refinishing suomi drums?

[BuffDragon]

so while I'm on the wait for a max31, I decided to pick up a 10 pack of suomi drums from centerfire.
after reading/etc I decided to forgo the "hand picked" since the reports were that most of the drums were great and you couldnt really tell between the "hand picked" and the "other".
well, drums showed up at the house* and I dug around in them. all greasy/cosmo/oily and most show some wear, all the way to significant finish wear. granted, the insides (important parts) on most seem to be in substantially better shape (of the ones I checked) than the outside. I'm going to mess with them some more this weekend, clean them up, etc.
my question is this:
can I clean them up and paint with hi temp (exhaust or bbq) paint just to pretty them up a tad or is that just a waste of time?
also, since I dont have an upper to check for lockup, anything I should really be looking for good/bad?
I realize some people say you can send them back and try to get "better" ones, but I dont think that's really......right.

*one minor bitch though. I'd put a different shipping address (my office) on the form but they still shipped to my CC address (house). which got a pretty big raised eyebrow from the wife about "more gun stuff, huh". now I fear "shopping retribution" this weekend...

 

[Ready.Fire.Aim]

I cleaned Suomi drums and other greasy mags with automobile brake cleaner. Buy it at a auto parts store.

A few paper towels and an old tooth brush makes for quick and easy work. Wear some disposable gloves, like the blue surgeons gloves and work in a well ventilated area. The waste paper towels are flammable so dispose appropriately.

I then wipe down with some Simple Green.

I painted mine with Krylon flat black spray paint. I think they call it "camo paint".

Have fun
RFA

 

[THM7]

All mine lock up fine. Painting does improve the appearance....I have over twenty of them and only one has had feeding issues. You can increase the spring tension by unscrewing the arm. Then wind up once/twice....then reattach the arm with the screw.

 

[medphys]

Rustoleum Satin Black for me.

strobro32 had his 142 round drum refinished with some sort of nickle teflon coating which is supposably very slick and durable. It's probably not very cost effective though.

 

[Abiqua]

Rustoleum Satin Black for me.

strobro32 had his 142 round drum refinished with some sort of nickle teflon coating which is supposably very slick and durable. It's probably not very cost effective though.

Sounds like Robar NP3.

 

[chili17]

out of the 10 or so drums i have tried in the max31, 1 has so much fore and aft movement that it does not function very well. It does however run fine in a m45 and suomi k31. I am sending some drum and coffin mag bodies to BigJason in ID next week to be plated in nickle boron. I am also sending him some bolts to be nickle boron nitrided. At least they will not get confused with anybody else's

 

[dtom29]

One of my "hand picked" has the stop tab silversoldered on and the arm screw is missing....I have an e-mail in to them now.
After thinking about it...I had to edit to say I'm expecting no trouble over this. They have always had excellent customer service.

 

[Spicoli]

Excellent customer service!

 

[Mr Natural]

can I clean them up and paint with hi temp (exhaust or bbq) paint just to pretty them up a tad or is that just a waste of time?

I'd say its pretty much a waste of time right now. Wait until you receive your upper and then test the drums for fit and function. THEN you might want to pretty up the ones that work well. Sell the others or keep them for spare parts or other projects.

If you want to pretty up the drums then, get a couple cans of one of the spray-and-bake finishes that Brownell's sells, strip the drums, beadblast the pan and cover outside and spray and bake a finish on them.

Stripping the drums will give you the opportunity to clean the petrified grease out of all the cracks and crevices too. Stripping and re-assembling Suomi/PPSh drums is remarkably easy. Go over to Bill Berg's website at www.ppsh41.com and you should find instructions on how to do that.

I wouldn't touch the insides if the drum works. Only thing I'd do there is spray the insides with a some dry lube like a moly or some such, after you get the parts clean.

Also be sure to strip the guts out of the drums before baking the pan and cover or you will ruin the spring. Be sure to keep the components for each drum separate and re-assemble them into the drum they originally came in.

 

[crimedog]

I tried the budget approach .. krylon flat black spray on these 5 drums...they actually cleaned up pretty nice after 3 -4 coats compared to how bad they were when I got them.
I just ordered 5 more drums from Centerfire,..maybe I will try the bake-on finishes available..???

 

[tyromeo55]

For plain old flat black spray paint those look great

 

[crimedog]

Yeah..Thanks...I was sort of amazed how well they cleaned up with spray paint...just wiped them down with alcohol...then waited 7 days for the recoat at about 70F.....Last warm day of the year out here...like 32F and dropping now.....

 

[BuffDragon]

thanks for the replies guys

crimedog....that would work for me! when they get a little beat up, just spray again. easy.

 

[MDG]

Who can I send my 72 round Suomi drums to for refinishing in original blue? I would assume I would need to send them to someone who is familiar with the mechanics of the drum itself for obvious reasons.

 

[Vegas SMG]

Who can I send my 72 round Suomi drums to for refinishing in original blue? I would assume I would need to send them to someone who is familiar with the mechanics of the drum itself for obvious reasons.

Here's the drum disassembly video. Disassemble them and refinish yourself. It's not that difficult.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=u2pwnEEZwTk&desktop_uri=/watch?v=u2pwnEEZwTk

If you want them blued, be prepared to spend twice what the mags originally cost...probably more.

 

[MDG]

Thanks but the link doesn't work for me.

 

[agriebel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2pwnEEZwTk&feature=c4-overview&list=UUNxE6Ymy4fwtLAzs_F1KqAA

 

[MDG]

Thanks. Got it. I have a friend that does hot blue. I could probably get all 14 of them done for $50.

 

[MDG]

What sort of lubricant is best for the Suomi drums? Also, what parts should be lubed?

 

[Concorde]

(Resurrection rather than starting a new thread).

Is it possible to take the swing-arm off? If not, how do you easily paint/refinish the drums, or do you just leave an unfinished area under the arm that's hidden when it's closed?

I was thinking of Duracoating a few of mine...