I am looking for the best overall answer color for guns. I own guns and know most WW2 and Cold War vintage had a deep blue almost black finish. I haven’t found a gun metal color that I’ve found accurate yet. I’ve tried Tamiya gun metal but it’s horrendous. I was wondering what people use. I have access at my local hobby shops to pretty much any paint brand so I don’t mind picking something up. I’m just getting tired of picking up paints labelled “gun metal” that are way too shiny
Old school used to be flat black rubbed with powdered graphite(pencil lead). Some guys still use that method.
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As suggested by Armorsmith:
Flat black rubbed with powdered graphite(pencil lead)
then I do a black wash and spray it all SATIN.
The satin gives it a more natural finish.
Cheers,
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Sounds good and easy enough. Thanks!
^ Basically what I do as well. I use Tamiya German Grey XF-63, black pin wash, rub on powder graphite. Final black pin wash if needed.
Perfect should be easy I have German gray and flat black on hand!
Now if only I knew what a pencil was
Gunze Dark iron metallic, it is buffable and very easy to use 
I use Agama metal paste,also buffable and the Life Colors Guns Set
this one
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I’ve found Humbrol 27004 to be good, dries to a dark powdery finish, which you then buff.
Mal
I mix my own using flat black and silver, no specific ratios, just what looks right to me. Once it is applied to weapons and they are dull coated, they look like a dark, parkerized gun to me.
You can see it on the barrels, spare tracks, and a few other parts here.
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Looks great. I am building a flak 38 with a similar long slender barrel. Might try this technique as it seems to be the looks I can going for
Citadel acrylic paints (better known for fantasy colors) have a color called “Lead Belcher” which is a great gun metal color. Citadels should be thinned slightly with tap water otherwise they will apply too thick (they also last longer!). I also dry-brush Mig graphite pigment as it is very finely ground. Rubbing on graphite direct from a pencil could wear off a layer of paint…using a brush is much more gentle. As an alternative to Mig you can sand down the lead from a high-number HB pencil and use the ground graphite with a brush.
