$200. Heck…the stock was only $150! It didn’t make sense to pay as much or more than the cost of the stock just to get it colorized. So then I latched onto the bright idea of doing it myself…how hard could it be?
Famous last words, as the saying goes. Before I get into the details of my project, a disclaimer: Do not take this article to be a “how to” on hydro dipping. Consider it to be more of a “how not to,” or a fair warning as to some of the possible pitfalls that await the beginning do-it-yourself hydro dipper. Although my project turned out satisfactorily (as far as I’m concerned), it was not “easy” and I am the farthest thing from an expert on the subject. You have been warned.
I relied heavily on a couple of YouTube channels for my hydrographics learnin’, and I’ll be sharing links to some of their specific videos as I describe my project. If you are considering a project of your own, you will definitely want to check out both of them.
The first order of business was to gather supplies. Since my house is rather small and my garage rather full, my plan was to do it outdoors on my deck, and for that I would need a large plastic tub or tote to do the dip. What I hadn’t considered was just how big of a tub I would need to dip a full rifle stock. The Ruger stock measures 27.5” long, and it was surprisingly hard to find a tub that was both long enough and deep enough to fully submerge the stock. I ended up with a 40-gallon plastic storage tote that I found at Lowe’s, and it was barely big enough.
You will also need items like blue painter’s tape, cutting tools (scissors, razor knife), paint, hydrographics film activator, clear coat, a thermometer, and some other odds and ends I’ll mention as we go. But first a word of emphasis on paint. In case you didn’t know (I didn’t), you cannot simply dip a part. It must be painted first, and your normal spray can paints like Rustoleum or Krylon won’t do. The problem with these paints is that they typically do not remain “open,” or able to accept hydrographic ink for a long enough period of time. The “open” times on these paints may only be a few hours, which means that this is all the time you have to complete the dip before the paint closes and will not hold the hydrographic ink. In contrast, purpose-designed hydrographics paints will have open times of up to 14 days…and I definitely needed that time. It isn’t that spray cans won’t work, but they leave you almost no time to finish the job should you run into a problem or simply get pulled away from your project for a few hours. (That never happens, right?)
With a plastic part like the Ruger stock, the first thing you will need to do is to check to see if it needs to be flame-treated. Some plastics require flame treatment before painting, and it is really simple to check. Fortunately, the Ruger stock did not require this process. If you want to learn more about flame treating, check out this video from ATF Hydrographics.
But since I didn’t need to flame treat, I moved on to the next step. After removing the magazine latch and butt pad from the stock, I set about scuffing the surface of the part for paint prep. While professional shops will use sandblasting equipment, I used red Scotch-Brite pads; you can get them at a lot of home improvement stores, but I got 5 for $9 off of Amazon. You don’t need to hit it very hard, just enough to scuff the surface so that the paint will adhere properly. Once that is done, you will want to clean the part well. There are lots of recommendations out there that you use denatured alcohol or naptha, I just washed it thoroughly with Dawn dish soap and let it dry in the sun.
Scuffed, taped, and ready for paint.
Then it was time to tape. I didn’t want to get paint into the magazine well or bedding channel of the stock, so I taped them off with blue painter’s tape. I also taped the sling studs and the open rear of the butt…though I removed that so I could set the whole thing on a furring strip to paint. I ended up applying two coats of “Field Tan” hydrographics paint from One Hit Wonder. You will want to consider paint color carefully, as some hydrographics film patterns rely heavily on the paint color showing through. Learn more about that here.
At this point, it was time to set up the dip, and this is where it got “interesting.” For starters, recommended water temperature for dipping is between 80-90 degrees (F). The reason for this is that the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film used in hydrographics needs to sit on the water before activating in order to hydrate the film. This time can be longer or shorter depending on the temperature of the water. There’s a really good explanation of the effects of water temperature here.
I got an adapter which allowed me to connect a hose to my kitchen sink, so that I could better control the water temperature, though it was still a challenge in the summer sun. The other issue that I discovered as I filled my tub was that the water pressure flexed the sides of the tub outward, which simultaneously pulled the ends in slightly. By the time the tub was full, the ends had pulled in enough that it was just barely long enough to fit the stock!
Only about half full, and you can see the sides bowing out and the ends pulling in.
Before I could dip the stock, I first had to tape one side. Although my YouTube research did reveal some folks who did a full dip of a rifle stock, my two “go to” channels did such a dip in two halves, one side of the stock at a time. I was skeptical of how well I could manage a full dip in one go, so I decided to try to emulate the technique of ATF Hydrographics, where he leaves the edges of the tape lifted near (but short of) the centerline of the stock. You can see how he does it here.
One side taped for the first dip attempt.
Next up was to cut my film sheet, which was two yards (not enough; more later) of True Timber Strata which I ordered from Dip Pros Hydrographics, along with a spray can of activator. A problem you may encounter (I did) was dealing with the tendency of some films to want to roll at the edges. Apparently the degree of roll is variable between different films, and fortunately my film was not terribly hard to deal with. What I did was follow the suggestion offered in this video from ATF Hydrographics, which was to make small cuts along the perimeter of the film. The film still tried to roll, but only as far as the cuts were deep. This worked out for me, and I did not tape my film at all.
So I cut my film to size, and made the edge cuts as described above. I floated the film without much trouble, and went to spray the activator. Hydrographics film must be sprayed with an activator which basically dissolves the PVA and releases the inks to float on the water in the desired pattern. Here’s where I got into trouble. It is very, very important to get a good application of activator…and I did not. But I thought I was good to go and forged ahead. As I began to dip the stock, it became obvious that the film was not behaving as it should, but I was decisively engaged and finished the dip. This is what I got:
Not exactly what you would call good coverage, right? The good news is that it wouldn’t take much to re-scuff and re-paint those areas, and try it again. The bad news? Remember when I said I ordered two yards of film? Well, that dip attempt cost me about 29” of that two yards, and if you can do math better than me, you’ll realize that I don’t have enough film left to finish the project. However, I didn’t realize that until I had fixed the bad dip, got a successful dip on one side…and then went to cut a sheet for what was essentially the “third side.” Out of film! Now I’m half-dipped and need to order more film so I can finish the job…remember when I mentioned “open” times for paint? That’s right, I don’t have forever to get this done, but I’m sure glad I used proper hydrographics paint and not Rustoleum…or I’d have been screwed. Fortunately, Dip Pros ships quickly, and I had a resupply in just a few days.
So I was able to tape the other side and dip before the paint closed. One thing you will see is a lighter area near the butt of the stock on the right side. The film was getting really stretched thin here, but because of the pattern I was using and the base color being very accurate to that pattern, it doesn’t look that bad. Another, less “abstract” pattern might not have turned out very well.
The light section is where the film stretched a little thin. Luckily, it doesn’t look too awful with this pattern.
Another step I didn’t mention before was rinsing the part after the dip. Once a dip is done, there will be a slimy sort of residue left on the part which must be rinsed immediately. Left too long, it will harden and set, and I honestly don’t know if you could fix that. But what I did as soon as I dipped was to simply run inside and stick the stock in my shower and let the water (hotter is better) run over it for a few minutes, until I couldn’t feel the “slime” anymore. Easy peasy. Something else I hadn’t considered was how to get all that ink off my hands. Yes, you will get hydrographic ink all over yourself…a big reason I chose to do it outside. Fortunately, it does come off with a little Dawn dish soap and some scubbing with a nylon bristled brush of some sort.
The final step, now that the dipping was done, was to clear coat the entire piece. You must apply some sort of clear coat to protect the pattern. I chose a flat clear coat from OHW. Two coats, and it was done. One other thing I discovered as I untaped the stock after clear coating was that it was a bad idea to leave the sling studs taped throughout the project. They’re steel, and the tape held water and left them a little rusty. Nothing that couldn’t be cleaned up, but it could have been avoided if I’d have untaped them and let them dry between processes. Live and learn. Here is the finished and reassembled rifle:
Bottom line…DIY hydrographics is totally do-able if you’re at all handy or crafty. There is a learning curve and it is not as easy as it looks. But if you’re willing to study up and take your time, you can enjoy the satisfaction of making something your own with hydrographics. And that’s the skinny.
Here is my collection of links for education and hydrographics supplies, all in one place:
