There's been a few questions recently on refinishing the gray matte finish on a stainless shroud.  Here's a quick and easy tutorial about how I do it. 

1)  Here I started with a .22 mag shroud that I've been meaning to refinish for a while. It was actually in nice shape but I like the look of a freshly bead-blasted finish.  I scratched it up a bit just for demonstration.

2)  Remove the sight and mask it off.  I leave the set screw in the threads to protect the threads.  I use aluminum duct tape - it's durable and it gives a nice sharp edge.  Cut the tape in half and you can use half on each side.  Lay the tape along the edge of the of the shroud at the base of the rib.  Press it down firmly along the edge so you get a nice straight edge along the shroud.  Masking is the most tedious part of the job and attention in detail here will make the difference between a good job and a sloppy job.  Trim up the edges with an x-acto knife or blade.  If you are only doing the top, you don't have to mask off the bottom of the shroud.  If you are doing the front and rear, mask off the bottom and trim off at the ends.  Make sure you press down the edges real good.

3)  Now for the blasting.  I use a #70 glass media under 40-50 psi.  You can try different medias such as alumin. oxide which will give a darker gray finish.    It doesn't take much to get a nice even matte finish.  Be careful around the edges of the tape.  After blasting is finished, remove the tape and clean it off.  I spray it down with WD-40 and blow it off under 120 psi.

Voila - new factory finish, often better than original finish!

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