Tale of the "Acra-Gun"

By Eric Kiesler

One of the most popular products Brownells has carried over the years is our line of Acraglas® (#081-005-028) products. Originally used for bedding rifles, a lot of folks also discovered a big variety of uses for ‘glas not only on their firearms, but on “honey do” projects around the house, too. As we perfected the formula and talked to gunsmiths, more versions of Acra products were developed and added to our inventory.

We recently upgraded the dispenser for our Acra products, specifically the double syringes used with our Acra-Quick™, Acra-Gel®, Acra-Quick™ Stainless and Acra-Weld™. Some of you probably recall the evolution of the syringes; they have gone through several design changes over the years in order to better deliver the product. Aside from the problems the end user generally encounters (like one side of the syringe being harder to press than the other) we were having storage issues. With increasing frequency, the syringes would come open while sitting in our warehouse. A big and often very sticky problem. Rather than discontinue these products entirely, we did a lot of research and quite a bit of testing and finally came up with a new and improved dispensing gun designed specifically for Acra products. In my opinion, these are the state of the art in epoxy dispensers available on the market today.

Brownells Acra-Quick (#081-000-017) is our 3-minute epoxy for jobs that require a clear material that cures rapidly. If you need a little more working time or need to dye the epoxy the Acra-20 (#081-000-018) would be the one to choose. The Acra-Quick Stainless (#081-000-026) has atomized stainless steel added to increase its compression strength, and density when cured. On a side note it is virtually impossible for one to manually add as much atomized stainless steel to the Acra-Quick as has been mechanically mixed in to it during production. Our most potent epoxy is the Acra-Weld (#081-025-004), the strongest out of all Acra products and is somewhat denser when fully cured than the others. It has a yellowish color when cured and can be dyed before application. This works well if you want to infuse a little color into whatever project you’re doing.

The Brownells Acra Gun (#081-000-021) is an extremely handy tool to have in the shop. While this may seem like just another “glue dispenser” I prefer to think of it as investing in yet another Gun! But seriously, I really feel that it’s a far better product. The gun advances the plungers in the syringe at an even and steady rate regardless of the consistency of the product inside (remember, with Acra products, the warmer it gets the easier it is to apply and spread around, but not too warm!) Part of the reason for this is the design of the plunger within the syringe. Unlike the hand pushed syringes, the Acra-Cartridge plungers create a nearly prefect seal. This seal allows for an almost indefinite shelf life and supplies the necessary force to move the plungers at an even, and steady rate.

The system is intended to be used with the Mixing Tips (#081-000-029). These tips will completely and thoroughly mix the contents of an Acra-Cartridge for application in a perfect 1-to-1 ratio. While I do like the mixing tips, especially for large jobs, to some they seem a bit extravagant. In fact, there will be .08 ounces of material remaining in the mixing tip when finished. When the need arises for a small amount, it’s possible to dispense only a small portion. With the old style tubes this was not so much an issue, and is not too much of a problem with the Applicator Gun either. All one has to do is remove the storage cap on the Acra-Cartridge and shoot (I say shoot ‘cause were using our Gun!) a small amount on to a piece of card board, then mix it with a toothpick or popsicle stick. Be sure to wipe the end of the cartridge off and put the cap back on or you will have a mess on your hands. If you want to get fancy you could even dissect one of the mixing tips and shorten it to make an extension nozzle for dispensing smaller amounts. It just depends on the job you’re doing. You can then use the static mixing element you previously removed as a bore swab for cleaning up the nozzle when you’re finished. A great chemical cleaner I’ve used over the years is Brownells Acraglas Solvent & Thinner (#083-022-032) which really cuts through the leftover ‘glas and generally makes a person's life much easier. You may also be interested in Brownells Acra Release (#081-028-000) before you begin a project to ensure that any excess ‘glas won’t be in places it shouldn’t be.