Best to have your gun match your BDU colors. The pattern helps, but it's very hard to replicate properly.
People don't see detailed shapes on your BDU from 25-200ft away, they see colors and shading.
Tigerstripe (the pattern) works very well, as does the multicam pattern. So stripe/snakestripe and sponge blotch patterns match those very well.
Stay away from patterns, like US woodlands, that have large color areas with sharp contrast and drastically clashing colors. US woodland works alright as a camo, BUT in the ranges we're playing at, you actually start to identify the woodland pattern itself (most people that played back in 2008 when woodlands was huge can likely attest to this). But more importantly, when you transition that pattern onto a gun, it becomes significantly more obvious than before.
Doing it wrong. Looks amazing. Crisp and clean, sharp contrast, clear monotone colors. Should be sold as a color option for a remington M700 stock. Draws attention to itself.
Doing it right. Looks like shit, blurred lines, shading and blending of colors, doesn't draw your eye.
As for techniques, snakeskin works well in blotches or stripes. And sponging is a similar pattern on a much smaller scale.
Remember the purpose is to
BLEND IN, not to
look good. If you end up with a nice clean, crisp, detailed paint job, then you did it wrong. You don't
want people noticing the paint job.
You want your gun to (more or less) have a shitty paintjob. Blend colors, blur lines, use matte colors, etc.
Keep in mind how the gun will look in natural vs artificial light as well.
Sponge job on the rifle, artificial light
Same rifle, natural light
Too much snakeskin pattern
Touched up with sponging
example of the patterns not matching; multicam versus digital multicam, doesn't really make any difference.
Going the extra mile; making a paint job that's actually very difficult to photograph up close. Also very effective in tall grass. Made the mistake of painting my silencer the same color, dropped it in 6" grass, lost it forever.
