How common is the painting and camouflaging of rifles, carbines, and guns with any color besides Flat Black in the conventional and Special Forces? And is the norm mainly to camouflage the rifle and not the handgun?

Also, is it true that usually the painted gun's color does not match any known uniform color (with the exception of white)?

I'm trying to add some uniqueness and character to some of my rifles and handguns, but if the common practice is to leave them factory Flat Black, then I will go that route.

Thanks in advance.

The only camouflage I ever used was hessian and hessian strips on the furniture of my SLR. If I'd have sprayed my weapon the armourers would have gone mental!

This link on IR seems to support some kind of camo to kill the heat signature...

"Black ANYTHING is a good emitter. Blackened steel barrels, synthetic stocks, and painted surfaces (all E's in the 90's) should be cloth wrapped for IR and visual both. Black SWAT uniforms probably have a higher E than camo. You need to test."
http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/IRDetection.asp

There was official instructions given in 2012, including masking details, to paint British 5.56mm (SA80) rifles in sand coloured paint for use in Afghanistan, although I never actually seen any painted.

Research your subject thoroughly. I know the Australian SAS often painted SLR's, M60's and M16's in jungle cammo in Vietnam, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. It would depend on who, when and where.

And still do. Some Australian Infantry will also paint their weapons.

US forces can use black, brown, green or sand. I will print of the policy letter and post more information on Monday.

The Rhodesian army camo painte all their small arms in the 70s. The South African camo painted some weapons.

an interesting website:

http://www.arizonaresponsesystems.com/notes/notes-fal/fal-tutorial-rhodpat/page-fal-rhodpat.shtml

It wasn't until recently that the US Army approved camoflaging small arms, with restrictions to parts like the forward assist which they argued would impede function (I don't think it does, though). However, troops have been painting their weapons before they were allowed to.