The Art of Tactical Camouflage

While thumbing through the February 6, 2007 issue of Guns&Ammo's Combat Tactics magazine, I came across an interesting article titled "Tactical Spray Paint" by Alfred Cripps. From eyeballin' the title of this article, the first obvious thing that came to mind was camouflaging your rig. I was expecting the usual camo patterns found on catalogues that look too perfect that they're no longer camouflaged...those paint jobs that have absolutely no blending of colors done by individuals who are more worried about how thier rigs are going to look on a picture rather than the tactical purpose of camouflaging your rig to begin with...if you know what I mean. Needless to say, my expectations were dead wrong.

Enter the work of Jesse Gorham of Three Wolves Tactical.

Cited from his website: Located in the high desert of the Eastern Sierra, Three Wolves Tactical is owned and operated by Jesse Gorham, a full time police officer in California since 1988. Jesse conducts his Three Wolves business in his off time. In addition to his investigative duties, he is one of three department Rangemasters. Initially Jesse started working his trade on Department owned weapons (sniper rifles and Glocks) and the personal weapons of his colleagues. As word of his work spread, local area shooters sought him out to paint hunting rifles. In October 2004, Jesse published his own web site and is offering his services to anyone in need of his skills. In addition to his skills as a gunsmith/armorer and artist, Jesse is a highly skilled shooter, both handgun and long rifle, and a certified trainer in both disciplines.

Jesse does all of his work by hand resulting in paint jobs that are all individually uniquie. He uses high quality flat enamel paint. 4-5 applications of enamel paint & 2 applications of clear coat go on each rig. One of the reasons I decided to have Jesse paint my rig is because I didn't want to be locked in to one specific camo pattern as you are when using some of the more permanent methods(i.e. - Duracoat, Ceracoat, etc.)...definitely comes into play when you're working in different operational environments. All you have to do is simply strip the paint off and apply a new camo pattern. I've been told that touch ups were extremely easy, but I can bet my work will be nowhere near compared to the talented hand of Jesse's. Turn around time for my rig was only a couple of weeks and you just can't beat his prices! No matter what type of camo pattern you want on your rig, Jesse can probably reproduce it...from tiger stripe to digital patterns...you name it. You'd be amazed at what he can do. Just check out his website for detailed pics (courtesy of Ichiro Nagata) of the camo jobs he's done for customers. You won't be disappointed.

Here are before and after pics of my rig.

Before:



and After:







(Photographs Courtesy of Jesse Gorham)

Thanks Jesse.

From a more than satisfied customer.

-Doc