For those of you looking to skip the story on these two beautiful DoubleStar ARP7 Pistols and enter the sweepstakes — shame on you. You’re missing a good read. Having said that, the entry form is at the bottom of this article. Good luck!
What does freedom look like? Can an object reflect what it means to be free? To be unrestrained in action and thought, to show what it means to exercise our rights as American citizens? Can you hold liberty in your hands? If such a notion is indeed possible, I think our custom coating super-duo have clearly hit the mark.
A while back, a pair of DoubleStar ARP7 pistols chambered in 300 Blackout left their birthplace of Winchester, Kentucky, and started their journey towards a ’Merica! makeover. Soon after, the professional Cerakoters at MAD Custom Coating and Blowndeadline got to work spraying freedom and liberty as only they can imagine.
Flags of Freedom DoubleStar ARP7
David Teves at MAD Custom Coating went full-colored awesome with his theme, a blending of the historic yellow Gadsden flag, which was designed during the American Revolution, and our current red, white and blue flag known the world over.
The magazine features “#FREEDOM” on one side and “#MERICA” on the other, complete with a soaring eagle. One feature I enjoy is how the Gadsden flag is the prominent theme on one side while the American flag holds the majority of the real estate on the other. It’s these little creative ideas that make these guys the pros that they are.
They even went so far as to coat the rubber grip. “We typically do not coat rubber since the Cerakote will end up cracking and coming off,” Teves told me. “But we figured it would tie the build together to have it coated, and since the build was distressed anyway, the grip would just get ‘better’ with use.” Here the external Cerakote colors include Sky Blue, USMC Red, Battleship Grey, Graphite Black and an Electric Yellow/Desert Sand mix.
Not only did MAD freedom-up the outside, but the company also coated all of the small parts and most of the internals (including the bolt carrier group) in its high-performance MAD Black Plus. This is definitely a rifle that no one will miss at the range, and knowing DoubleStar’s quality, you certainly won’t either.
Lady Liberty DoubleStar ARP7
Michael Sigouin at Blowndeadline Custom Cerakote went old school on this new-school pistol, starting with a parchment color scheme. Parchment, as you might know, is a writing material that is made from specially prepared untanned animal skins, and it’s been used to hold and preserve important writings for over two millennia, including the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. So, understandably, the writing medium’s well-known mottled tan and brown look is not only a classy theme, but it also has the benefit of working to add a little desert camouflage, or “freedom-flage,” if you will.
On top of that base, Lady Liberty faces proudly downrange, supported by a cast of stars, bringing the theme together. (Fun fact: Did you know that the seven rays of Lady Liberty’s crown represent the seven oceans and seven continents?)
Michael used FS Brown Sand, Patriot Brown and Chocolate brown to create the look, a slight battle-worn finish, with an MC-157 matte clear top coat. Just looking at the finished ARP7 makes me want to drink a beer and blow something up. (Not necessarily in that order. Let’s keep it safe, folks.)
Check out star15.com to learn more about the base guns, and madcutomcoating.com and blowndeadline.net to see more great work from these top-notch coaters. You’ll definitely be impressed.
This article is from the spring 2019 issue of Ballistic Magazine, on sale Jan. 1, 2019. Grab your physical copy at OutdoorGroupStore.com. For digital version, head over to Amazon.
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