Hey guys, I just ordered a metal riser olympoic style recurve. The riser is silver but I will be hunting with it, so I'm going to paint it. I  think it will make a nice hunting bow at 64" and 42 pounds. It should be here in a few days, so in the meantime I can get some paint to camo it.

I was wondering what is the best kind of paint to buy? Will I need to prime it or just paint over the factory coating? I have heard some people sand the riser first so the paint sticks better. Would it need a clearcoat of some sort after its painted? I want to do this right and get it to turn out nice so It lasts. I know I could get it professionally done, but I like DIY projects like this. So, I would appreciate any information on painting a riser. thanks!

Sand, degrease and spray paint it flat black and touch up as needed.

should I sand all the old finish all the way off or just rough it up?

I'd just rough it up.

I would not take the original finish off, just rough it up.  It may be anodized if it is aluminum, the protection is good.  I would just clean it real good, degrease with acetone or alcohol, then spray.  If you use a good brand of flat primer, no real need to rough it up.  You can use flat black, if you want to get fancy, then make stencils with fern leaves or something and make a camo pattern.
Dan

Here's a kit to look at.  Duracoat is an option for the DAS bows.

http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/FieldEvalGordonDuraCoat.shtml

I recently bought an ACS-CX and had it water dipped into a Deception Predator brown  turned out real nice.





Company that did the work was VC Finishes LLC.  You can google them up for the address.

would I need to put some sort of a sealant over the paint to protect the finish?

The paint is your sealant.